2024-03-31-accounts

FELINE CARE, rescue sanctuary advice rehoming Annual Report 2023-24 Ythr endln8 3tst Marth 2024

Trustees Report

Welcome from our Chair

It's been another busy, rewarding and challenging year at Feline Care. There have been many successes, including happy homings, a growing social media presence, collaboration with other welfare organisations, and many fantastic fundraising events. There have also been low points, most notably the sad loss of our lovely patron Ian Lavender.

Since his first visit and becoming a Patron in December 2013, Ian Lavender has been part of our Feline Care family, showing support at every opportunity and believing in our mission. While we miss our Open Days, they would never be the same without Ian and we shall forever treasure the smiles and giggles he has so generously given us.

We have continued to offer love and care for around 150 cats at a time, finding new forever homes for those able to and giving a stable retirement to cats not suitable for rehoming. Some of our residents live in indoor communal housing, others enjoy the safety and freedom of our four acre site, but all enjoy the food, company and veterinary care that we are able to provide.

There have been some interesting medical cases to manage this year and sadly we cannot save every cat, but we can offer end of life care and a loving and dignified end to suffering if this is in the cat's best interest. As well as all the cats we have taken in, we have also taken pride in helping lots of cats stay with their families by offering the right support.

This year we have taken a large step towards securing Feline Care’s future by employing the services of an Animal Charity Consultant to help us look at how we work from the top down and help us bring in a new Centre Manager to move Feline Care forward. We hope that in the year ahead this will enable us to bring in the support the charity needs to flourish for cats forever.

Our work would not be possible without the time, commitment and passion of our staff, volunteers and trustees. I am always struck by the enthusiasm and generosity of both the team and the public who attend events, donate funds and of course offer new loving homes to our cats.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to the work of Feline Care and hope you can continue to be part of our onward journey. We would also like to extend our thanks and our love to the family of Ian Lavender, Patron of Feline Care for 11 years. We will miss him very much.

We must look to the future. We will continue to offer our unique care, taking in the difficult cases and giving them the Feline Care 'treatment'. I always feel emotional when I write these introductions. The passion and commitment that are the very being of Feline Care touches my heart and the lives of all the cats in our care.

Thank you all again for doing such great work.

Ken Hill Chair

Feline Care

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Who we are

Feline Care (FC) began life as Feralands, part of another cat rescue charity based in West Sussex, set up to provide lifelong sanctuary to cats from that area, who for various reasons were not able to find homes. Alongside a very active TNR (Trap, Neuter & Return) scheme, over time we began taking in cats from the local area and facilitating our own adoptions.

In 2011 our parent charity made plans to sell our site leaving us with the choice of returning all our residents to their site in Sussex or purchasing the land and becoming a charity in our own right.

With huge support from volunteers and the local community, we were able to both raise the funds and establish as a separate registered charity in the extremely tight timescales given to us and keep Feline Care’s doors open to cats.

Feline Care is based in a purpose-built sanctuary at Harling Road, Norfolk, and accommodates an average of 150 cats and offers a neutering scheme for feral and domestic cats. We are governed by a board of trustees with the charity founder, Molly Farrar, living on site. We employ a small team of staff to assist with the daily care of the cats and to manage our fundraising and Charity Shop.

FC is proud to be an independent cat charity, able to support and care for feral, stray and domestic cats, through rescue, re-homing, neutering and educating the public on the responsibilities of pet ownership. The staff and volunteers work tirelessly to relieve the suffering of all types of cats by providing a calm and safe space of sanctuary for their care and in the hope of finding them permanent homes or while they stay with us for treatment.

FC admit cats on a temporary or permanent basis, regardless of age, health, and behaviour. We carefully manage our intake to support those least likely to find help elsewhere or to those who need it most urgently, always with their future happiness and safety in mind.

Feline Care

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Our home

Feline Care is based in nearly 4 acres of land, tucked away at the bottom of a small industrial area.

The entire site is fully enclosed with cat proof fencing, ensuring those that live on site are safe from roads and external factors.

All traffic on site is controlled and kept in a lower car park which the cats do not have access to, meaning residents no longer have to worry about danger from vehicles.

The sanctuary set-up includes animal bedrooms and communal pens in a purpose-built single storey building, underfloor heated throughout. Larger areas allow multi-cat families to stay together while their social bonds are assessed prior to rehoming as well as giving socialised cats the chance to make new cat friends.

