Volunteer Cat

**VOLUNTEER CAT FOSTER CARER**

**Cat Foster Carer RSPCA Cumbria West Branch**

**Volunteer Obsessive Cat Cuddler**

**You provide the love, we provide everything else**

**We’re looking for cat-loving volunteers to play a vital role in helping us improve the wellbeing of the cats in our care whilst they wait to be rehomed. Can you help them by providing a calm and caring home whilst we find their purrfect forever home?**

**All About Us at Cumbria West**

**Our charity shop and offices are in the heart of Whitehaven, we are looking for a friendly volunteer to join our team and help make our branch services a huge success. Join our dedicated team of animal daft people, make new friends, have fun, and help us help to support our local animals**

**About our opportunity**

As a cat fosterer, you would be supporting the RSPCA Cumbria West Branch to provide our cats with the safety of your home whilst tending to their welfare needs such as feeding and grooming. In addition to this, by providing a temporary loving environment, you will play a crucial role in a cat’s wellbeing and socialisation, which will significantly improve their chances of successful rehoming.

Once everything is in place, we will guide you through the fostering process and ensure that you have all the necessary equipment, food, and veterinary care for your fostered cat. RSPCA Cumbria West are also happy to reimburse all pre-agreed expenses, including all feed or any specialist feed required, medication, veterinary costs, bedding, toys and travel or we can order any supplies you need and get them delivered to you to make it really easy for you.

We offer positive and friendly guidance and support, especially with our new volunteers in mind, for those of us who are learning new skills, or for people who may have joined us to gain more confidence and social skills who may want to drop into our office for supplies and a catch up.

We are very aware that many people may need just a little bit of a helping hand to make friends and to socialise, after being confined in their homes for long periods of time, isolated with little social contact, or who may even have been ill, all due to the Covid 19 pandemic. We don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t been affected in one way or another.

All the volunteers and trustees are a mixture of ages, with different personalities and life skills, the thing that consistently brings us all together is our love of everything animal, we would love to hear from you if you think that you could offer us some help make RSPCA Cumbria West a great success by supporting cats and to help raise vital funds for local animal welfare, if you are interested.

We all also like having a chat, with a cuppa and a cheeky biscuit, so come and meet us

**About the RSPCA**

Founded in 1824 we have been saving animals for almost 200 years and are proud to be the oldest welfare charity around. It has always been our vision to live in a world where all animals are respected and treated with compassion, so our volunteers and employees work tirelessly to ensure that all animals can live free from pain and suffering.

**About Our Charity Shop and Offices in Whitehaven Market Place**

The shop and offices are in the RSPCA Cumbria West Branch building and plays an essential role in raising our profile in our local community and funds raised go to support our branch activities so that we can continue our vital animal welfare work. Our shops sell a mixture of donated items, including clothes, books, bric-a-brac and collectables, and a selection of new items.

**Every member of the RSPCA West Cumbria Branch Team are unpaid volunteers**.

**Whilst our cats are in your foster care, you will**:

- Provide them with care, suitable housing, and a safe environment as per our policies and guidelines.
- Feed, water, and groom them in line with our advice.
- Transport them to any veterinary appointments if required.
- Provide them with your time and patience.
- Help us spread the word about the cats in your care so they might find their forever home quicker.
- Playing and cuddles are also a must

**What we are looking for in a volunteer Cat Fosterer**
- Volunteers aged 18 or over who have had plenty of experience caring for cats.
- Fostering experience is beneficial but not essential as training is provided.
- For their wellbeing, our cats may need to be kept in a separate room, so the whole family should be on board.
- Any existing pets or animals need to have been spayed/neutered (some medical reasons may mean they cannot be so, please let us know if this is the case).

**What we can offer you as a volunteer Cat Fosterer**
- You will be making a massive difference to the welfare of the cats in your care.
- Join a fantastic community which will enable you to meet new people and make new friends.
- Learning new skills through our comprehensive induction and fostering training programme.
- Enhance your CV by adding your volunteering experience