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Events

LondonCats’ Cat Extravaganza!

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This spring a cat show and clowder of feline related vendors will hit London in what promises to be the feline equivalent to Crufts……

Londons Cat Extravaganza

I have to be honest I’m a little undecided about cats and shows, I do worry that the cats get stressed but I’m happy to keep an open mind and go see for myself and I do realise there are some cats of certain breeds that love all the fuss and attention……

I also hear there will be cat agility! No this is not a late April Fool, it’s true! I have heard of many cats really enjoying agility and it’s very popular with people wishing to look after their cats physical and mental health, especially if these cats are kept mostly indoors. I’m very interested in finding out more about this but I think Mr Ringo may not be impressed lol!

There will also be a multitude of vendors and some celebrity guests promised. I’m also hoping there will be a variety of yummy food stalls. Maybe I will see you there?

Cats on the Page, a celebration of cats in literature

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The British Library in London currently has a wonderful exhibition about Cats in Literature. Being a huge fan of cat books, I popped in yesterday to take a look. The exhibition is for people of all ages and it was lovely to hear school children chatting with older people about their cats and what mischief they do, a real meeting of feline fans….. of course we all know cats can’t do lots of the things mentioned in the books on display (well maybe they just decide not to? ) but isn’t it lovely to know the British Library recognises how popular our feline friends are in books?

Cats come to life in this display of books, manuscripts and artwork and you will love it. I especially enjoyed seeing letters and manuscripts from T.S.Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Other stories featured include, Tom Kitten, Mog, Puss in Boots, The Cat in the Hat. There are also some adult books featured and entertaining sound recordings to listen to.

The British Library is a fascinating place to visit and you will spend hours looking around all the other displays, it has great cafes and two bookshops too.  The exhibition is on now until 17th March 2019 and is free to enter. xx

London’s First Catfest!

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Yesterday I attended London’s first ever Catfest and was looking forward to it. I had a lovely day and it was wonderful to be in a place filled with like minded people. There has been quite a lot of negative comments on social media some justified and in my opinion some not. So here’s my take on the whole event.

When I arrived, there was a very long queue to get in and people were hot, well you can’t really blame the weather on the event organisers. The queue was very slow and they needed a fast track queue for people with advance tickets or just more staff to get people inside. I think this was just teething problems as the event has never happened before and maybe the event organisers were inexperienced?  Anyway enter we did and oh my it was packed and it was hot! This is often the case when you go to a show and eventually people move around but it was quite hard to see all the stalls.

There were speakers that I was looking forward to listening to but they were on the stage and there was nowhere to sit and listen to them properly, they really needed to be in another room with seats. I would have been annoyed if I was one of the speakers. It was also quite annoying when you were trying to chat to the stall holders and couldn’t hear very well due to the speakers. I found the stall holders very friendly and happy to chat and most of their products were interesting but unfortunately there wasn’t enough stalls to spend all day looking at or spending your money on. I would have loved to have seen more stalls with cat stuff to buy. Unfortunately there were some real cats there that were not happy and looked stressed and hot, I found this totally unnecessary and upsetting.

The event needed to be much bigger and I hope if Catfest is done again a bigger venue is found. The venue was also in another building over the road and unfortunately you had to queue again to get inside as it wasn’t big enough and entrance was done on a one person out one person in system……

Eventually when allowed in we got to meet the people from The Big Cat Sanctuary who were very interesting to chat to and one of my favourite cat authors Anita Kelsey with her book “Claws”.  Another lovely surprise was James Bowen and Bob the Street Cat were signing books there. Now Bob was just sat there and taking it all in his stride, he is one cool cat! Nothing seems to stress Bob, I suppose he’s used to it all

James Bowen with Bob the Street Cat

There were also kittens and cats there up for adoption, I was worried that they would be stressed but I didn’t see any such thing. My high light of the day was getting to meet lots of crazy cat people and saying hello to a few of my favourite cat authors especially Gwen Cooper, New York Times bestselling author of “Homer’s Odyssey”.

Best selling author Gwen Cooper

I also have to mention the yummy vegan food for sale, it was good value and healthy.

So all in all it was a good day but improvements needed for another year and no real cats allowed? Just Bob?

Love Rachel xx

London Catfest 2018! Meowsers!!

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14th July is the date for London’s first Catfest!

14th July is the date for London’s first Catfest!

It will be a celebration for all things cat. There will be fancy cat food, cat products such as books, art and accessories. Talks and films on cats, cocktails and veggie street food. There will also be an adoption lounge, run by charity Feline Friends, to raise awareness about welfare efforts and to help cats in need.  To find out more here’s the link http://www.catfestlondon.com

World Animal Spay Day 2018

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World Spay Day 2018

Today is the 24th annual World Spay Day and to celebrate Portsmouth Cat Sitting is donating towards two spay/neuter programs near to Rachel’s heart.

The first is local cat sanctuary “Penny’s Place” which is based in Portsmouth, run by a husband and wife team Penny and Kevin, who work tirelessly with many volunteers to help local cats that maybe lost, injured, abandoned, pregnant or unfortunately killed. The helpers involved with this sanctuary help cats in all hours and weathers with donations from local people and businesses. These wonderful kind people are proof that angels walk among us.  If ever you have unwanted cat food or litter please consider donating it to them, Rachel is happy to collect it to pass on to Penny.

