W is for Welfare

And so the A to Z approaches the end. I’ve brought you all the cool cats in Cat Tales, the anthology drawn from last year’s Book a Break short story competition. As I’m sure you know by now, the proceeds from Cat Tales go to two charities, Cats Protection and the Against Malaria Foundation. So a word now about the first of those, which does so much to ensure the welfare of cats.

First of all, why in the name of Bastet does it exist? I’ve read the whole of Utopia, and there’s not a single mention of Cats Protection, which goes to show that in a perfect world, we wouldn’t need it. On the other hand, there’s no mention of cats at all in Utopia, which makes me think it might not be quite so perfect after all. Oxen, cattle, horses, dogs, hares – but no cats. Perhaps Sir Thomas thought it went without saying. No mention of mice either. Most odd. It’s one reason I need to go there. The cat situation in Utopia needs urgent clarification.

But I digress. The picture above is of Billy, who’s blind in one eye because someone shot him with an air gun. Cats Protection took him in and saved him. Just one example of how far from perfect this world really is, and why Cats Protection is needed. A few facts and figures from their website:

• We have thousands of cats and kittens in our care at any one time
• We rehomed 47,000 cats and kittens in 2015, or 130 cats on average per day
• We help neuter 159,000 cats and kittens per year

I must admit I was brought up sharp by the bit about neutering. Because I don’t know about Utopia, but here in the UK, there are rather too many of us, and in the Taunton area many of them carry my genes. An unneutered female can have 18 kittens a year, so although I say it myself, the neutering programme definitely helps to reduce the number of unwanted cats. For that reason alone, Cats Protection is a charity worth supporting, but its stated aim goes further:

Cats Protection is the UK’s leading feline welfare charity. Our vision is a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs. It’s an ambitious vision. However, we truly believe it can be achieved because of our passion, our professional approach and simply because cats are among the UK’s most popular companion pets.

Cats Protection has simple and clear objectives to help cats:
Homing – Finding good homes for cats in need
Neutering – Supporting and encouraging the neutering of cats
Information – Improving people’s understanding of cats and their care

 The proceeds from Cat Tales go to two charities, Cats Protection and the Against Malaria Foundation. So far we’ve donated £40 to each of the two charities. Please don’t hesitate to spread the word (reblog, twitter, faceboook, sandwich board, Times Square illumination – all means are welcome) and help us raise as much as we can. 

In a special promotion deal, the price of Cat Tales is just $1.99 for the whole month of April. Available as a PDF (or epub / mobi) complete with colour illustrations directly from this site* by clicking the button below. Also available in print (black & white, $9.50).

*You can buy from Amazon here, but buying from this site results in $1.61 after the PayPal commission, as opposed to just $0.70 from Amazon. An insecticide treated mosquito net, which protects on average 2 people for 3 to 4 years, costs $2.50. PLUS, if you buy from this site, you’ll get a personal message of thanks from Curtis along with a short story of his own (in which Nibbles the cat, I’m sorry to say, comes to a rather unfortunate end).