CatsofDurban

24/11/2025

What a terrible start to the week.

My first call this morning was from Shaista, who had made the huge mistake of taking a cat to the Springfield SPCA on Thursday afternoon, in the mistaken belief that it would be re-homed.

The cat had been left behind by a neighbour who moved, and Shaista thought it would be better off in a new home.

On Friday morning she realised that she was actually missing the animal, and phoned the SPCA to tell them she had made a mistake and wanted the cat back. They told her she would have to pay to re-adopt the cat. She told them she would be happy to do so.

This morning she phoned to organise the adoption, to find that the cat had been euthenased, because the SPCA manager said there was 'something wrong with it'.

Shaista has been unable to find out what was wrong with the cat, as the manager was merely very vague and did not give her any detail.

I cannot tell you how it ruins my day when someone phones me to tell me that they - for whatever reason - 'took a cat to the SPCA'.

I followed up with the SPCA to find out how a cat - a fully vaccinated, healthy young male of around one years old - suddenly developed overnight a condition that necessitated putting it down.

I will update this post once I get a reply.

In the meantime, the following:

Please, SPCA, do not lie to people.
Do not tell people that you will home their cat when you know full well it will be almost impossible to do so.
Do not tell people that the cat is waiting to be adopted when it is already dead.
Do not tell people that 'there was something wrong with the cat' when it was put down merely because it was a surplus animal.

Instead, warn people when they surrender their cats that the chances of the animal being euthenased is almost 100% and once they hand over the cat there is no going back.

The SPCA does not like to tell people that it kills animals because they risk their income from public donations. But according to their own figures, they kill around 10 000 animals a year.

I receive far too many calls from people who surrender cats to the SPCA in the mistaken belief that the animal will be homed. They are usually devastated to find out subsequently that the animal is dead.

The SPCA's kill policy has been a point of contention between the organisation and other welfare bodies for decades. While the SPCA inspectorate do excellent work, their organisation's haste to kill healthy animals is appalling. Their refusal to assist welfare organisations with TSR is also regrettable: they support TSR in theory but not in practice.

19/11/2025

So glad we were able to assist Jackie with a sterrie from our diary sales.... if you want to sponsor a sterrie, all you need to do is buy one of our diaries.

2 cats for steri this morning.
Cat 1 is the mother cat found in Shelley Park with her 2 babies. Thank you of Durban and Moore
who sponsored this cat with proceeds from the sale of their diaries.
Cat 2 is another Congella cat sponsored by Feral Cat Rescue (Helping Feral & Stray Cats), thank you Hartley

13/11/2025

Our anxiously-awaited Cats of South Africa diaries were collected on Friday.
All weekend and Monday we did the reconciliations, put together the orders, wrapped books in newspaper and bubble-wrap, packed boxes, allocated orders, booked couriers.... the work was all done by Tuesday and people began picking up their orders.
Then..... Wednesday...... and disaster struck.
We got a note from a sharp-eyed customer, telling us that her diaries had a printing error.... the dates were wrong.
This was odd.
We checked a few of our books, and our books were fine. And so we checked a few more.... and found that random books had errors! We could not send out books like this!
However, we had no way of knowing which books had errors and which were fine. There was only one thing to do - unpack every single box, undo every single parcel, unwrap every single book, and check every single diary. Every. Single. One.
We had already notified the printer, and they were sending a driver to collect the flawed books for re-printing. We had to cancel the courier and recall all the books which had already been collected.
More than half of the books had mistakes.
So.... this is what my lounge looks like now - with the remaining books in piles, packaging everywhere, empty boxes waiting for replacements...
Of course, the cats think this is Disneyland.
So many empty boxes! So many scrunched up pieces of paper! So much bubble-wrap! Such a mess! Heaven!
If you have ordered a Cats of South Africa diary, there will be a delay of a few days. As the telephone voice always says: "Please be patient, your call will be answered."
And in the meantime, you can rest assured that the mistake, the re-print, and the delay have made a couple of cats very happy.....

31/10/2025

Happy Halloween from a spooky Cats of Durban 👻

24/10/2025

With Christmas round the corner, it is time to think about gifts for the most important being in the house - the cat!

