Shelter with 300 cats, including 100 sick ones, bursting at its seams

Volunteers caring for the cats at the shelter.

TO MANY, old newspapers are used for packing, lining and even cleaning windows.

But one other use of news- papers which the Cat Beach Sanctuary in Teluk Bahang, Penang, is in dire need of, is for cat litter boxes.

Founder Teviot Fairservis said with the 10km radius travel limit in place and ban on inter-district and interstate travels, it was difficult for the shelter to come by old or even new copies of newspapers.

“We are situated in Teluk Bahang and we are isolated here as we cannot cross over to town to get supplies or newspapers.

“Right now, we really need a lot of newspapers. If anyone reads newspapers and happens to have stacks of them, we would be happy to send someone to pick them up,” she said when contacted.

For many cat owners, newspapers are often used as an alternative to other options of wood pellets and sand for litter boxes.

Fairservis added that while they are still in need of donations, they hope pet owners will not abandon their pets or drop off more cats at Cat Beach.

“Despite the pandemic, we are seeing more and more cats delivered to us. “Just one of the mornings this week, we had seven cats delivered to us, which we had to reject.

“We have some 300 cats here and 100 among those are sick and injured cats that we have to care for and we have only five workers.

“So, we really hope owners will hang onto their cats, or at least reach out to people for re-homing or adoption instead of leaving them here,” she said.

Fairservis said while Cat Beach is unable to take in more cats, they are committed to helping every cat and cat owner on re-homing.

“For owners who really need to let their cats go, we urge them to send photos of their cats, their location and their story on why they need to be re-homed to us via Whatsapp.

“We can help these owners re-home and set their cats up for adoption with others.

“Whatever they do, we hope they will not abandon these cats at public spaces. We urge them to reach out.

“You will be surprised at the goodness you find when you reach out.

“There are always people who are willing to help, either with fostering or feeding for a short period of time,” she added.

The public may contact the Cat Beach Whatsapp chat group on 017-575 3419.