FC has isolation units, a kitten quarantine and an intensive care room for those admitted with medical needs and aim to be flexible enough with space to meet the needs of individual cats.

Purpose built ‘Jellicle’ pens, primarily for cats admitted through the TNR scheme, are unheated and enable outdoor cats to be temporarily sheltered at familiar temperatures, crucial for them to retain their thick coats. Great effort is made to ensure feral cats have a calm and safe experience.

For free roaming residents, mostly feral cats, there is ample outside space with over three acres of woodland, scrub and meadow which provides a green, pleasant and stimulating environment for those preferring to reside outdoors. Numerous shelter options are offered, including a large timber frame building with a loft area and all outdoor residents have access to heated bedrooms as well should they wish to use them.

The number of permanent residents with us fluctuates, but we generally have around 60 cats living free on site. We always have a group of residents needing more specialist attention who reside in our reception area, but who still have free access to our grounds. Some of our reception cats have been with us many years and are well known by staff, volunteers and visitors alike.

While the charity always aims to help as many cats as possible, its work can never be quantified by numbers alone as the priority is and will always be to help those most in need.

None of this could be done without the generous support of cat lovers not only across the UK but from across the globe.

Feline Care

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What we do

Animals arrive at the sanctuary in a number of ways and for a number of reasons. They may be found as strays, litters from unneutered mothers, brought to the centre, sometimes dumped at the gates or relinquished by owners no longer able to care for them or unwilling to treat medical conditions.

We have even had a few male cats who self-admitted by climbing over our fences and onto site. We are also asked to trap strays and sometimes colonies of feral cats. We engage with other organisations to take in large numbers of cats from ‘hoarder’ situations.

Work undertaken with groups of feral cats often includes the control of growing colonies on business premises where cats are captured, neutered and returned to the working environment. The FC team covers primarily the local Breckland area but works closely with other cat and animal charities whenever possible to deal with difficult situations.

Feline Care remains technically full all year round. Admissions are managed purely on a priority basis and are entirely dependent on availability of spaces. We operate an active waiting list of cats whose owners wish to re-home their pets. We tend to focus our admittance on the cats that other rescues may not prioritise, specifically feral or elderly cats and those with medical or behavioural issues.

On arrival, all animals undergo a full health check and any entire males or females are neutered. We scan every cat admitted for a microchip, in case it has become separated from its owners. Any un-microchipped cats are microchipped, these are then dual registered to us and the eventual new owner. Microchipping is essential in reuniting lost cats with their owners, and it gives us peace of mind that for any animal we have chipped, should the owner not be found, the cat will return to us.

All cats admitted are also vaccinated and given parasite treatments for fleas and worms. If other veterinary treatments are required, we will engage appropriate veterinary professionals, including referrals to specialist centres.

It is not uncommon for the veterinary costs for some of the cats we admit to run into thousands of pounds. Our willingness to treat cats with medical needs means we can save the lives of cats that might otherwise be euthanised.

Feline Care

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Each animal admitted spends three to four weeks in quarantine, either in one of our quarantine units, or in a separate bedroom area, before being allowed into any communal cat area. During this time we monitor the cat's behaviour, if we discover they dislike other cats, they won’t join a communal area but will remain in an individual bedroom.

Many of the cats we take in will have suffered former trauma and abuse and have resulting behavioural issues. For these cats we work with an animal behaviourist to develop a behaviour plan. These written plans are followed by all staff and volunteers and are monitored and adapted as required.

We have had great success in transforming angry, scared cats into loving lap cats. We have also successfully toilet trained many cats who have learned bad habits. For behavioural and socialisation reasons, we only re-home kittens in pairs, and under a neutering deposit scheme to ensure that they will be neutered at the appropriate stage.

Our adoption fee remains a standard amount regardless of the length of time an animal has been with us or the amount of money we have spent on their care. In some circumstances we may reduce or waive the adoption fee.

For very elderly cats being adopted out for end-of-life care, it is more important for us to get them into the right home environment, than to receive the standard adoption fee. For cats with complex medical issues, we may offer ongoing support for a proportion of their care, if the new owners use our veterinary teams.

Veterinary care for our cats is managed sympathetically with the help of Cherry Tree vets in Diss our primary provider, who undertake regular visits to the sanctuary and carry out the majority of neutering.

