What is it like to run a cat rescue?

​We talked to Tracey and Kelly, two of the women who run Guardian Angels Animal Support alongside founder Mary. This includes includes managing the other volunteers (everyone at GAAS works for free and all money raised gets spent on caring for the animals), doing the admin and finding homes for the cats in GAAS’s care. Kelly and Tracey both specialise in caring for pregnant mothers and young kittens. 

Q: How would you sum up life in a cat rescue?

Tracey: Over the years I’ve had fun, tears, everything.

Kelly: It’s a rollercoaster of emotions. You can feel them all in a day.

Q: How did you first get involved?

Tracey: My neighbour had a cat with kittens in her garden. The first rescue I called wanted to take the kittens and not bother with the mum. The next one wanted to put the kittens in cages. Guardian Angels were the only ones who really helped, and who would foster the kittens in people’s homes, and so I started fostering for them.

Kelly: My neighbour fostered for GAAS. I adopted two cats from her and she got me into fostering too - even though I had cats of my own and kids. I took in a feral mum and her kittens, I still see the kittens sometimes. I remember the mum flying round the house and dangling from a photo frame!

​Q: You both specialise in looking after pregnant mums and kittens. How difficult is that?

Kelly: I didn’t think I could do it at first, looking after tiny kittens who sometimes die. Some are born sleeping, some die without warning. Sometimes when the kittens are rescued it’s already too late to save them. I start questioning myself sometimes and think I need to stop, but Tracey always talks me round.

Tracey: Rescue work is about being part of a team - always having each others’ backs.

Kelly: It takes over your life. Birth and death are just normal to my teenagers now. They help with the kittens and they like naming them. The most I ever had was five mothers and 24 kittens, four of them bottle fed!

Q: Do you remember any of them in particular?

Kelly: We took in a mum and her seven babies one Christmas - she didn’t have any milk. One of them was Warrior (below). I didn’t know until they arrived that they had severe cat flu. I had to rush them to the vet and then spent Christmas looking after them. One died suddenly and Warrior turmed out to have a severe heart murmur, so she’s still with me as a long term foster. 

​Q: What’s the best thing about volunteering for GAAS?

Tracey: Seeing the cats go off to happy homes. 

Q: How do you make that happen? 

Kelly: I was so nervous the first time I was asked to do a home check, but it was amazingly easy. Mary and Tracey knew I could do it. They show me what I’m capable of. 

Tracey: The fosterers know the cats better than anyone else, and with their updates it makes it so much easier to match cats to homes. Visitors are often surprised that the cats are so chilled and friendly - sometimes they jump straight onto potential owners’ laps. So many people say they’re very happy with the cats and with the information we give them.

Kelly: We always send goody bags out with the kittens with their favourite toys in. I know one cat still sleeps on the crocheted blanket he left us with four years ago. 

Tracey: We had to tell one owner that their cat was bringing his favourite cardboard box. She was a bit surprised but the cat’s still got it years later. 

Q: What’s the hardest thing about your work? 

Tracey: Always being on call. Christmas, Mothers’ Day, any time.

Kelly: Trying to juggle everything, eating on the run and balancing round family life. I kept trying to have Tracey over for a barbeque and we were called out on emergencies every time. In the end we just ate the burgers on the way. 

Q: Tell me about some of the emergencies.

Tracey: There was one where mum & her kittens were hiding under a shed. I was lying on the grass trying to lure them out with sardines, then by playing kitten noises on my phone. We got the kittens, but the mum escaped and we had to look all round the estate to find her. Then I got called back to the same place for more kittens two days later.

We’ve nearly had the police called on us because we went out to find a stray mum one night, climbing into bushes and looking through windows and someone accused us of acting suspiciously. And then there was the time when a cat had her kittens in an electrical box. We had to wait for the electrical company to turn the lights off for the whole street before we could get them safely.

Q: If you could tell all cat owners one thing, what would it be?

Tracey: Get your cats neutered! 

If you're interested in volunteering for GAAS, please visit our Volunteering section to find out more.