More cats rescued in Derbyshire 'than any other animal'- take a look at moggies up for adoption

'Sadly we do know that cats are an extremely misunderstood pet and can often find themselves the victims of poor care.'

As the charity enters Cat Week as part of its month-long rehoming drive Adoptober, it reveals RSPCA inspectors rescued the equivalent of more than 60 cats per day - or 22,000 over the whole year.

This is more than any other animal nationally and is four times the number of dogs (5,930).

Cat welfare expert Alice Potter said: “Sadly we do know that cats are an extremely misunderstood pet and can often find themselves the victims of poor care.

Up for adoption is Catrick Swayze, 4. 'Catrick is happy to be fussed and stroked now thanks to the patience and love of the animal care team. He would love a home where he can get plenty of attention. He has been at the centre for four months now looking for his forever and is one of the longer-stay residents. Catrick may take time to settle at first so a patient cat lover would be the ideal owner for him.'

“Our inspectorate is getting calls every day from worried members of the public reporting the cruelty of these animals - and the number of cats we are rescuing is equivalent to 60 per day which is far too high.

“Cats can become victims of air gun attacks as well as poisonings both accidental and deliberate, just like dogs they can also become victims of over breeding and over population.

“We know that the answer to a lot of the problems relating to cats in this country is raising the rates of neutering which in turn will lead to fewer unwanted animals coming into our centres and branches.

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Up for adoption are Luna (3) and Lily (6). 'They are both bonded together but have not had much human contact, so are not used to being around lots of people or loud noises. However, they make positive improvements everyday. Both are playful though, and Luna likes nothing more than playing with toys with feathers on them- she chases them like she is a kitten. While Lily loves food and is always happy to take a treat from you.'

“We are calling for cat owners to neuter their cats at around 4 months old, rather than 6 months, which can greatly reduce the risk of them getting pregnant and owners being stuck with an unwanted litter.

“If you are thinking of taking on an animal we would always urge people to look into adopting a rescue pet, as our centres are full of loving cats of all shapes and sizes looking for forever homes.”

This month the RSPCA launched a campaign for ‘Adoptober’ and is dedicating the month of October to raising awareness of it’s vital work finding homes for animals most in need and this week (October 14-20) is dedicated to cats.

In 2018, the RSPCA managed to find new homes for 23,893 cats - more than 450 every single week. A total of 815 cats were re-homed in Derbyshire.

This year, RSPCA Chesterfield launched a Cat Adoption Centre at Pets at Home in Ravenside Retail Park after a £1m revamp.

To offer an RSPCA rescue cat a new home visit www.rspca.org.uk/findapet.