An interview with Sara, the Founder of Yorkshire Cat Rescue.
Read time: 7 mins
It isn’t every day you get to sit and chat with a champion of the cat world, but when we met Sara that’s precisely what happened. A true legend amongst both cats and humans, here’s the story of how she built her cat charity empire, and steps you can follow if you’re inspired to do the same.
For many of us, being surrounded by hundreds of cats, 24 hours a day, will only ever be a pipe dream. But for Sara, this is her reality. She is the founder of the Yorkshire Cat Rescue, a charity which over the years has rehomed 5,000+ cats. Just incredible stuff, and we couldn’t wait to find out more about how Sara came to be the saviour of cats, and just how much work really goes on behind the scenes. It isn’t all snuggles and purrs.
Back in the early nineties, Sara and some fellow cat-loving friends realised that Yorkshire severely lacked animal rescue services. Rather than a simple observation, the group kicked into action and decided to do something about it. Alongside studying for her degree at the time, Sara took on the challenge of building the rescue centre from the ground up, and 31 years down the line here they are. What started out as something to try out for a year or so has turned into a Cat Charity Empire with thousands of cats happily rehomed to their forever families.
“It’s been a gradual process, you know, and I don’t think for a minute when I started it I thought it would get this big. I thought it’d just be something to do for a couple of years, you know, just a little hobby on the side.”
In the early days, Sara cared for the cats 24/7. Through rose-tinted glasses, cuddling up with kittens all day sounds like the dream, but in reality, it requires a thick skin and a whole lot of dedication. Being super hands-on wasn’t just caring for cats, it meant fundraising, vet trips, admin, the list was endless. After building an entire cattery from the ground up, printing off leaflets and posting to the locals, they received their first official call – for a cat called Adam. A handsome black and white stray with a metal leg. Heartbreakingly nobody ever came back to claim him, but he became the first official feline of the Yorkshire Cat Rescue.
After 4 years of graft, Sara and her husband invested in some land to build a bigger and better cattery which is still the home of the charity today. 10 years into the furry journey they hired more hands to help. And today, they have a hugely successful charity, alongside 4 charity shops and fundraisers and have made a difference to countless amount of cats’ lives. Sara is quite literally the guardian angel of cats in Yorkshire and beyond.
The key to her success? Well, their ethos is pretty simple. Getting cats into their forever homes ASAP. As much as they love the kitty company, Sara doesn’t view the charity as a sanctuary for cats to retire to, she wants them in and out in the most loving way possible. To get the furry ones to their perfect family as soon as they can, as long as it’s the one. Each cat is different and needs specific things, and getting this right is essential. They find out how the cats are around children, other cats and dogs and be sure to find the perfect match for them. Sara gets people coming up to her in the supermarket to say ‘Oh we’ve still got our cat – we got her from you 8 years ago’ and that’s when she knows all the hard work is worth it –
“you feel a sense of having saved a life and also enriched the life of the family that have had this cat, pure love and joy is the only way to describe it.”
The question we were all desperate to ask was how many kitties slipped through the cracks and found their forever home with the Yorkshire Cat Rescue team themselves? But the answer didn’t surprise us all – at one point Sara had twelve feline friends living under her roof. But with a glimmer in her eye, she began to tell us about Rocky – the chosen one – that made it through the doors to Sara’s home and is the only current cat in her family. “He came in just over 10 years ago and he was a bit odd. Rocky was petrified of everyone, he was so scared, he would jump around and pounce on you (which is not a cat’s natural instinct). We called a behaviourist for him and it was snowing quite badly at the time so my husband- a driving instructor – couldn’t work. Together, we spent 2 weeks looking after Rocky and one day he just came around and he’s the best cat I’ve ever had.” He now sleeps under Sara’s chin, going from not being able to be around people to being the sweetest velcro boy.
Sara’s left us all extremely inspired and wanting to do that little bit more to help our favourite creatures on earth. But if you’re genuinely thinking of following in her footsteps, we asked Sara what you could to help and her top tips to build a cat charity empire of your own:
- See if there’s anything similar in your area that already exists. It may be a surprise to learn there can be too many local charities trying to do the same thing.
- It’s not just a case of going and rescuing a cat – you’ve got to think about affording vet and medical bills if they need special care, fundraising, food, litter trays, admin, the works! Even setting up a bank account for the charity is waaaay more complicated than you’d expect. You’ve also got so much else to consider, not just the initial costs and workload – How do I know they’re going to a good home? How is it going to affect my family? Where are the cats going to live? Do I physically have space for them? Even something as silly as ‘When can I go on holiday?’ should be a factor.
- The minute you take on one employee and volunteers you take on so much more than just the cats. People then depend on you, as well as the cats.
- Test the waters first by volunteering at an existing charity. Think to yourself: can I do it better or are they already doing a good job? Listen and learn from them. Look at it with fresh eyes. Are the animals happy? Are they eating well? Are they comfortable? Do they have enough space? Are the cats playing? If you think you can do it better, then it could be time to take action.
- Despite this, It’s better if you can help a charity that’s already there if you can. There’s less pressure on running your own business, but you’re still able to volunteer and make a huge difference to animals’ lives, as well as still being able to have a life of your own outside of the rescue.
Unfortunately, losing cats is understandably inevitable, and always extremely difficult. It affects all of the staff and is of course the lowlight of the job. The world of animal rescue is no walk in the park, but if you have enough grit and determination the rewards really do make all the hard work worth it. Sara began to tell us about a personal favourite moment – when the rescue gets a microchipped cat and they get to reunite them with their owners. When they’ve been missing for months and months and their humans never thought they’d see their cat again, watching that moment of reunion is priceless and never gets old.
We think what Sara and her team have done for the cats of Yorkshire over the years is absolutely golden. An inspirational story, built from the blood, sweat and tears of some seriously dedicated humans, doing all the good they can for the cats who need them most. We salute you, Sara.
Until next time Cat People x
