Our Mission Statement:

Cat Chat - who we are:

Cat Chat is a UK Registered Charity (reg. no. 1100649)
We are a web-based Charity, currently find loving, permanent homes for over 5,000 unwanted and abandoned cats every year from rescues across the UK through our ‘Virtual Cat Shelters’. Our homing services are given free of charge to all kinds of rescues, large and small, from the many hundreds of independent rescue centres and rehoming groups to branches of the larger organisations.

For many rescues, Cat Chat is their main source of good homes:
rescues often refer to us as their ‘Rehoming Lifeline’.

Cat Chat was first launched in 2000 by the 'founding felines', ex-rescue cats Gemini and George, with the aim of helping other cats in care to find a new home, and since then we've helped thousands of cats do just that. Gemini is still at the helm as the 'Cat in Charge', assisted by a small group of human trustees, and a growing number of willing volunteers. We are delighted to have two very special patrons: MP and lifelong animal lover, Roger Gale, and the wise and wonderful Chairman Bagpuss. Click Here to meet our Patrons.

As the internet has become an increasingly valuable rehoming resource, we quickly realised that we were making a big difference to shelters and rescue groups across the UK, finding more homes for cats and kittens in their care, so in 2003 we registered as a Charity.

We are now helping to find homes for around 430 cats each month - that's over 5,000 a year - a fact that we are extremely proud of! Check out our Rehoming Roll of Honour for a selection of recent homings »» Rehoming Roll of Honour.

Our Objectives

We aim to help rescue centres in any way we can, through this site, to find more homes for cats in their care. Rescue centres are still continually full with stray, abandoned and unwanted cats and kittens, and despite the constant message of 'neuter, neuter, neuter!' it still seems there are too many homeless cats and too few homes. There are literally thousands of cats in care in the UK right now, and it is still a sad fact that many cats are put to sleep each year because there are simply not enough homes to go round. We aim to do all we can to redress that balance.

The Objects in the Cat Chat Constitution are:

• "To promote the efficiency and effectiveness of charities whose purposes are to promote animal welfare, by the provision of an internet website, IT support and facilities"

• "To advance the education of the public in matters of animal welfare by the provision of a website and information service"

Our Activities

Here are some of the ways in which Cat Chat is currently helping rescues, and helping cats:

• Cat Rehoming Pages for Rescues - We offer free web rehoming pages to any UK rescue centre or rehoming group, enabling them to feature their cats seeking homes on the web. We set the page up, link it from Cat Chat and host & promote it at no cost to the rescue. We believe every cat in care should have an equal chance at a new, loving home, and these pages enable every kind of rescue and rehoming group, large or small to give them that chance. For full details click here »» Free Web Rehoming Page. Success Stories - some of the cats homed via these Cat Chat pages appear on our »» Rehoming Roll of Honour.

• Helping the Harder to Home Cats ('Top Cats' section) - Most rescues find they have a few cats that always seem to be overlooked, and often stay in care for months or even years. They may be elderly, have a medical condition, be very shy, or are simply passed by in favour of prettier or younger cats. Rescues can feature any 'harder to home' cats on our Top Cats section. This section has been very successful in finding new homes for many cats, some of whom had almost given up hope. Some of the cats rehomed via Top Cats appear on our »» Rehoming Roll of Honour.

• Rescue Shelter Listings - We always encourage people to go to a rescue centre when seeking a new animal companion, rather than going to a pet shop or breeder. To make this easier, we provide an extensive county by county database of rescue and rehoming centres across the UK. We currently have around 1,300 UK rescue centres listed, and are continually adding and updating the listings. Want to rescue a cat ? Start here »» Shelter Listings

• Kittens for Homing Listings - Most rescues find they take in unwanted or abandoned mums & kittens from about April through to October (Kitten Season), and some even find they are inundated with them! We help find more homes for these kittens through our Rescues with Kittens section. This not only helps the kittens, but frees up those rescue places for other cats in need. Want to adopt a rescue kitten (or two)? Start here »» Rescues with Kittens Section

• Feline Fund - Our 'Feline Fund' comprises of 5% of all page sponsorship and advertising revenue, plus £1.00 from each sale of our Cat Rescue T-shirts, 50p from the sale of each Cat Chat mug, and proportional amounts also each time we sell a book, CD, keyring, pen, canvas bag, tea towel, Wiggly Waggler cat toy and other items on our shop, plus £1.00 from each cat tribute placed on our remembrance page. The fund is donated to a rescue group or shelter chosen at random from our shelter listings each time the fund reaches £100. »»» Feline Fund info. »»» Merchandise info. »»» Remembrance Page

We have come a long way since our launch in June 2000, but we have much further to go, and lots of plans are in the pipeline. We believe we can make a huge difference to the future of the 'unowned cat', and maybe, just maybe, one day every cat will be a wanted cat. If you would like to help, find out how here »»» How to Help Cat Chat

Roger Gale MP
Pictured right is our Patron, Roger Gale MP, with one of his rescue cats. Both Roger and his wife Suzy are ardent animal lovers, and campaign tirelessly on their behalf. In fact if animal welfare is on the parliamentary agenda, you can be fairly sure that Roger will have had a hand in getting it there! www.rogergale.co.uk

Bagpuss (in his own words)
I really am a most fortunate old cat!
This is because, being imaginary, I am never cold or hungry, and always have lots of friends to keep me company and look after me. So it worries me very much to realise that so many real, live, beautiful cats are left lonely, homeless and unloved, when I know that there are really plenty of people in the world who would be glad of their company and be happy to be their friends. That is why I would like to commend to you, my friends, this most feline website: www.catchat.org, where they will help you to find a cat-friend, if you are a person, or a person-friend, if you are a cat.

Oliver Postgate: Bagpuss's close person-friend, Oliver Postgate sadly died on 8th December 2008. All of us at Cat Chat will miss him greatly. To find out a little more about Oliver and his part in Cat Chat please go to »» Oliver Postgate Remembered