Which is why we are raffling off our Cat Hamper - a selection of really top class PussyCat Presents.

Each R50 ticket gives you a chance for the draw to win one of the following prizes:
1. Cat Tree (no description needed)
2. MicroChip Cat Feeder (attach the microchip to the cat's collar so that it opens only for them)
3. Cat Carrypack (to take kitty on walks with an 180-degree view)
4. Cat Igloo (for curling up for a good night's sleep)
5. Cat Warmer with Sheepskin Blanket (for elderly cats, or cats that really feel the cold)
6. Cat Toilet (train your cat to use the loo..... with luck you can even train them to flush afterwards)

Bank account to EFT ticket purchases:
Cats of Durban
Standard Bank
Br Code: 042526
Acc: 056 592 523

How to enter:
Buy as many R50 tickets as you want via an EFT to the Cats of Durban bank account.
Use the word Raffle and any six-digit number as your reference (this is to keep entries anonymous).
Send your name and reference number via Whatsapp to 0719328925. In this way we can match the winning ticket to your name, and have a number to contact you.

Each ticket counts for one entry - the more tickets you buy, the more chance you have of winning!

Proceeds will go towards our sterilisation clinics.

Entries close on December 7. The draw begins on December 8th, with one lucky number announced on each day. Each prize winner gets to choose their prize from the remaining options. Winners will be contacted on the day of the draw and announced publicly the day after on Facebook.

The prizes are offered in Durban, so if you live outside Durban please consider courier or delivery costs, as they are not covered in the prize.

The winners get to choose which prize they would prefer in order of their draw.

This is a Christmas gift that keeps on giving... even if you do not win a prize, your ticket price goes towards sterilising a stray or feral cat and giving them the chance of a better life.

20/10/2025

Happy Diwali to those that are celebrating this week ✨🎊🎉🎆🎇

19/10/2025

It was Thursday morning this last week when we began to hear about a cat trapped on the 16th floor of an abandoned building in mid-town Durban. The cat had been meowing out of an open window for the last few days.
The video of the desperate cat circulated for a while, but no-one knew what to do... how would anyone be able to get to the 16th floor of an abandoned block of flats?
However, Owen Neal, who feeds cats around the Old Fort Road area, saw the video. He knew someone who knew someone who owned the building. He phoned the owner, who told him simply to go to the building and go in through the front door and up the stairs - he would arrange for security to let him in.
The building has long since had electricity cut off, so Owen went through the front door and began to climb sets of stairs in the pitch dark, counting the floors as he went and checking each floor as he got nearer. Eventually he arrived on a floor that had a window open and he guessed the cat would be nearby.
"I saw the cat, hiding behind a pile of broken furniture," says Owen, "so I put food down and coaxed him to come and eat. It took a long time because he was very nervous, but eventually I was able to grab him and put him in a carrier."
The cat was carried all the way back down the 16 floors in the pitch dark, and taken to the vet for a check up. Besides being severely dehydrated and very hungry, he was in good condition and responded to his rescue with massive purrs and headbutts.
How he got up to the 16th floor is a mystery, unless he was trapped lower down and just kept going up until he found a window to call for help.
He was christened Saltori in memory of Saltori's restaurant that used to occupy this building, and he is now looking for a loving home.
Anyone who would like to give Saltori a happy ending can contact Owen at 083 628 7244

21/09/2025

In South Africa, thousands of animals suffer daily due to outdated laws, lack of enforcement, and limited access to veterinary care. The Durban Animal Welfare Network (DAWN), supported by concerned citizens, calls on the eThekwini Metro Council to urgently amend municipal bylaws to reflect the reali...

03/09/2025

My Great Big Cat-Package Adventure:

It was an interesting-looking parcel: large, flat, square, padded and packaged. I could not wait to get it home from Postnet and unwrap it.

The cats were also intrigued... what was this large square brown thing, sitting on the dining room table? They all gathered round with long necks and active whiskers.

Firstly I removed the plastic bag and a few layers of bubble wrap, with all the cats paying the closest attention. The first few strips caused great excitement - as the bubble wrap peeled off the cats would grab a piece and start to jump on it, giving a little start of surprise at every pop.

The best thing about bubble wrap is that it rustles... and this rustle obviously calls up deep tribal memories of little things scurrying in the grass.....

