On the 30th March 2025, we welcomed 8 Maine Coon cross-breed cats into branch care.
Aurora, Blondie, Kelly, Marmalade, Olaf, Patch, Snowy and Tigger had come to us from a multi-cat household of over 47 cats, including pregnant mothers and young kittens. The house was in an awful state, with every cat living indoors alongside their previous owners, cat flu was rampant and unfortunately many of the kittens perished. The animals were cramped, ill and underweight. It was hard to believe that it had started with just a handful of cats, which were all bred in the hopes of a supreme collection – a cat of every coat colour and pattern imaginable.
But things quickly snowballed, with only a couple of cats being neutered or spayed, very soon they were overwhelmed. The neighbours had reported the smell of the house, with urine soaking into every surface, making the upstairs landing unstable and precarious. The inspectors were able to start taking in the cats and getting them medically assessed – many needed urgent treatment for all manner of ailments.
Blondie needed a spay quickly, as she was suffering from pyrometra – this can be fatal if left untreated, but thankfully she was soon on the mend. Aurora was anaemic so needed support to get her on a healthier footing. Snowy was incredibly thin but luckily our wonderful cattery soon got him better. Many of the cats had urine scald from being in improper conditions for so long – but a round of testing revealed that many of the cats also had both gingivitis and feline calicivirus.
Feline calicivirus is a contagious illness leaving cats with flu-like symptoms, snuffles, coughs, weepy eyes and more. Many cats can become carriers of the disease and have future flare-ups, although cats who are vaccinated against this will have less severe symptoms. It is a very prevalent disease but cats with calicivirus can go outside and live with other cats – it is just when they are symptomatic that they are contagious, so when they are showing symptoms they should be isolated and kept inside.
All of the cats also had severe dental disease and gingivitis, leading to costly procedures of around £500 to £1k per cat that the branch paid for, with many needing multiple teeth taken out. We also ensured that every cat was spayed/neutered, microchipped and vaccinated – we are an independent branch of the RSPCA so do not receive government funding and are reliant on kind donations from members of the public, the sales from our charity shop and fundraising events like the Lincoln Half Marathon to raise funds and awareness for our animals.
We are happy to say that Aurora has been rehomed already, with a couple of the cats due to receive visits from interested applicants as part of the adoption process. It is with your help and support that we have been able to carry out the much-needed work to get these animals rehomed, so we thank you for sharing, donating and even reading this! We also have other animals in our branch’s capable private boarding establishments and foster places waiting to be rehomed, and just like the Maine Coon crosses, we ensure they are well-cared for and with every need met.
