websites. It was also one of the very first 'web-based' charities to be ... taught himself basic website design and ... site's free advertising facilities to promote.
All photos: catchat.org
A tale of two
Mandy at work
A
ll cat lovers know that cats can change your life. For Mandy and Steve, founders of Cat Chat, the cat rescue resource, that couldn’t be truer. This is the story of how two cats and one ‘daft idea’ changed their lives, and the lives of many thousands of rescue cats. Now celebrating its 15th year CatChat.org is recognised as one of the most visited online cat rehoming websites. It was also one of the very first ‘web-based’ charities to be registered in the UK. Rescue groups around the country, including many Cats Protection branches, regularly use Cat Chat’s pages to find homes for their cats.
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The Cat Summer 2015
It all started with two cats called Gemini and George. Co-founder Mandy Cotter explains: “People never believe me when I say that Cat Chat ‘just kind of happened’. At the time, Steve and I were owned by two rescue cats, Gemini and George and we had this daft idea of setting up a small website about them, hoping to inspire others to consider rescuing. Steve had taught himself basic website design and so in June 2000 the first tiny version of Cat Chat was born. We couldn’t have predicted how it would completely take over our lives! “As well as Gemini and George’s pages, the original website included details of our local rescue centres in Thanet, Kent.
To our surprise, shelters around the country began contacting us, also asking to be listed on Cat Chat. Well, how could we say no? “A pivotal moment came when a shelter asked us to include a photo of one of their cats on the site. Straight away, other shelters wanted their cats pictured online as well. Back then, websites featuring cats needing homes was a new concept – CatChat.org was certainly one of the first, possibly even thefirst.” Cats Protection recognised Cat Chat’s potential early on; their September 2000 branch circular included a supportive piece encouraging branches to use the site’s free advertising facilities to promote their cats.
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o kitties Homing page pioneers The Trafford Branch of Cats Protection in particular was to play an important part in Cat Chat’s development. As the number of cats on the site increased, it was decided to pilot some simple ‘homing pages’ where shelters themselves could post details of their cats. The branch agreed to trial the very first of these pages. Mandy says, “They were our original cat homing page pioneers!”
“Cat Chat often reaches a different audience to those visiting our own website. They’ve given us massive support over the years, and provide an extra voice for all our felines. Together we are making a huge difference!” Gaynor, Trafford Branch
he Catfinds out more about Cat Chat T who are celebrating 15 years of helping felines online
As Cat Chat is internet-based, all volunteers work at home on their own computers. Mandy said: “We’ve really embraced the concept of ‘virtual volunteering’ and have built up a fantastic team, who connect to each other through an ‘online office’. It’s great because people can give their time whenever it suits them, and it also means volunteering opportunities are open to people with disabilities. “I love the fact that, for example, a volunteer in Scotland sitting on their sofa with a laptop can be helping to find a home for a cat in Wales, while a volunteer in London working at their kitchen table might be helping a shelter in Yorkshire!” Cat Chat shares the Cats Protection principle that ‘cats come first’. Right from the start they decided they would help any rescue organisation in the UK or Ireland to find homes for cats in their care, with the proviso that they have an appropriate neutering policy in place. The larger rescue organisations mostly use Cat Chat as part of their wider
rehoming strategy. However, some of the smaller independent rescue groups rely solely on Cat Chat to find homes. As well as being able to feature their cats on the site, shelters also benefit from being included on CatChat.org’s comprehensive rescue centre listings. Currently, some 1,300 centres are featured on the section, which is an invaluable resource used both by cat welfare organisations and the public. Each listing includes a link to the shelter or branch’s own website, which in turn can increase their visitor numbers. Cats Protection’s Helpline refers some callers to Cat Chat. Elanna Webster, Helpline Manager says: “Cat Chat’s listings are invaluable to us as they list many of the other cat charities and shelters from around the UK. Sadly at times our own branches are full or we may not have any CP coverage in their area and this allows us to provide our callers with as many options as possible should they enquire about rehoming their cats.”
The homing pages are now a crucial part of the Cat Chat service. At the time of writing, they featured around 3,000 cats, although this is likely to increase as demand for pages grows. The number of cats finding a home through the site has also grown steadily year on year. The launch of Cat Chat’s regionally searchable ‘Cats Needing Homes’ database in July 2014 has been a major contributing factor to the most recent increase in homings, which reached around 8,000 last year.
Virtual volunteering The Cat Chat team has expanded over the years to cope with growing needs, and today there are over 30 dedicated volunteers helping to keep the site and its services running.
The Cat Chat Committee (from left to right: back row – Steve, Mandy Front row: Lindsey, Jaine, Maggie, Maureen, Angela and Lynsey
The Cat Summer 2015
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FEATURE Bonita (Cat Homing Manager) working, helped by her cat Ziggy
Homing the ‘unhomeables’! Mandy says: “Chat Chat is particularly committed to finding homes for the harder-to-home cats, such as elderly, long-stay, or FIV positive cats. Our Overlooked Cats section has an extremely good success record for homing the seemingly ‘unhomeables’. “When shelters add their cats’ details to Cat Chat, we always advise them to tell it like it is – no matter how ‘hard-to-home’ this may make the cats seem. “CatChat.org is visited by lots of experienced, ‘rescue minded’ cat lovers, and the right homes are frequently found for the more tricky-to-place cats. As Burton Joyce Cat Welfare, a charity in Nottingham, once said: ‘We’ve had cats that were blind, deaf, had legs missing, were old, wild, psychotic – you name it, and with the help of Cat Chat we’ve homed them!’” As the digital age is now so much part of everyday life, people increasingly go online as their first step to adopting. Cat Chat helps to showcase the many wonderful cats and kittens currently in care, and aims to persuade people to adopt rather than buying from a pet shop or breeder. Mandy says: “Every cat homed frees up that shelter place for another cat in need. It was a great feeling the first time a cat was homed after being seen on Cat Chat; and even now, every homing is just as special.” One of Cats Protection’s initiatives is to strengthen partnerships with other animal welfare charities and organisations that have similar goals. Mandy said: “Cat Chat is delighted to be one of those organisations. I know I speak for our whole team when I say we are genuinely delighted to be supporting those who work tirelessly at the ‘sharp end’ of rescue.”
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The Cat Summer 2015
The feline founders, George and Gemini
Gemini and George, the cats who originally inspired Cat Chat are sadly no longer with us. They are however, fittingly remembered on the website banner at CatChat.org. Gemini on the left (‘pure tabby and proud of it’) and George on the right (‘half Turkish van and half not’). As Cat Chat reaches its 15th birthday, Gemini and George’s legacy lives on and the quest to help cats out of shelters into homes continues. The charity’s hope remains as it has always been: that one day every cat will be a wanted cat.