Pennys Place
Nine Lives Greece

The second is Nine Lives Greece, a group of volunteers who help stray/abandoned cats on the streets of Athens through neutering, feeding, veterinary care and adoption. As many of you who holiday in Greece will know the cat situation is only getting worse with all the problems Greece has at present.

Nine Lives have also recently written a lovely book about, well cats of course! All profits from the sale of this book will help the cats. Happy World Spay Day everyone! Link to the book here

Cat Tails book

Cat Cafes, I’m Sat on the Fence….

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London Cat Village – Photo by Rachel Woodisse

Last week I was visiting family in London and decided to visit one of the cat cafes there. I have to be totally open and honest with you all…….. I just can’t make up my mind whether I like cat cafes or not. So I’m going to tell you about what I like and don’t like…….

3 years ago I visited Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium in London and was very impressed, it had recently opened and everything was new and clean and the cats apart from 3 had all come from the same litter and Mum cat was there too. In total 11 cats, they were all very calm and in lovely healthy condition. There were rules that all cat cafes have to ensure the welfare of the cats.  The litter trays were away from the public . The whole cafe was designed with the cats in mind to make their world as comfortable and stress free as possible. I came away feeling fairly positive…..

2 years later I went to see Meow Parlour in New York, this cat cafe was run much the same way as Dinah’s but the cats there are all rescue cats up for adoption. So if you live locally and fall in love with a feline friend over coffee, after a successful home check you can adopt! When I was there I was told they had adopted out over 200 cats! The cats appeared very calm and could get away from each other and the public by going via a cat flap to another room. I left there feeling overall positive but with a few concerns.

So last week I found myself in The London Cat Village, this cafe has had many negative reviews from people and reading between the lines, nearly all the complaints were from people that were looking at everything from a human point of view, with no concern about the cats welfare….sigh!

People moaning about having to wait to get in, you are booked into a time slot so there are not lots of people at once stressing the cats out!

People annoyed with the smell of cat pee and hairs! The cafe has 16 cats, so yes this will happen….. When I was there, I did get a slight whiff of pee and of course there were hairs, it’s a CAT cafe right?

Some people were not happy with not being allowed to touch the sleeping  cats. Imagine sleeping and being touched all the time? Cats love to sleep ALOT!

Some people didn’t like the way there is a mesh door between you and the cafe when you first enter; this is to stop the cats getting outside to a busy street.  So these moans to me are positives surely?

So what didn’t I like?  With all of the 3 I visited the one thing that concerned me was the size of the premises, they didn’t seem big enough for the amount of cats.

I would much rather see rescue cats in them looking for new homes. London Cat Village has all breeds from breeders and no adoption policy. The other cafes have rescues, only Meow Parlour adopts out.

When all 3 of the cafes are full it seems a lot of people,  all possibly strangers to the cats? Is this not stressful? Although I realise some cats are friendlier than others.

Litter trays were an issue for me, I saw covered ones in all the cat cafes and often this can be an issue for cats. When in multi cat households, cats often ambush each other when leaving the tray. Cats don’t need privacy like us. I would rather see uncovered ones in a more private area away from the public.

After my visit to the London Cat Village I did email the manager about my concerns and received a very interesting  reply mentioning they are in the process of moving to bigger premises with a conservatory planned.

All of the cat cafes I visited were very welcoming and it was obvious all the staff I met cared very much for the cats. The cats all looked in good condition physically. The cafes had also all environmentally enriched the premises with cat shelves, trees and hiding places etc.

To sum up I’m still on the fence about cat cafes and I really want them to be positive and if they get homes for a cat, that’s good isn’t it? But are they, with the high numbers of cats always indoors, just stressing the cats?   Should we as cat lovers instead visit cat themed cafes that feature posters of cats needing homes on their walls?

Thanks for reading x

Cats and Fireworks

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Fireworks photo courtesy ihavecat.com

If like me you live with a cat who is terrified of fireworks, here are some tips to help with the stress of it all.

  • On the run up to firework night it’s worth investing in a plug- in that will help to calm your cat, I use Feliway and also Pet Remedy plug-ins both are available online and from most vets. Feliway is just for cats and gives off a pheromone which helps calm and make your cat feel happier. Pet Remedy is for all pets, so useful if you have other pets in the house, it gives off scents of natural calming herbs and plants. I have used both and can’t really decide which one I prefer, Feliway is more expensive and doesn’t seem to last as long but as it’s just for cats I feel it maybe better, but Pet Remedy smells more interesting and lasts about 10 days longer, so I have one of each in different areas of my home.
  • As the fireworks normally start when it gets dark you may think about feeding your cat in daylight if that’s possible. Cats can be so stressed by the noise they won’t eat.
  • If possible stay in with your cats, they will feel better with you nearby.
  • Draw curtains and turn the TV up to hide the noise and lights of the fireworks, especially if you have to go out and leave them alone.
  • If your cat goes off and hides in the house, leave them be, us fussying over them will only make things worse.
  • Make sure the catflap is locked and you have a litter tray to hand, make sure this tray is not near windows if possible.
  • Always invest in a microchip for your cat even if your cat never goes out, imagine if they got out and panicked and got lost!
  • Lastly chat to your vet about medication for cats with serious firework anxiety problems.

Here’s to a purrfect firework event for the whole family. x