Ep059 - Cats Protection Summer Reception

Our CVS fellow, Dr Kit Sturgis, is in his final year as Chair of Trustees at Catch Protection.

And I asked him if this had been an experience that he'd enjoyed so far.

It actually has been an amazing experience.

And you're right, we are looking, we are actually actively recruiting for a chair for any of your listeners who might be interested in that role.

But, yes, and it's been incredible getting to know the organisation and learning loads of new skills, meeting loads of different people, and that's been a real highlight for me.

There's always something going on.

We have 1,200 employees and 10,000 volunteers, so that makes for an interesting life.

LAUGHTER

One might say herding cats, but maybe that's not quite the right expression.

Occasionally it is.

I'm guessing, indeed, we know for a fact, because there's lots of little exhibition stalls here at the Summer Festival today, that so many topics of importance and interest are high on the agenda for cat advocates.

Cat breeding, for example.

I mean, I wonder why do you think it's become such a major issue today? I mean,

I don't think it's been a sudden step change, but I think people have gradually woken up to the increasing extremes of cat breeding, seen some of what's happening in the dog world and the problems that that has brought in terms of the health and welfare.

So I think the time is right, and really we're trying to encourage people public to think about adoption over pedigrees and if they're thinking of pedigrees then consider whether those pedigrees have certain potential health related issues and we're also looking to try and encourage the government to license cat breeding because at the moment the regulation is really quite weak and some people are breeding large numbers of cats without really considering the welfare of the kittens or the queen.

Why do you think it is that welfare protections with our feline friends lag behind our canine companions? I think that's a $64,000

question because I think it's historic.

I think dogs, the landed gentry always saw dogs as a very important part of their life and their well-being.

So I think dogs have been in the statutes for a long time.

Even more historic to that, there's been times when cats have been considered evil.

And it just doesn't seem like the government mechanism has really caught up with the fact we're living in the 21st century and cats and dogs are equally popular pets within the UK.

So it is an ongoing issue for us to try and make sure whenever they talk about pet welfare, they include the cats as well as the dogs.

And this is what an event like today hopes to achieve to increase the awareness amongst MPs and members of the Lords.

Kit Sturgis.