We continue to use Knotts Yard Veterinary Practice in Watton and, as a result of diminishing veterinary appointment availability, have also used a number of other veterinary practices this year including Westover, Debenham and Wymondham vets.

Where possible, colonies of feral cats are trapped by us or third parties, then brought into the centre, neutered, left ear clipped as necessary, microchipped and then returned to the location they came from. Where returning or re-homing is not possible, socialised feral cats are able to join our outdoor colony and to roam free on site. All our outdoor cats have free access to indoor areas. Despotic male cats, in the majority of cases, have to be returned to their area or rehomed.

Feline Care

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Our free roaming colony of around 60 cats comprises mostly of those who are not people friendly. As their trust grows over time, we never rule out re-homing these cats to suitable homes. Over the years we have several of these non-people friendly cats decide they actually quite like people and go on to be adopted and live out their life as pampered domestic cats.

We operate on a basis of a lifelong rescue back up for any cats that are admitted and adopted out through us. We hope that every animal adopted out has successfully found their forever family, but understand that life can provide unexpected challenges, so if an owner's circumstances change and they can no longer look after the cat, we take the animal back into our care, regardless of how much time has passed since the adoption.

Where we are engaged in removing cats from multi-cat households, we will work with them to return a limited number of cats to the home, following neutering and medical care. This prevents the owner filling up the home again with more unwanted and unneutered cats. Regardless of our feelings on these situations, the cat’s welfare is the most important thing.

We feel that promoting good cat welfare is essential, especially the importance of neutering, microchipping and adopting rather than buying cats bred for sale. Our Founder is often called on to discuss cat welfare issues through radio and TV broadcasts. We also use our social media platforms to deliver these messages.

People often contact us for our expert advice, even for cats that were not adopted from us. We are happy to give this advice and find in some situations, it can result in a simple change the owner needs to make, or follow and can result in a happier cat and family.

Giving good advice helps to reduce the numbers of cats being given up by owners, reducing the burden on rescues and freeing up spaces for those cats that really need them.

Feline Care

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Our Year

Our waiting list of people wanting to give up cats significantly increased in 2023 and we suspect this will continue to rise.

We continued to see a significant uptick in the number of breed cats we were asked to take in. We suspect this increase has been fuelled by the pandemic and people now wanting to give up animals they purchased or bred during lockdown.

We were also contacted to help two breeders clear larger groups as they were stopping their breeding businesses, 9 cats due to moving home and 12 due to emigration. Both groups were all female and needed a huge amount of support as their former life experiences were so limited. One of the younger pairs had suffered severe frostbite during early kittenhood, both losing tails and ear tips, one sadly also losing her back feet. Thankfully Foxy and Lucky went off to a wonderful indoor home where they are now being loved and spoilt rotten.

Some of the notable cats we helped during the course of 2023/2024:

Super G remained in our care since being left almost blind from cat ‘flu and anaemia. In October she was fortunate to receive free corneal surgery from Dr David Williams and Clarendon Street Vets in Cambridge to try and regain some of her vision. The surgery was a success in giving her some sight, although she will always have greatly limited vision.

Milo was admitted with painful infected toes as a result of a rare auto-immune disorder. After finding long term management of his symptoms, he was adopted but unfortunately returned to us, due to his new owner underestimating his ongoing needs. Milo is now a very happy member of our reception crew where his favourite pastime is pooping in his own bed as a surprise for our cattery staff!

An elderly feral cat we named Cherry was the saddest case of our year, we were only able to retrieve her and get her to our vets for euthanasia as she was beyond the point of saving. What probably started as an ear infection, with great neglect from the people who fed her, ultimately led to her loss of life. It was very difficult to see any cat suffer so extremely in her last weeks.

‘White Cat’ was a feral who had a very loving family feeding him. He returned home one day with a quite horrific looking eye injury and we lent a trap to admit him for treatment, assuming the eye would need removing. Thal

We were relieved to find out the injury was mostly to his eye lid so his cornea, therefore vision, was savable. Vets removed a huge grass seed from under his eye lid and he spent 5 weeks in recovery with us before being able to go home.

Feline Care

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Supporting owners with mental health issues has been a larger part of our work this year and it’s been rewarding for us, the cats and their owners. In some cases we have been able to support cats in staying at home, but several have been admitted for everyone’s benefit.