It was very difficult to even pick up a piece of bubble wrap to fold and put aside as it was immediately grabbed and shaken or carried off.

The sticky tape caused some panic and consternation - one cat got tape stuck on her paw and went streaking through the house, trailing bubble wrap like a scarf. I had to catch her and unstick her before she galloped into the garden.

Sticky tape and cats seem to have an unholy attraction. No sooner had I disentangled one cat, than another got attached.

After that, all hell broke loose. One cat would burrow under the heap of packaging while the other ones would attack from the top. One would grab a piece of plastic and trot off with it, with the strip dangling like a very long beard, with another cat in hot pursuit.

The cats also have cardboard fetishes, and they attacked pieces of board, killed them comprehensively, and then tore up the carcase and scattered the bits.

Once the floor was carpeted with exhausted cats and shredded packaging, the gift was revealed: a stunning framed artwork by Jonathan Handley, the Edendale Feral Cat Club cartoonist who is a master of snark. This was the original of the cartoon that is featured in our Cats of South Africa 2026 diary.

It was a gift from EFCC to Cats of Durban, and it will occupy a place of pride alongside our other cat paraphernalia.

The EFCC has just had their annual Art Auction to raise funds for the feral cat feeding programme (only the best food will do, according to the pampered pussycats), and they have put together a stunning Annual full of jokes, news, cartoons and sass. At R150 a copy, it's a giggle-a-minute read and funding for an excellent cause.
Get yours from [email protected]

PS - Just so you know....all that packaging goes into the recycle bin, and the bubble wrap will be used to protect our wonderful diaries when we start to send them out....

28/08/2025

Good morning, our fabulous supporters. It is really heartening to see the outpouring of comment and suggestions when we post about the challenges we face.

Like all animal welfare NGOs, we rely on public support to keep going. And because we don't simply want to ask you for money, we would like you to get something in exchange. So, every year, we sell our diaries and that money is used to pay vet bills for strays and ferals that would otherwise go untrapped.

We are about to order our 2026 diaries. Every diary you buy provides a sponsored sterilisation for our dedicated team of trappers who work across Durban and do TSR for a most astonishing number - approximately 2000 cats per year!

If you would like to show support for what we do, please order a diary. We have a loyal customer base who buy diaries every year, but the more we sell, the more cats we can help.

If you would like a diary, please send a mail to [email protected] and you will receive the order form in the auto-response.

Our pre-orders close this Sunday.

26/08/2025

We were absolutely outraged today to find out that Silveray Stationery (a company in Jacobs that manufactures stationery for Croxley) hired a pest control company to trap cats for euthenasia.

This is after we discussed and had decided on a management plan last week to get the cats out of their warehouse and into a safe space at the perimeter of their property.

When I asked them why they were trapping cats to kill them - after they had agreed to TSR - their reply was that we had not yet started trapping the cats for TSR, so they were going to continue trapping them for euthenasia until we took over.

Where do I even start?

First of all, for successful trapping one does not just start trapping, you have to first establish a feeding regime with a place for them to go after sterilisation.

Secondly, pest control companies do not trap cats humanely. In fact, pest control companies should not trap cats at all. Those cats were panicked in their uncovered traps and would have died in a state of sheer terror.

Thirdly, trapping and removing cats for euthenasia does not work, because new cats come in and the remaining cats simply breed faster to fill the gap. The most frustrating thing is that companies around SSC have successful TSR projects in place... SSC even commented on them. So why undermine us by trying to run two mutually-exclusive projects at the same time?

Cats of Durban has withdrawn from this project at Silveray Stationery Company as we cannot continue to work with people who deal in such bad faith. How do we know they will not simply carry on trapping and killing cats while we are trying to Trap, Sterilise, Release?

We are trying to identify the pest control company in question so that we can report them to SAPCA.

All cat lovers... next time you are tempted to buy a Croxley stationery item, just think: a cat died to bring me this product.

20/08/2025

‼️Preorders close on 31 August ‼️

Order your cats of South Africa diary now

Fill out the Google form to place your order:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeYZiXlxft1rgk-HDy35X86lP_Ru1iBgrmHgJVvnlslOrirQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0