Cat rescue centre seeing surge in strays

3 hours ago

Charlie StubbsWest Midlands

News image — Marion Parsons said the stray cat situation had become 'terrible' and was likely to get worse

BBC A woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and wearing a red top is stood looking at the camera. There are wood-framed cages behind her. — Marion Parsons said the stray cat situation had become 'terrible' and was likely to get worse

A Shropshire woman who runs a cat rescue centre believes the problems with unneutered animals will get worse.

Marion Parsons, 77, who has run Newbridge Cat Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Cleobury Mortimer for 22 years, said the cost was putting owners off and was leading to more strays.

She added that more people were coming to centres like hers to offload their cats and she was struggling to rehome them.

Cats Protection said the number of cats neutered nationwide fell from 88% in 2020 to 82% last year.

Parsons said: "Some vets are charging £200 now to neuter one cat. People haven't got the money, so what they're doing is bringing them here... or chucking them out."

She said she is paying to have the cats she receives neutered and recently spent £700 paying for five cats to have the operation.

Three black and white cats in a pen with a water bowl and a food bowl on a blue carpet and a ramp leading up to a raised area. — People were 'picking up cats from the street' and bringing them to Cleobury Mortimer, Parsons said

Parsons said she had also noticed a surge in the number of kittens being born.

She said her centre currently has 26 kittens, plus a number of cats, including the mothers of some of the kittens.

Parsons also believes that the cost of food and vets bills is leading to people abandoning their cats, adding: "It's just a bit sad really. I do what I can but I get a lot of people coming in and I can't help everybody because I'm on my own."

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