We were asked to assist an owner by taking their elderly cat for euthanasia. On collection we found the forlorn cat on the floor, covered in vaseline with a pile of grass to eat and a panicking owner.

We were able to discuss the cat coming into our care so we could make the euthanasia decision only if it was appropriate. His owner was very relieved to have the anxiety of caring for his cat removed and after a thorough vet check and several baths, the handsome ginger chap made a full recovery ready for a new home.

Superstar Ed Sheeran popped in for neutering in August but was lucky enough to find a new home rather than being returned where he was no longer wanted.

He now works in stables as a pest controller but is very bad at it apparently because he loves people too much!

Don MacLean also came for neutering but as he was about to be taken home we found out he was going to be dumped in countryside miles from home.

We kept him and he found a perfect new rural home where he could be given a settling in period to get to know his area.

Sometimes we find ourselves involved with other species unexpectedly. We admitted a disabled hedgehog as our sanctuary is perfect for him to stay safe. We also went to welfare check some cats and came home with an elderly balding hamster who swiftly found a new home with our heating engineer! And our strangest call of the year was from the UK’s only genuinely humane pest controller (in Scotland!) to loan a cat trap to catch a stray skunk in Ipswich, mission accomplished!

Our social media presence continues to grow and we have over 12,000 supporters on our main Facebook page. We post at least daily and it is used for our core online fundraising. We have found Facebook to be extremely helpful as an educational and communication tool and will continue to grow our social media presence.

We also have Facebook groups for volunteers, fundraising and our shop plus we regularly use Instagram and are growing our TikTok audience.

Feline Care

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Having lost our regular donation from Whiskas a few years ago and still having no luck in sourcing a bulk tinned food supplier, we continue to rely heavily on donated cat food.

To set our kittens up well for the future we feed Smilla, a sugar free food, and over the last year we have moved our free roaming cats onto a sugar free diet to better prevent dental disease.

Our core biscuit used is Royal Canin, purchased directly with good discounts. After phasing out feeding treats to cats up for homing during COVID changes, we have not reintroduced treat giving to our daily routine as the behavioural benefits have been so huge.

Our web-based application for potential adopters (implemented as a result of COVID) proved so successful, we continued to use this as the primary source for initial adoption enquires. The use of this multi question form provides us with an initial view on the home situation and animal requirements and allows us to assess if potential adopters might suit any of our residents.

This process reduces call time for potential adopters that we have no cat matches for and allows us to process applications at unsociable times which can take pressure off the cattery. Any possible matches are discussed by phone prior to visiting which means less visitors disturbing our feral population on site.

Home visits are still carried out virtually, usually by WhatsApp and arrangements to collect the cat will be made as soon as possible after. We provide ongoing support, advice and assistance to adopters if they require it. After increasing our adoption donation during COVID our minimum adoption donation is now £75 per cat or kitten.

Following the success of our web-based adoption application form, we trialled a web-based form for people needing to give up their cats/asking us for help. This has proved very successful and been made a permanent process. Saving time and helping us direct our efforts where they are most needed.

With the economic climate significantly impacting people, we saw a huge increase in people asking for our help. We don’t have space to take in every cat that we are asked to help, but we can relieve some of the immediate pressure by assisting with neutering or providing food or parasite control.

Having noticed a huge increase in people giving up pets due to vet fees, this may be an area we look at prioritising in the future.

Feline Care

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In remembrance

The heartache of losing loved residents continues to be outweighed by the love and appreciation the cats give us. We feel blessed to have been able to have loved them.

James joined our feline family in 2013 after being hit by a car. He was rushed to a vet, where they gave him pain relief and instructions to return him to the site of the accident. Fortunately, his rescuer brought James to us.

After a long recovery, James was released on site and quickly made friends with everyone. Although he was feral, he learned to trust our staff and volunteers. He had irregularly recurrent abscesses caused by his head impact, but his willingness to trust us meant we could easily treat him for these.

James was popular with all the cats but eventually feral Alien grew to become his very special friend. Wherever James was, Alien would be close by and it was rare to see them apart.

Alien joined us in 2009 with two friends from a very large relocated feral colony in Ireland. She retained her feral soul, a choice we must always respect. Alien went to sleep one day in early July when she was around 17 years old, leaving James bereft. James followed her to the afterfields just 11 days later, he had heart failure.

