Every cat deserves a happy home
A small, volunteer run cat rescue working across Bradford. No building, no wages, no waiting for somebody else to do it.
Charity No. 1213234
The rescue was founded in July 2021, to help the overwhelming number of male stray cats out on the streets who struggled to find rescue spaces. Charities were forced to prioritise pregnant cats and kittens, and the boys were left waiting. The Cat House Rescue was set up to give those cats somewhere to go.
We keep a dedicated foster home for mums and kittens found on the streets when there is no alternative, but our main focus is stray male cats, who we affectionately call street boys, and FIV positive cats.
In 2026, with vet costs and food bills rising, we downsized to a smaller foster team and focused our limited budget on offering low cost neutering support in targeted areas of Bradford, as well as TNR for community cats.
People sometimes ask why we do not simply bring every cat into rescue and find them all homes. This is why.
Bradford was one of only five places in the country used in the Cats Protection research that produced the national estimate of 247,429 unowned cats living in the UK's towns and cities. The same study found that deprivation explained 31% of the variation in where those cats are, more than any other factor.
That is not an abstract statistic to us. It is the reason our neutering work is concentrated where it is, on the Ravenscliffe and Thorpe Edge estates.
Five things, and only the first is what most people picture when they think of a cat rescue.
We take stray and abandoned cats off the streets, care for them in foster homes and find them permanent families.
We trap, neuter and return cats living in colonies, so their numbers stop rising instead of doubling every year.
We take microchipping and cat care advice out to local communities at low cost events.
Vouchers for cat owners on a low income in targeted communities, currently Ravenscliffe and Thorpe Edge.
Free help for owners in our community Facebook group, so cats can stay with the families who love them.
Four things we will not budge on.
We have a strict no euthanasia policy. The only time we put a cat to sleep is when they are terminally ill, their illness has reached the point where they are suffering, and the kindest thing we can do is help them go in peace.
Every cat lives in a foster home, not a cage in a row. That limits how many we can take at once, and we would rather take fewer cats and do it properly.
We cannot adopt our way out of an overpopulation crisis. Neutering is the only thing that stops the next generation of kittens being born on the streets, so we neuter every cat before they leave us, and we believe in trap, neuter, return.
Every cat adopted from us can always come back to us if circumstances change, however many years later. No cat we have rehomed should ever end up on the streets again.
Founder
Founded the rescue in July 2021. Cat mum to Mindy, Ivy, Oscar, Sophie and Freddie.
Trustee and fosterer
Manages the emails and admin for the rescue, and is our go to expert on all things mummy cats and kittens.
Trustee
Our microchip implanter and a foster carer. Helen helps behind the scenes with cat care and vet trips.
We are always short of foster homes, volunteers who can trap or drive, and fundraising.
The Cat House Rescue is a registered charity, no. 1213234, run entirely by volunteers.