Cats protection is run as you all know by volunteer branches.
There are Cat Care Standards which are listed in the Cat Care Standards booklet and these must be adhered to. Everything in there is a must and there is no cutting corners, like rules on mixing cats, minimum space required per cat and cleaning guides. There are also booklets on by-laws and rules and a fairly new one on minimum veterinary standards.
These all must be adhered to, however the way the branches are run is then upto the people who run those branches to decide what works for them and how they will run their branch. Afterall they are volunteer run, so everyone needs to be happy with what they are doing.
There is a regional contact person for each branch who will offer support and advise when things get difficult and also the RDM will visit each fosterer once per year & if things are not good, they will advise on how to put them right or for more severe things like mixing cats or not being clean, they will close the fosterer down and that person will no longer be able to foster for CP.
I've got a copy of the vet standards in front of me. I'll quote from it;
It starts off with the reasons and the benefits of implementing minimum veterinary, then goes on to say;
The mandatory minimum veterinary Standards for domestic cats- all cats and kittens must be health checked by a veterinary surgeon whilst in CP care (this procedure must be carried out as soon as is practicably possible)
- All cats and kittens must receive treatment against fleas, roundworms and tapeworms whilst in care. (A list of veterinary-prefered products is available in your branch manual)
- All cats and kittens from 9 weeks of age must have at least one vaccination against cat-flu and enteritis whilst in our care(this must be carried out as soon as possible after being deemed fit by the vet to reduce the risk of contracting or spreading disease whilst in care. It is advisable to give a 2nd vaccine of cat flu & enteritis if the cat is still in CP care after 3 weeks)
- Sick cats must be blood tested for FIV/FeLV weather sick when coming into branch or becoming sick whilst in our care (confirmed FIV positive cats must only be euthanased if they areill and treatment is no longer effective or if there is little chance of rehoming them to a homewhere there is no risk of passing on infection, or if the cat is mnot suited for an indoor life) Confirmed FeLV positive cats must be euthasased for their own welfare because of the hopeless prognosis. All kittens of FeLV positive queens must be euthanased, without further testing as they will be permanently affected.
- All cats and kittens that are not already neutered must be neutered from 4 months of age
- Veterinary treatment as required for any medical or behavioural conditions that is reasonably treatable and will not cause long term suffering to that cat
- records of all medical care must be kept
we continue to let people give whatever they wish to give. {Everyone agrees with me on the comittee but we always end the discussion with "we'd love to and we think we should be able to... but we can't"}