Adalida stole our hearts as soon as she arrived. She was a feral queen whose kitten was caught and killed by hand ‘as he might have had cat ‘flu,’. Adalida would have been killed too but thankfully we were able to step in.

She became one of the most loved and smiley members of our family and her loss to a kidney tumour was very hard on everyone who had loved her so much.

Evelyn spent her last nine months calling Feline Care home. She was the last old lady of a group of cats we neutered back in 2007 and at around 19/20 years old, it was definitely her time to be pampered.

Despite being pretty much completely deaf and blind, she quickly accepted our love and good food with a cosy bed. It was a joy to give her those months and then a gentle goodbye. We got to love Evelyn for 300 days and her purrs were among the best ever, certainly the most satisfying. _ _

Our last difficult loss of the year was Phoebe Domino. One of 48 cats from a hoarder’s home that we admitted in 2017. Phoebe had only been taught bad things about people so we never pushed her to be our friend, we just made sure she was looked after from afar. We are very glad to be here for cats like Phoebe, we are more than happy to love cats who don’t like us!

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Feline Care

Our euthanasia policy

Euthanasia is often a controversial topic but we acknowledge and appreciate its relevance to supporters of animal welfare charities.

We only make decisions based on absolutely justified euthanasia, when quality of life is unlikely to be restored.

As a sanctuary, where cats may live out their days, we believe it is ntiee EE mae git Siaiainhergs aiaPike

our duty to care for the cats in our home as if they were our family. eae eae Sigs be

We take pleasure in giving them their best quality of life but we do Oe ee. Be feel it is important to give cats a pain free, calm and dignified oe tice.OF passing as suffering is not fair on them or those of us who care about them.

Euthanasia is absolutely justified when there is no better option for an animal than

Euthanasia could be described as being contextually justified when there is at least one better option available but the circumstances are such that it could not be taken, therefore euthanasia is the best available option.

There may be times when a vet could suggest many alternatives to euthanasia that would give the animal a good quality of life. If these were not undertaken the reason for euthanasia could be described as non-justified .

~ BVA Guide to Euthanasia, 2016

For some cats, their health immediately indicates their treatment and any decisions, but where cats have a long term illness and more gradual decline the burden falls on us to time and plan ahead to make their last moments as calm and gentle as possible. Unless the situation dictates otherwise, we always use home euthanasia as we believe cats should be in the place they know, with the sounds, smells and feels of home. Last moments should be as comfortable as we can make them. They deserve that dignity even more so because most of the cats who live out their days here have been grossly let down by humankind in their past.

Whenever possible, if we are able to plan the moment, cats are given a ‘Princess Day’ to ensure their last moments are full of as much happiness as possible. Princess Day is very much planned around the individual. Volunteers and staff may come in specially to spend time with them or they might like to watch wildlife television, they might like to eat special things or just hang out with their cat friends.

None of the cats we take in are put to sleep unless professional medical advice suggests it is in their best interest. We are grateful to be able to see residents live well into old age in the comfort of this safe haven, even when they have extra care needs. If the cat's medical or behaviour needs mean they cannot be re-homed, they are able to live out life as our permanent family.

We feel very privileged to work with some wonderful veterinary surgeries who support our cats and our team very well at these difficult times.

Feline Care

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Our mission

To relieve the suffering of domestic, feral and stray cats that are unwanted, abused or abandoned, regardless of their colour, breed, temperament, age or medical conditions, by providing shelter, medical aid and care.

To find permanent, loving homes for the cats that come into our care and to offer lifelong care and shelter for those that cannot be re-homed

• To promote high standards of companion animal ownership and responsible management of domestic, stray and feral cats, through neutering.

• To advance education in need for responsible ownership.

Structure Governance and Management

Feline Care began operating as an independent charity on 1 April 2012. The Trustees, as charity trustees, have control of FC, its property and funds. They are governed by the Trust Deed signed on 7 September 2011. Trustees were appointed for varying terms of office to ensure continuity. At the end of each term of office, the remaining Trustees agree either to reappoint or to appoint a new Trustee. Should a Trustee resign mid-term, a new Trustee may be appointed. New or reappointed Trustees have a three-year term of office.

