We are a no-kill, feline-only shelter. Our mission is to work with the community at all levels for the mutual benefit of cats, people and the natural environment and our vision is that every cat has a loving and responsible home.

Each year, we rehome about 1,000 cats and kittens; assist with desexing a further 2,000 - 3,000 cats in the community; provide information and advice on feline health, behaviour and welfare to more than 5,000 human clients; and reunite dozens of lost cats with their people.

Where we can, we respond to cats at risk but we do not have powers under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. We place great importance on the protection of wildlife and advocate keeping cats indoors, or if outdoors, then in secure enclosures or supervised, and always curfewed from dusk to dawn. We advocate for pet-friendly policies and better animal welfare laws and regulations.

All our cats and kittens for adoption are desexed; health-checked by a vet; microchipped; vaccinated; flea- and worm-treated; and house trained. Cats stay with us until they are adopted. Whether it takes one week, one month or one year or longer, we care for our cats until they find the loving and responsible homes they deserve.

G2Z Elements & Strategies:

• Desex, microchip, vet health check (& any necessary treatment including surgery), vaccination, flea & worm treatment, anti-fungal wash prior to being put up for adoption
• Desexing from 1kg (about 8-10 weeks)
• Daily health monitoring and recording
• Veterinary treatment for sick or injured cats (where the condition is treatable)
• Foster carers provided with all necessary means to care including vet care, at no cost to them
• Health guarantee with adopted cats
• Rehoming areas provide sufficient space for cats’ apartments as well as common play areas
• Cats spend minimal time in quarantine – move to adoption centre as soon as practicable
• Foster program mainly focused on mothers and kittens and orphaned kittens. Occasional fostering for adult cats in need of rehabilitation (mainly these cats are rehabilitated on-site or in vet care)
• About 100 volunteers in foster program and cattery services; volunteer photographers
• Cats’ apartments have three levels and can be converted to duplex accommodation for closely bonded pairs of cats
• All cats have toys, scratch pads, soft bedding and playtime. Cats who do not like other cats have individual playtime; cats who are social have shared playtime. The play areas have tunnels, climbing facilities, scratch posts, toys, windows, and ‘cubbies’. Volunteers and staff play with, pat and groom cats
• A variety of interventions are used to reduce stress including herbs, rescue remedy, igloo beds, TLC. In severe cases, medication may be used. Sometimes there are cats who need to be housed completely separately from other cats and we can provide for this
• Finding loving and responsible homes for the cats in our care is our primary focus – while we wish to rehome as many cats as possible, the priority is ensuring cats go to the ‘right’ home
• Our shelter is in a prominent position, easily accessible by car and public transport
• We are open for adoptions 7 days a week including Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons; we are open for adoptions on most public holidays
• Our window display, website, facebook and magazine showcase our beautiful cats and kittens positively, highlighting their individual personalities and preferences
• Our shelter is attractive, has lots of natural light, colourful toys and bedding and many beautiful photos of cats
• The adoption process is thorough starting with a questionnaire and interview, guided assistance in meeting individual cats and ongoing discussion about the cats’ personalities, the proposed living environment, any special needs etc. All members of the household are required to attend – as we know, cats choose people as much as the other way around and it is important that there is a good bond from the start in order to secure a lifelong positive relationship
• All adopters are provided with written information to take home (& any medication) and follow-up contact is made to ensure all is going well, to answer any questions etc
• Data is collected in relation to all aspects of a cat’s time with us (& information about their past before they came to us) as well as information on the adoption
• While our whole community does not have a ‘coalition’ of stakeholders, we have excellent relationships with a number of stakeholders including the university vet school, a local breeders’ club, Sydney Council, local members of Parliament, a local pound, local vets, local pet stores (that do not sell animals) and WIRES. We are a member of the NSW Government’s Companion Animal Taskforce
• People seeking to surrender are counselled on their options, including keeping their cat (eg if their concern is unwanted behaviours in the cat, we discuss how these could be resolved; if they can’t find pet-friendly accommodation, we offer information on developing a pet resume and other strategies to help find a pet-friendly home)
• We provide comprehensive written advice on cat care which is freely available and we also discuss people’s situations or concerns with them – we help some 5,000 human clients each year
• As well as post-adoption telephone support, we run a kitten kindy and information seminars
• We provide information and advice on pet-friendly accommodation
• We provide information on cat-proof fencing (downloadable instructions on our website)
• We advocate for early age desexing; we practise early age desexing on the kittens we rehome and in the past have participated with the University of Sydney vet school with their surgery training. We employ vet students on staff and this provides them with important exposure to feline welfare issues as well as hands-on experience with cats.

