The ongoing support of you; our Community, Volunteers, Members and Supporters helped us re-home more cats in 2019 than we have in any of the past five years.
Over the last 70 years, we have remained committed to working with the community to ensure that every cat has the opportunity for a loving, safe and healthy home.
Last year working alongside our Customers, Members and Supporters, we wereable to continue raising awareness of the Cat Protection Society Victoria (CPSV) by promoting responsible cat ownership and providing proactive solutions for tackling the issue of cat overpopulation.
Despite operating from temporary facilities while we wait for our new shelter, the CPSV was able to re-home an incredible 1204 cats through our Adoption Shelter and achieve a re-homing rate of over 90%.
“The marketing and community outreach activity we conducted throughout 2019 was designed to help increase awareness of the CPSV and really place our Society front-of-mind when the community are considering the adoption of a cat,” says CPSV CEO, Ian Crook. “And with that awareness, I am confident we attracted new Adoptees, Foster Carers, Volunteers and Donors to our Society.”
In addition to finding a forever home for 1204 stray and abandoned cats, our team of staff, passionate foster carers and volunteers also provided short-term Foster Care to over 200 Cats and Kittenswho were too young or unwell to be made available for adoption upon entering our care. Following foster care these bundles of joy were then adopted out through our Adoption Shelter.
Our Private Vet Clinic welcomed more than 500 new furry patients, providing cost-effective and compassionate care including subsidised de-sexing and microchipping. Our clinic is one of a few dedicated to feline care and remains open to the public.
In 2019, we started proactively working with other rescue organisations to help the plight of cats in need and solve the problem of cat overpopulation beyond just our local area. Partnering with allied organisations including The Lost Dogs Home, Melton Council and Regional Pounds allowed us to provide shelter and any necessary veterinary care to cats who were brought to these centres.
Working with our local community, we were able to educate the public on responsible pet ownership through our kindergarten and primary school visits and the expansion of our incredibly popular Seniors to Seniors program. Both community programs aim to teach people to be comfortable with cats and provide them with the skills for cat ownership. This ensures if they decide to adopt a cat their pet is comfortable in their surroundings, leading to more and better-suited adoptions.
The last year also saw us revamp our communication and marketing efforts. Reaching a wider audience through an engaging new website, emotive videos, media engagement and our ‘Famous Feline’ competition which achieved more entries than ever before and resulted in a beautiful new calendar which raised funds for the Shelter.
It is wonderful to celebrate and reflect on 2019 but it is also exciting to think that the best is yet to come. Mid-2020 will see the opening of our much anticipated new Cat Protection Shelter which will contain an Adoption Shelter, expansive Vet Clinic, Shop, Café and Community Facilities for workshops and school programs. Cat lovers will be encouraged to stay and hug their favourite felines at our new one-stop-shop for cat adoption, care, nutrition and healthcare.
The new facility will allow us to house and provide care for up to 300 cats, which is a considerable increase in what we were able to achieve in 2019. We know with the continued support of you our loyal customers, members, supporters, foster carers and volunteers, we will be able to continue raising awareness of our Society and the vital work that we do.
A heartfelt thank you for your valued support. We look forward to working together again in 2020.