My name is Kate and I’m fundraising to try and raise enough Monday to make my mums dream of opening her own feline veterinary practice in the North Yorkshire, UK.

So first, let me tell you about my mum!

Our home is currently also home to over 300 cats at our registered Charity “Filey Cat Rescue” founded and run by my mum.

57 years ago, after my grandparents bought the property, my mum was born in the upstairs bedroom.

It was clear early on that my mums passion was to look after and rescue as many animals as she could, in particular…CATS!

She spent her early years finding stray and feral cats and kittens and taming them down, giving them a home and food on the property. Along with this she also played with her brother with the other rescued animals. She often recalls playing “bulldog” with a particularly boisterous sheep with her brother and trying to tame a Shetland pony.

when she was 16 years old, her 15 year old brother sadly passed away suddenly from an asthma attack. It was a truly awful time for the whole family and my mum lost her best friend. Her outlet was, as always, the animals and helping as many of them as she could. I think they also helped her in this difficult time.

In the early 90’s my mum married my dad Mark who had little to no experience with animals, little did he know in the years to come he’d be transformed into an expert! From horses, to sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, ducks, geese, donkeys and of course…CATS!

in 2021 at a horse stud locally to us, my mum heard over 25 cats were about to be shot and so of course she rescued them all. My dad built 3 large sheds with huge outdoor runs connected to house them and that was the first rescue of what was to become “Filey Cat Rescue”, since then the rescue, run predominantly by my amazing mum has taken in and rehomed over 2000 cats! As a no kill charity my mums motto become the charity slogan “every cat counts” so no matter what the issue they come in with, no matter what the cost, she makes sure they get all the help they need and this is where it gets tough.

Our rescue predominately works with 3 veterinary practices who are all fantastic and have given us as much discount as they can however the cost still amounts to over £150,000 a year in just veterinary costs alone. This is a HUGE number for a small family run charity.

when the food, litter and other essentials come into the picture the cost is amplified even more meaning that despite the support we receive from the local community via donations and our two local charity shops, it’s not enough and my mum has given everything. She sold her car and even her wedding ring to keep the rescue afloat.

Her dream has always been to open her own Veterinary practice, specialising in cats (animals which as so often overlooked). She has huge goals for the vet practice.

1) starting with the local community, trap neuter vaccinate and rehome as many cats as possible. The cost savings will mean she can help so many more cats via the rescue! Eventually reaching further and further until she can afford to create mobile vet clinics that travel the UK doing the same. There are over 250,000 (approximate) stray and feral cats in the UK and without intervention this number will only grow.

2. Offer FIP treatment whenever needed. FIP is a common killer in cats and while it is treatable and dealt with regularly in the US. In the UK many practises do not offer treatment options and simply put these animals to sleep, meaning so many families, loose their babies without knowing they had a choice.

3. Help the local community on low income to vaccinate and neuter pets to prevent increase in the stray, feral and abandoned cat population.

She has SO many more goals but she needs the vets so badly.

a few months ago the rescue sadly fell victim to a case of Panleukopenia. The virus was isolated to one area of the rescue however despite my mum spending her entire pension and giving absolutely everything she had, the extremely infectious virus took the lives of 24 of her precious babies. It broke her. Emotionally, physically and financially. Her dream of opening the vets has never felt further away.

she has fought through so much. Loosing her brother, fighting and beating breast cancer in 2020 and fighting this awful virus. She has been my absolute rock through my pregnancy and my son’s battles with his heart condition and his upcoming surgery. She is the most amazing mum, grandmother, pet owner, charity founder and person.

If anyone deserves to see their dream come true this Christmas it’s Tina.

she has absolutely no idea I’m doing this.

I don’t know if this is possible. I don’t know whether we’ll even come close but it’s the least I can do after everything she has done for me.

I would love to surprise her on Christmas morning with her dream come true.

The money from this fundraiser will be used to purchase the essential equipment needed to open our veterinary practice (X-ray, Ultrasound, surgical supplies, kennels etc) and renovate the existing building were lucky enough to have on site.

please help if you can. My mum has never asked for anything for herself, she continues to do so now, asking only to save as many animals as she can and make a real difference to cats!

All donations and shares are so appreciated!

Lets do this