Our Trustees 2023/2024

Kenneth Hill (Chair) Molly Farrar Stephanie Kayne Carrianne Freeman-Hall Lisa Bailey James Thurston

All Trustees undertake their duties in a voluntary capacity and receive no remuneration or other benefits for their work as Trustees. In addition to volunteering as a Trustee, Molly Farrar is employed by FC as the charity’s full time manager.

The Trustees hold quarterly meetings, presided over by the Chairman or a nominated deputy. At least three of the five appointed Trustees are present at each meeting. The agendas for meetings have as routine business: matters arising, updated financial report, fundraising and staffing issues. Other matters are included for discussion and agreement as necessary.

Day to day operational decisions are delegated by the Trustees to the full time manager and responsibility for significant strategic decisions remains with the trustees.

The independent review of the FC accounts was undertaken by SCS Accountancy Solutions Ltd of Dereham. Payroll is managed by Becky Potiphar who manages it voluntarily in house.

We are still proud to have Rick Wakeman’s support as our Patron.

Feline Care

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Staff and Volunteers

We have a small team of part-time and full-time staff:

1 x FT founder 1 x FT shop manager 1 x FT senior cattery assistant 1 x PT shop assistant

3 x PT cattery assistants

Our staffing situation fluctuated this year, with existing cattery staff moving on to new opportunities and new staff joining us.

Our cattery assistants and operations manager work from our Sanctuary site and between them provide full time 7 day a week coverage. We always have someone on site overnight. Our team collectively have a great deal of specialised cat care knowledge, including the ability to hand rear kittens and give minor medical treatments under the supervision of veterinary professionals.

As the Charity has grown the demand on our Founder has increased substantially, both from an animal care and administration perspective. To relieve some of this pressure and help move the charity forward, in September we recruited a specialist consultant to help us step back and look at how to move forward. The decision was taken to recruit for a full-time manager which is now in the recruitment process.

As with all charities, FC relies heavily on a large number of volunteers who dedicate anything from a few hours to a few days a week. Ranging from 16 years to over 70 years and including people of all abilities, our volunteers are valued members of the FC team and undertake everything from the daily cleaning out of cats, manning stalls at fundraising events, serving in the charity shops, standing for hours shaking collection tins at supermarkets and other stores, driving cats to vet appointments, carrying out home checks, to helping with site maintenance.

We lost a significant number of our volunteers because of regulation changes and shops closing during COVID, although our dedicated core of volunteers continue to be an essential part of the Feline Care team.

A more organised daily cattery routine has led to the need for much better use of our volunteers and we are committed to creating more volunteer roles to take pressure off our staff and increase the quality of care the cats receive. We still have a waiting list of people that want to volunteer with FC, which is amazing.

Feline Care

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Our Shops and Fundraising

We receive no government funding and adoption fees cover only a fraction of our costs. Most of our funding comes from our Attleborough shop and other fundraising activities.

We have relied heavily this year on volunteers to run stalls and attend events, plus keen supporters who fundraise for us like Rachel who busks with her violin to raise cash for our kitties.

Our Attleborough shop continued to trade normally this year with our shop manager and part time shop assistant being supported by a dedicated core of shop volunteers. Our shop manager and fundraiser, Louise Revell, continued to sell more specialist donations via the eBay platform, where we generally have around 250 ‘lots’ on eBay at any one time, and to date have sold over 3000 items. Currently over 500 people have us on their saved seller list and we have a 100% positive feedback score. Additional shop volunteers support by researching donated items, so we get the best return possible from our ebay lots.

Monthly pop-up shop events run from the shipping container in our front carpark continue to be popular, with people coming to purchase, donate and try their luck on our tombola. We have a very popular cake stand at these events as well, which always sells out.

We were able to do 11 other fundraising events this year at fetes and fairs and have over 28 events booked in for the year ahead. Finding volunteers to help with stalls remains one of our biggest hurdles to attending events.

We didn’t hold any of our large fundraising open days this year and now accept that they might not return in the future. These events require a great deal of advanced planning and commitment and are a huge disturbance to the cats that Feline Care is home to. Having witnessed the positive results of less visitors to the sanctuary, open days will not return unless we can make them less stressful to the cats. This decision has been very difficult as they are well supported and enjoyed by the whole team, supporters and the wider community.

Once again volunteer Julie ran a huge Easter hamper raffle, with 30 hampers full of donated Easter chocolates and raised over £3400 from this event.

