Agria to Highlight the Need to Adopt at Catfest
According to Agria Pet Insurance, an impressive 1 in 3i of their cat claims involve cats under the age of two. Thinking about the extremely weird, funny and completely crazy antics that we’re familiar with seeing young cats and kittens get up to as they explore their homes and gardens, perhaps this isn’t so surprising.
Sadly, life can be very different for kittens struggling to survive in other parts of the world. As well as being abandoned from very young ages, they battle with hunger and disease, often resulting in blindness and death.
This summer, Catfest returns to London to embrace everything that’s wonderfully cat, while illuminating the very serious and devastating plight of vulnerable street animals and abandoned kittens in Morocco and Albania, and the benefits of giving rescue cats a home.
In the festival’s Meow Parlour Adoption Lounge, sponsored by Agria Pet Insurance, cat lovers and potential adopters can find out all about rehoming rescue cats, and just how important it is to give a cat without a place to call home, a place in their heart. The lounge is brought to the festival by beneficiary charity ERHAM.
The Meow Parlour will be rehoming kittens rescued by ERHAM after being abandoned in Morocco. ‘Erham’ in Arabic means ‘take pity’ or ‘show compassion’, and the charity, established in 2014 by UK-based photojournalist, Anne Heslop, aims to reduce the population by sterilisation and stop the suffering of street cats in Morocco.
As well as working with vets and responsible breeders across the UK, Agria Pet Insurance also partners with rescue organisations country-wide to provide free pet insurance for hundreds of adopted cats each year.
Janet Hughes, Director of Partner Engagement and Strategy at Agria, says, “Through our work with animal rescue we hear so many stories of the hugely positive difference cats make to the lives of their new families, and we’re passionate that every cat deserves the happy, healthy and fun-filled life it was born to live.”
Last summer’s debut festival — drawing people from all over the UK, Europe, Japan, the US and Australia — raised thousands of pounds for two small rescue charities and homed all the kittens in the Meow Parlour adoption lounge to loving forever homes. This year the festival hopes to build on that success.
As well as highlighting the devasting issues many cats face, the festival celebrates all that is fabulous about cats, with talks from renowned writers and animal experts, cat films and books, stylish cat-related products and live music.
The Swell Cat Art Show, showcasing work from international artists from New York and Los Angeles to Lisbon and London, will benefit Trash Cats & Dumpster Dogs to help street animals in Albania. Familiar feline faces like James Bowen of A Street Cat Named Bob fame and street cat Bob, along with a few other famous “cat influencers”, supermodel pussycat Starina, will be doing meet-and-greets.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Agria Pet Insurance, a conscientious company that shares our charitable ethos, and look forward to an exciting and memorable festival,” says Britt Collins, journalist, Strays author and founder of Catfest.
Janet continues, “Agria is proud to support Catfest and help draw attention to cats that need our help. It’s a fantastic opportunity to celebrate these incredible animals that definitely deserve a festival all of their own.”
Watch the below video to see the recent kitten dumping crisis and see why Catfest is focusing on ‘Cats without borders’, and helping wherever there is a desperate need.
For more about Catfest and the charities involved, visit catfestlondon.com. To find out more about a lifetime pet insurance policy for your cat, from an award-winning specialist provider, Agria Pet Insurance, visit agriapet.co.uk.
WOW WOW WOW I Love Cats
😀 thank you
The thoughtlessness of irresponsible pet owners breaks my heart. Blessings to the lady who is attempting to help. My heart weeps …
It’s very sad what happens to animals and we simply can’t do without people like her :/
People are awful…80 kittens? How inhumane!
🙁 yes
Oh the beauty of being owned bt a cat
cats are the best people indeed. My Nicki picked me and she is Queen of the bed, the chair and the apartment. I love her more than life itself!
It is imperative. The two divas came from the local SPA’s. While Balzac did not. He was living in a nearby village with his three sisters. A good friend there let the woman who was feeding them know that I had always wanted a black cat and preferred it be a male this time. Our darling “little?” boy arrived here on Valentines Day. He had me at Meow. Sadly, the three sisters were lost to the foxes. Many of us here do not allow our felines outside.
There are so many amazing felines out there waiting on us to have the sense to come and bring them home were they will brighten our lives beyond imagination.
Indeed!
Who can say no to one of those cats? They all deserve a loving home. I hope they find one.
🙂