I haven’t had it confirmed if the event at Broomfield College has been cancelled but our stall won’t be there. Due to the severe weather conditions we have had overnight our volunteers have been unable to make it there. The snow in the midlands has been really bad.

I hope this hasn’t inconvenienced anybody.

SFHFC have a stall at this upcoming event. Please drop by and say hi if you are in the Derby area on Saturday. Our volunteers are always happy to see you.

Spring Food & Craft Festival at
Broomfield Hall ( Derby College ) Morley, Derby DE7 6DN
Saturday 23rd March 2013. 10am - 4pm

Showcasing a whole range of local food related stalls:
• Selected Craft Stalls
• Broomfield Hall supports locally grown produce and our Food Hub Shop and Café will be open on the day
• Come and see our Spring Lambs plus the Animal Care centre will be open including other activities for children
• Admission ONLY £1 per adult, children are free

Since I have been a trustee of sfhfc I have found that when talking to people about what we do, there are some common misconceptions. Here are a couple of them.

As we are a hospice people seem to presume that we have cats which are dying and in pain. I feel that this couldn’t be further from truth. A large number of our residents do have Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) but this doesn’t automatically mean that it will shorten the cats life. We also have a number of cats who have a thyroid condition. This is controlled by daily medication and is monitored closely by our volunteers and our vet.

A lot of our residents are elderly cats. As a charity we generally think of cats over 15 years old to be elderly or as sometimes referred to as geriatric. They come to sfhfc for a number of reasons. It may be that their owner has died or is ill in hospital and can no longer look after their beloved pet. Or the owner is relocating and is unable for one reason or another to take their pet with them. These are often otherwise healthy cats that through no fault of their own find themselves without a home.

Another main misconception is that a cat with FIV is always really poorly and dying. Yes it is a terminal illness with no cure but as you can see from the photo’s which are posted on our blog there is no clear indication which of our residents do or don’t have FIV. There are sometimes the odd side effect to FIV, the main one being stomatitis, this again can usually be controlled with the right medication. A lot of cats diagnosed with FIV live a happy, long and fulfilled life.

If you would like to learn more about the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus you can find some general information about it on our articles page. You can also find a heartwarming story about homing FIV+ cats with some useful tips.

Please feel free to spread the word about the information above, the more that we can help to educate people about FIV, the more that it will help cats all over the world.

Cat hospice faces closure unless funding is found

St Francis Hospice for Cats is at risk of closure unless urgent funding is found.
The hospice, in Littleover, Derby, must raise £500 every week or it will be forced to close leaving its 22 sick resident cats homeless.
The charity, which cares for elderly and terminally ill cats, relies solely on donations and a small team of volunteers to operate.
St Francis is one of the few charities that will care for cats that are unlikely to be rehomed. Many of the cats have illnesses that require frequent medical treatment, such as FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus).
The hospice is also eager to increase its number of regular volunteers who carry out vital duties such as feeding and grooming the cats, administering medication and keeping the building clean.
The hospice was set up as a registered charity in 1997 by life-long cat lovers Shirley and Michael Maynard at their home in Sapperton Close. The invaluable service has been there ever since, having cared for hundreds of cats who would otherwise have been neglected or put down.
Following Michael’s death in 2008, Mrs Maynard’s health deteriorated and she was forced to leave the hospice last year after she became ill with dementia. She left St Francis in the capable hands of volunteers, including three trustees, who have worked tirelessly to keep the hospice going.
Graham Stevens one of the trustees said: “We desperately need to find this money or we will have no choice but to close.
“We are also appealing for new volunteers to help us care for the cats and keep the hospice running. We have just a handful of regular volunteers and we are rushed off our feet.
“It breaks our hearts to think that St Francis Hospice would not be here to offer care and support to needy cats in the future.”
He added: “We owe it to the cats and to Shirley to secure the future of St Francis and we would be so grateful to hear from anyone who can help in any way”.
If you are able to make a cash or food donation or spare just a few hours a week to volunteer at the hospice please call 01332 272139 or email cathospice@sky.com

Our Spring Fayre is on today at 11.00 a.m.

Please see our events page for full details of time, venue etc.

So if you are in the Derby area please come and support us. Let’s hope the weather stays dry.

We are looking to build a data base of people who would be willing to home a cat who may otherwise find themselves on a waiting list to come in to St Francis. This is a final chance for them to live a ‘normal’ life where in most cases they would be able to come and go as they please and would receive more one on one care and fussing.

We are still here to take on new cats but the trustees review each case individually and always look to make the best decision for both the new cats as well as our current residents.

If you feel that you may be able to help regarding homing of a future needy cat please get in touch via our contact page. As most of the cats which we are asked to take are from in or around the Derby area we are ideally looking for local people to cut down on any long journeys for the cats.

Just to confirm, we don’t re-home our cats which are already at St Francis. This idea is to create a way of finding loving homes for future cats before they come in to St Francis Hospice for Cats.

