The Southport Branch of Cats Protection is part of a national organization founded in 1927, which is now the oldest and largest registered national charity devoted solely to the welfare of cats. The Southport & District Branch was set up in 1991. We have around 210 members, and we are active in all areas of cat welfare - rescuing, rehabilitating, rehoming, fostering, sponsoring, neutering, vacinating, micro chipping, trapping and neutering feral cats and maintaining a lost and found cats register. For further information on joining our branch, have a look at our Join our Branch Page.

In 2003, the Southport & District Branch helped 492 cats, most of them needed veterinary attention of some kind, and 421 of these cats were neutered by us. We homed 457 cats over the course of the year. We also reunited several lost cats with their owners - on this note, please microchip your cats, it makes it so much easier for rescue groups to get them back to you. Although we are the Southport Branch, we carry out work in Banks, Hesketh Bank, Formby, Scarisbrick and Skelmersdale.

With the exception of a small annual grant from Cats Protection Headquarters of £2,000, we raise all the money ourselves, our vet bill alone was over £12,000 in 2003. It cost around £60,000 a year to run our charity and so we are always organising fund raising events as well as having a charity shop 'Cats Whiskers', located at 1 School Lane, Burscough, Lancashire, Tel: 01704 893393. For more information go to Charity Shop Page.

Our facilities consist of 18 outdoor pens, creating a safe and pleasent area for carers and cats alike. 8 indoor pens, 3 of these are located in a quieter area for mothers & kittens. A treatment room with 2 medical cubilcles, for cats and kittens who need a warm and quiet environment to enable them to convaless and 2 socialising cabins, for timid cats who need social rehabilitation.

The Southport & District Branch also has a register of locally lost and found cats, and this is an integral part of our work, for an up to date list please call us on 01704 823293. We have also erected Protect a Puss cabins, which consists of a larger area where our long term cats can live out their days cared for. You can see more about these cats and how you can help us look after them on our Protect a Puss Page.

Our new reception area has been completed, full of information allowing us to educate people about cat and kitten care and the services we provide. Within reception you can buy all the essentials needed when adopting a cat, as well as a selection of treats and toys for our furry companions. Enquiries about our branch can be made by Tel: 01704 823293.

We rely heavily on volunteers, who do not receive any financial reward, but enjoy the teamwork and the satisfaction of knowing that they have helped an abandoned or abused cat to achieve a better quality of life. The money we raise goes towards food, litter, transport and vets bills. Our fundraising team know that if they don't raise the money, we can't help the cats. There is more information about Volunteering on our How you can Help Page .