Recent Achievements in Getting to Zero:

Our commitment to Getting to Zero is ongoing. As a no-kill shelter, euthanasia of cats in our care is limited to those cats with untreatable conditions. We aim to optimise the number of cats in our care at all times, so if we have vacancies and no client surrenders, we contact pounds and take cats from them so we can rehome them, creating more capacity in that pound/shelter.

We believe information and education are vital – people need to appreciate the inherent value of cats so that they will treat them more kindly, and also accept that they make wonderful pets. Our website, facebook, magazine and media activity all promote cat welfare. Preventing abandonment and surrender are equally important to rehoming cats, and in this regard behaviour advice is an essential part of our services. We provide detailed support and information to cat owners, free of charge. Sometimes the difference between a new pound admission and a cat staying in their own home is as simple as an extra litter tray.

We have developed resources (published on our website) to help people with pet-friendly accommodation and we have made submissions to the NSW Government’s review of strata regarding pets. In our participation on the NSW Companion Animals Taskforce we have advocated for a number of strategies to prevent feline homelessness and to support pound and shelter rehoming.

The bond between people and their pets is precious. Sometimes people need help with caring for their pets – we have created resources (on our website) to help people provide assistance with pet care. This not only keeps the person and their pet happy, it prevents the pet ending up in a pound or shelter. We also offer free information seminars to community aged care providers on how to assist clients with pet care (our ‘community pets’ program).

Support Needed:

We depend on donations, bequests, sponsorship and our own fundraising efforts to continue to operate. It costs money to provide our services, most of which are free of charge. Our adoption fees do not cover the expenses involved in caring for the cats during their stay with us. Without financial support we would not be here.

Foster carers are our lifeline and the more carers we have, the more we can do.

We need people to actively advocate for cats – not as our agents but as individual citizens. That means that people need to see themselves as having the capacity to influence change and create improvements: talk to your neighbour if their cat is not desexed, tell them about discount desexing services; encourage friends and family to adopt from pounds and shelters; be a pet-friendly landlord; get on the executive committee of your strata scheme and change the by-laws so they are pet-friendly; help your neighbour if they need assistance with pet care; respond to ‘free to good home’ advertisements by offering to assist the person with desexing the mother cat; talk with friends and colleagues about the terrible fate that most dogs and cats face in pounds; write to or meet with your local MP and councillors; lead by example and be a responsible pet owner  – Do Something!!

We are a membership based charity and our members receive a quarterly magazine with information on cat care issues as well as stories on our cats in their loving new homes. The more members we have, the louder our voice when we speak up on behalf of cats. We’d like our meow to be a roar!

Adoption, reclaim, foster and euthanasia statistics for last two full financial or calendar years:

In 2010-2011 we found homes for 960 cats and kittens; 22 cats and kittens were euthanased due to untreatable or fatal conditions (eg kidney cancer, heart defect, neurological damage).  We reunited with their grateful people 14 lost cats (and three lost dogs).

In 2011-12 we found homes for 985 cats and kittens; 37 cats and kittens were euthanased due to untreatable or fatal conditions (eg malformed bowel, cancer, bone infection). We reunited with their grateful people 12 lost cats, one lost kitten (and four lost dogs).