Cat hospice faces closure unless funding is found

St Francis Hospice for Cats is at risk of closure unless urgent funding is found.
The hospice, in Littleover, Derby, must raise £500 every week or it will be forced to close leaving its 22 sick resident cats homeless.
The charity, which cares for elderly and terminally ill cats, relies solely on donations and a small team of volunteers to operate.
St Francis is one of the few charities that will care for cats that are unlikely to be rehomed. Many of the cats have illnesses that require frequent medical treatment, such as FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus).
The hospice is also eager to increase its number of regular volunteers who carry out vital duties such as feeding and grooming the cats, administering medication and keeping the building clean.
The hospice was set up as a registered charity in 1997 by life-long cat lovers Shirley and Michael Maynard at their home in Sapperton Close. The invaluable service has been there ever since, having cared for hundreds of cats who would otherwise have been neglected or put down.
Following Michael’s death in 2008, Mrs Maynard’s health deteriorated and she was forced to leave the hospice last year after she became ill with dementia. She left St Francis in the capable hands of volunteers, including three trustees, who have worked tirelessly to keep the hospice going.
Graham Stevens one of the trustees said: “We desperately need to find this money or we will have no choice but to close.
“We are also appealing for new volunteers to help us care for the cats and keep the hospice running. We have just a handful of regular volunteers and we are rushed off our feet.
“It breaks our hearts to think that St Francis Hospice would not be here to offer care and support to needy cats in the future.”
He added: “We owe it to the cats and to Shirley to secure the future of St Francis and we would be so grateful to hear from anyone who can help in any way”.
If you are able to make a cash or food donation or spare just a few hours a week to volunteer at the hospice please call 01332 272139 or email cathospice@sky.com

The article which was posted on 21st March about Adopting an FIV+ cat was kindly written and sent in to us be a lovely lady called Harriet. When I first heard about her story I really wanted to share it on our website as this is an issue which we are trying to raise awareness about. In a lot of cases an FIV cat can lead a normal and healthy life.

Our charity had a very difficult year in 2011 and due to a couple of changes in circumstances we are no longer able to take in the number of needy cats which the charity has previously cared for.

To counter balance this we are looking to build a data base of people who would be willing to home a cat who may otherwise find themselves on a waiting list to come in to St Francis.

We are still here to take on new cats but the trustees review each case individually and always look to make the best decision for both the new cats as well as our current residents.

If you feel that you may be able to help regarding homing of a future needy cat please get in touch via our contact page. As most of the cats which we are asked to take are from in or around the Derby area we are ideally looking for local people to cut down on any long journeys for the cats.

Just to confirm, we don’t re-home our cats which are already at St Francis. This idea is to create a way of finding homes for future cats before they come in to St Francis Hospice for Cats.

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (known as FIV) most definitely does not mean a death sentence and my two boys are living proof of how strong these special cats can be.

3 years ago I had never even heard of FIV let alone considered adopting a cat with it however after deciding we wanted to rescue a cat and visiting our local rescue centres in the North West of England we were quickly made aware that as we lived in a second floor apartment and we wanted an indoor cat our options were somewhat limited. We were then introduced to Doug; a very large but timid tom with one too many war wounds and half and ear missing who just melted our hearts. But Doug had FIV. Before rushing into the adoption we went away to research the illness to see whether this was something we were capable of taking on both financially and emotionally. There are actually quite a number of websites and forums from fellow FIV owners who I found extremely helpful and began to see that despite the stigma it was definitely worth taking a punt on this (not so) little fellow and giving him a shot at a loving family life. But what is the reality? Well it can’t be all bad as three months later we ended up adopting another FIV boy called Max.

FIV can only be passed on to other cats (not humans or other species!) through biting/fighting and this is why un-neutered tom cats are most at risk. This leads to another issue around the importance of desexing! The disease doesn’t or is unlikely to show any symptoms but does act to weaken their immune symptoms making it easier to pick up secondary infections such as cat flu.

People tend to think that an FIV cat means that they will need constant vet treatment but this in my experience couldn’t be further from the truth. Doug is now 6 and Max is now 8 and they have only been a handful of times between them. The main thing is that if they do get anything is not to “wait and see” but to act more quickly, however surely if you love and care for any animal (with or without FIV) you would get this checked out? Keep your cats indoors and this will minimise their risk of exposure to most things anyway.

Doug and Max successfully made the 10,000 mile trip from Manchester to Melbourne at the end of 2011 and have never looked back. They looked totally unfazed upon arrival after their 22 hour flight and coped surprisingly well in quarantine for 30 days where they had their own private area in isolation – not bad for cats who others might have written off or ignored! They now are enjoying lapping up the sunshine and have just welcomed their new Australian brother Erick who has been vaccinated against FIV (something which is pretty common here in Oz as the FIV problem was even worse than the UK) and can co-exist with them happily and safely.

Please do not overlook a beautiful cat just because it might have FIV – of course do your research and keep informed to be the best cat parent you can but their condition should merely be an aside. Our lives have been changed for the better by having Doug and Max in our family and I like to think that we have helped to give them a second chance at life!

Tips:

Get a good vet who understands the disease – you would be surprised how many vets I have had to educate on the issue but when you get a good one, keep hold of them even if it means travelling.

Insurance – our boys have always been insured and unless the claim can be proven to be linked to be as a result of the disease they will pay out!

Holidaying – many catteries we encountered where we lived in the UK equally didn’t understand FIV and a lot turned us away however we used a pet sitting service which actually worked out to be a similar price and meant that it took away the distress of being away from home. If you do live in an area with more informed cattery owners ensure they operate an isolation area – this is for your cats benefit not for their other guests!

Often FIV cats have been strays or at least had lots of access to the outside (hence catching the disease) so have lots of toys to keep them occupied in their new indoor life or even consider an outdoor run or even better get them another FIV companion!