Heather and Julie teamed up to prepare and run a Christmas raffle with 29 hampers donated, that raised over £3700.

We rely heavily on Facebook for advertising their raffles.

This year we produced our first ever Feline Care branded clothing, available by pre-order in the run up to Christmas and it was very successful.

We were extremely fortunate that several people left us legacy donations this year as well.

Feline Care

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Work Under Taken

With the current economic climate and ongoing concerns on how this could impact the charity in the longer term, we were reserved in our operational spending, once again focusing on prioritising site maintenance and enrichment for the cats, which with 4 acres of land can be time consuming.

We were given a large wooden train playset when it was decommissioned from use in our local play park, which as soon as it was placed temporarily in our old car park area, instantly became a favourite of the cats.

With a wider environmental view in mind, and to encourage insects to thrive, we once again decided this year to not mow our front paddock and allow it to wildflower, our old car park has also been allowed to return to grass. The cats enjoy the longer grass, as demonstrated by us finding several patches where cats have obviously made outdoor nesting areas. We were also extremely pleased that the rare wasp spider flourished in our paddock once again this year.

Feline Care

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The massive job of relocating some operations on site continued with:

• Maintenance work on one of our shipping containers (affectionately known as ‘nearland’), which enabled us to relocate the site maintenance tools into the rejuvenated container.

• Refurbishment of the old timber donation house on site was a large job which involved replacing rotten wood, fixing damp issues, insulating, replacing doors and windows, reflooring, painting and shelving. This was completed in Autumn 2023 and the house is now being used to store and organise fundraising and ebay stock.

• Taking down and rebuilding the old rag room and leanto storage area around the donation house to create more dry storage as we rely heavier on online sales which require more storage.

• Starting to remodel the Jellicle area that used to house the maintenance tools, with plans to turn part of this into an office and part into additional storage as we have outgrown some areas.

• Laying new paths through our woodland areas and trimming back over an acre of hawthorn, making it easier for us to move about site.

Most of this work was facilitated and undertaken with help from a few willing and strong volunteers and Olly, between poop-collecting, mowing the lawns and site maintenance.

We engaged the services of a professional tree surgeon to carry out a crown reduction on our row of beech trees that protect our back fence.

We had a lovely donation of the long-term loan of an old airstream diner this year. It will require some specialist remodelling of the inside, but once complete, we are hoping to use this airstream to host ‘cake with cats’ events on site.

Our health and safety plans were continually updated, and we employed external help to ensure we were compliant with legislation.

Sadly our old workhorse, an ex-rental Transit Connect, finally ferried her last cats this year as there was no way to nurse her through another MOT and she went for scrap.

A new ambulance will be added to the list of things we need, although we are very lucky to have a brilliant team of cat taxi volunteers who collect and drop off cats to vets for us.

Feline Care

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The Future

Every care continues to be taken to ensure that expenditure is kept under control, whilst ensuring that the wellbeing of the animals does not suffer. However, substantial investment will still need to be made in continuing the programme of upgrading and maintaining accommodation for the cats and for the building of permanent staff accommodation at the sanctuary; the charity continues to save for this purpose.

Ring-fenced reserves ensure investment for the long term survival of the charity and our Perfect Home Project remains a continuing priority in the longer term.

Applications for grants and donations aimed specifically at the Perfect Home Project have taken a back seat this year while we have been undergoing consultancy. The Project will be revisited in the year ahead as the need for vet provision on site and for the cats we support in the community has greatly increased.

Remaining long term elements of the Project include:

• New reception area directly adjacent to our new car park: reducing the need for visitors to enter the cattery area and to make popping in with donations, admitting cats and visitors much easier.

• Covered pedestrian access from our reception area to the main cattery: giving us disabled access and making the experience of visiting, especially in a wet and cold Norfolk winter, much easier for our older or less mobile visitors.

• AA Recycling and waste point for sanctuary and shop waste: to eliminate the need for skips uz

• lorrie within the grounds, tidy us up and make disposal easier for staff and volunteers. ZK

Continued delivery of the Perfect Home Project will go a long way to future-proofing our work.

Feline Care

Annual Report 2023 – 2024 18

Financial Review

In 2023/24 both our income and expenditure increased as compared to the previous year, with an income of £268k (£170k 22/23) and expenditure of £194k (£174k 22/23).

