Cats Protection is the UK’s leading feline welfare charity and our vision is a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs. Cats are at the centre of everything we do and our objectives are: homing, neutering and educating people about cats and their care. We help thousands of cats across the UK each year thanks to our network of dedicated volunteers, staff and supporters.
Our Lifeline fosterer volunteers provide temporary care and accommodation for cats owned by people experiencing domestic abuse until they can be safely reunited with their beloved pets. Our volunteer fosterers care for these cats in their own homes, providing peace of mind to victim-survivors escaping domestic abuse who know that their cats are receiving the care and attention they need.
Our Lifeline fosterers treat the cats in their care as members of their family. Although the cats aren’t able to go outside, fostering means their time with our fosterers is as much like home as possible. However, this does mean that our Lifeline fosterers aren’t able to have pets of their own.
We are currently recruiting volunteer cat foster carers across London & the South East, East Anglia, Midlands, Yorkshire, Scotland and Wales.
Are you looking for a rewarding and unique volunteering opportunity? Would you like to care for a cat in your own home, whilst also enabling a family to escape domestic abuse?
Our Lifeline service is a unique cat fostering scheme for people experiencing domestic abuse. As refuges are often unable to accept pets, many people experiencing abuse find it harder to leave without knowing their pet will also be safe. Our fostering service offers them a lifeline, ensuring that their cats will be cared for and loved by volunteer foster carers until they can be safely reunited. It's completely free to foster a cat with Lifeline, and you receive regular ongoing support from our friendly team.
The service is also completely confidential and foster placements last an average of 6-9 months, but holiday cover can be easily arranged.
We want to be here to ensure that all cats and their owners are protected from abuse – with your support we can do that.
More information here: https://www.cats.org.uk/cp-lifeline
You will develop new skills, expand your knowledge and make a significant contribution to improving the lives of people and cats by looking after Lifeline cats until they can be returned to their families. You will also meet new people and be part of a dedicated team of employees and volunteers.
Our Lifeline fosterers usually spend one to three hours per day in this role. However, this might vary depending on the number of cats in your care.
At Cats Protection we believe our volunteers should be happy and confident in their roles. We provide support and guidance from our National Cat Centre and through our regional and local volunteer groups and teams. We offer engaging online and face-to-face training, expenses and have policies and processes to help volunteers get the most out of their time with us.
The wellbeing of our people is important and at Cats Protection we are committed to safeguarding children, adults at risk and all those that we come into contact with as part of our activities.