- A little about us
Our vision is to help create a world where every cat is cared for.
We are a NO KILL cat charity based in Dublin’s north inner city. We opened the The Purr, our flagship cat rescue centre in Smithfield, on Valentine’s Day 2021.
Our mission is to help homeless, stray and feral cats and kittens through our Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR), rescue, fostering and rehoming programmes, in conjunction with our educational and advocacy work.
Our goals and objectives are to:-
manage the homeless cat population in a humane and effective way through our TNR work
tame, socialise and care for rescued cats and kittens, and find them secure, loving, forever homes which have been vetted by experienced PCR volunteers
provide information and educate the public about the welfare and care of both domestic and community cats
support existing and potential cat owners by providing information and advice on a range of cat behavioural issues
follow best practice in animal rescue and to train volunteers to assist our cat welfare and rescue work
advocate for better animal welfare legislation, especially for cats, and for enforcement of existing legislation
set up fostering programmes with vulnerable groups (the elderly, young people in care, individuals with intellectual and/or physical disabilities, individuals with mental ill health, offenders on parole, etc)
demonstrate that by caring for cats we learn to care better for ourselves
promote that all life should be treated with respect, compassion and empathy
be open and transparent in the work we do
Our values and guiding principles are
Compassion: We put the welfare of cats at the very centre of everything we do – every decision we make, every action we take.
Professionalism: We are committed to promoting the welfare of cats and how to best manage the interaction of cats and humans through the information gained from participation in internationally recognised cat welfare courses, emerging research and contemporary best practices.
Collaboration: We are stronger as a charity and can achieve more for the welfare of cats through collaboration with other like-minded organisations, as we all strive to achieve our collective goals.
Learning: By learning from our collective experiences, and by implementing those learnings, we are continuously moving forward, innovating, and improving.
Respect: We foster and safeguard a culture where everyone’s contributions are respectful and respected.
Integrity: We consistently conduct ourselves ethically with honesty, openness, fairness and accountability.
Diversity: We value the different ideas, strengths, interests, and cultural backgrounds that make our organisation successful. We welcome healthy debate and differences of informed opinion
Reflection: We regularly monitor and evaluate our plans and performance to ensure that we meet our goals efficiently and effectively.
Since forming in August 2014, we have TNR’d over 1,500 feral cats and we have rescued, tamed and found loving forever homes for over 2,000 cats and kittens. We have provided veterinary treatment for many more and we have rehomed a number of domestic cats who have been surrendered to us by their humans for a variety of reasons. Our partner vets tell us they have seen a dramatic reduction in the number of homeless cats and unwanted kittens since we started our work.
We run cat welfare awareness events in various pet stores across Dublin. We also run regular low cost microchipping days as part of our responsible pet ownership initiative, educational outreach projects, and we are active advocates on behalf of cat welfare in Ireland. Visitors are welcome to come to talk with us about any aspect of cat welfare. Visitors are also welcome to book a slot to spend time in the company of some of our rescued cats. In addition, we provide help, advice, and support about cats to many people via our social media platforms and our website.
We rely on public donations and our own fundraising efforts to fund our rescue and educational work. We are grateful to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for the Animal Welfare Grant of €5,175 we received in December 2022.
We are a member of The Wheel and are working towards our Investing in Volunteers Quality Standard. We are a member of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes.
We successfully applied for charitable status with the Charities Regulatory Authority in 2016 (our registered charity number is 20105297) and we received our tax exemption number (CHY 21973) from Revenue in 2017.
We hope you will help us by fostering, adopting, volunteering and/or donating!