The end of year difference between income and expenditure was an expected gain due to several legacies allowing us to increase our reserves with a view of progressing the Perfect Home Project in the year ahead. The total held in cash and bank balances was up to £265k.

Full financial details can be found in a separate report.

Reserves Policy

• The amount of reserves will be kept under constant review by Trustees, taking into account future fundraising activities and expenditure.

• No precise amount of reserves can be indicated but if reserves are anticipated to fall, then fundraising activities must be prioritised.

• Amongst other factors to be considered is the need to retain at least the equivalent of one year's annual expenditure in cash, in keeping with general guidelines from the Charity Commission.

• As agreed by the Trustees, there is now a special ring-fenced reserve dedicated to the Perfect Home project, held in our Skipton and Santander Bank Account.

• As it becomes available, from reserves and grants, funds will continue to be allocated to subsequent phases of the Perfect Home Project to improve facilities and infrastructure at FC.

• As reported above, we aim to hold reserves of a minimum of one years annual running costs, taking into account the year on year fluctuations in income and expenditure.

Feline Care

Annual Report 2023 – 2024 19

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they approved the Annual Report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s Trustees:

Signed : ………………………………………… Kenneth Hill, Chair Dated : 30/01/2025

Feline Care

Annual Report 2023 – 2024 20

Feline Care Receipts and Payments Account for the Year Ended 31st March 2024 Income DonationslLegacies Recycling Shop/Ebay/Other Fundraising Activities Gift Aid Reclaim Grants Received Interest Received £ 141,367.04 717.35 94,316.20 19,122.06 6,783.84 3,125.80 2,933.81 £ 268,366.10 enses Wages Vet fees/ neutuering Animal food Cat litter Vehicle expenses Waste disposal Heat, Light & Water HSE & Staff Support Maintenance I renovations Admin & Postage ShoplStocVFundraising General Expenses Insurance Running Costs Net Expenses 112.277.72 28,609.30 7,880.20 2,862.00 1.602.18 1.772.68 7.590.06 5,762.Th) 3.745.26 2.096.70 10,697.36 677.33 3,878.12 5.028.96 £ 194,479.87 Balance of Receipts for the year 73,886.23 Cash and Balances B/Fwd Cater Allen Account Co-operative Account Santander Account Skipton Building Society 71.665.05 44,160.50 52,567.41 97.212.21 Cash and Bank Balances C/Fwd £ 265,605.17 Represented by: Cash and Bank Balances at 31.3.2024 Cater Allen Account Co-operative Account Santander Account Skipton Building Society P&L Balance labovel 73,601.26 106.392.87 59.351.25 l(K),146.02 73,886.23 £ 265,605.17 Feline Care Annual Report 2023- 2024 21

Fellne Care Cat Rescue & Homing Centre Staternent of Assets and Liabilities 31st March 2023 The feline Care Assets comprise of=_ Cash and bank balances- totalling Debtors Purchases paid for after Year End £265,605.17 £0.00 Equipment and Fixtures and Fittings - including the sanctuary and grounds. The Feline Care Liabilities comprise of- Creditors Various supplies paid after year end. £0.00 The Receipts and Payments Account and Statement of Assets and Liabilities were approved by the Board of Trustees on And signed on its behalf by- . Trustee Feline Care Annual Report 2023- 2024 22

Feline Care Cat Rescue & Homing Centre Receipts and Payments Account Independent Examiners Report Registered Charity Number 1144830 For the Year Ended 31st March 2024 I report on the accounts of the Feline Care Cat Rescue & Homing Centre for the year ended 31st March 2024 which are set out on the following pages. Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner As the Charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts,. you consider that an audit is not required for the year {under section 4312) of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act)) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to: Examine the accounts (under section 43 of the Act): To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 43171{b) of the Act); and To state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basi5 of Independent examiner's statement My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directors given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit. and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts. Inde endent Examiners Statement In the course of my examination. no matter has come to my attention- which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material aspect, the trustees have not met the requirements to ensure that: property accounting records are kept {in accordance with section 41 of the Attl- and accounts are prepared which agree with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act; or to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Sue Sheldrake SCS Accounting Solutions Limited Unit 5, Broadway Barns The Broadway, Scarning Dereham, Norfolk NR19 2LQ scs accounting solutions Date 23rd January 2025 Signed .................................................................. Feline Care Annual Report 2023- 2024 23