Manawatū Alley Cat Trust targets online shoppers with range of cat-themed items

Manawatū Alley Cat trustee Annie Reid wearing one of the T-shirts the trust sells.

A Palmerston North cat rescue is selling a range of cat-themed items to raise much-needed funds.

The Manawatū Alley Cat Trust started in 2015 and is currently operated by three trustees, Annie Reid, Raewyn Swensson-Wallace and Carol Wiley.

Reid said while they have a group of volunteers who help run the rescue, they still needed money to save cats’ lives, so the idea of selling merchandise online came up.

Volunteers got behind the idea – with several people offering to help make items.

The range of items is ever-growing, said Reid, with the online store currently stocked with a range of T-shirts, Christmas decorations, art prints and other quirky items likely to appeal to cat lovers and owners alike.

The store has a wide selection of crocheted items. As well as fairly standard looking crocheted keyrings, shoppers can also purchase “cat butt” coasters, “succle-cats” - which are small crocheted ornaments shaped to look like a succulent growing in a cat-shaped pot, and customisable amigurumi which means people can get crocheted versions of their own cats, said Reid.

“You can’t get a more meaningful keepsake made with lots of love.”

A custom amigurumi.

Reid said the most popular item they sell is their light switch cats – small decorative items which “balance nicely on your light switch or any other surface such as photo frames or computer monitors”.

“Some people have even put them on their beloved kitties’ cremation boxes.”

Reid’s favourite item are the watercolour art prints, which are created by an artist known as weementalblock.

“Every time I look at them I can’t help but smile at them – she has done an incredible job at really capturing the kitties’ personalities.”

weementalblock is a South Island-based artist who donates her time to paint watercolour portraits of cats who have been through the rescue.

“When you buy an image, it also comes with a printout telling you the origin story of that cat,” Reid said.

Reid said generally the artist would go through the trust’s Facebook page and paint the cats that inspire her, but the trust did put in one special order, asking her to paint a very special cat called Smidge.

Smidge was one of the trust’s biggest success stories of 2023, weighing less than a tube of toothpaste when he was found.

Reid said the rescue cannot run without money, as “we can only assist people if we have funds to do so”, so the shop is a key part of their ongoing fundraising.

Manawatū Alley Cat Trust was originally founded almost a decade ago by Jenny Doyle, who saw a need for helping unsocialised cats back in 2015.

Since then, the trust’s mission has grown to cover a variety of ways to provide a humane solution to the ever-increasing problem of stray cats.

The trust does this through three main ways. The first way is through an adoption programme.

Image 1 of 5: Could Meowstache be the perfect addition to your family?

Stray kittens, and occasionally cats, are rescued, cared for, socialised, and rehomed, said Reid.

“Our dedicated team ensures these kittens, often with bedraggled beginnings, grow up in an open environment with ample room for play indoors, fostering their healthy development.”

The second way the trust works to decrease the number of stray cats is through what is generally referred to as TNR - being trap, neuter and return.

Reid said the rescue does not take in unsocialised cats over 12 weeks old for rehoming, as they are unfamiliar with human contact and have a minimal chance of socialising.

“Attempting to tame them by confining them in a crate can lead to extreme stress, raising concerns for their welfare.”

Cats beyond 12 weeks are trapped, neutered, microchipped, given flea/worm treatment along with a comprehensive health check, and then released back to where they came from. This helps reduce the overall number of wild cats as it prevents further breeding. The trust also works to minimise the impact wild cats can have on native birdlife by reducing their need to hunt, said Reid.

“We financially support the feeding of 70 TNR’d cats.”

The third approach the trust takes is called domestic colony control (DCC).

Not all companion cats are desexed, said Reid, and this can quickly result in a colony of domesticated pets who then breed kittens in adjacent backyards that then become unsocialised.

“We are not here to judge these people, but rather educate and assist them. We will desex all cats on the property, along with rehoming any surrendered to us.”

As of September 14, the rescue has adopted out 881 cats and kittens, TNR’d 606, DCC’d 50, and there are currently eight cats in foster care.

The rescue has an adoption fee of $80, which covers desexing, microchipping, up-to-date flea/worm treatments, and a free period of pet insurance.

Available kittens are advertised through Facebook or on Trade Me, and people who wish to adopt have to submit a pre-adoption application with detailed information.

“We prioritise matching our cats with homes based on personality to get the perfect match, rather than appearance or first-in-first-served basis, so people need to read their profiles carefully.”

Panthera was found with a dog roll wrapper slice stuck around her neck. She is now available for adoption.

The rescue currently has several tween kittens available for adoption, including Meowstache, Chai and Scooter, siblings who came from a backyard with little to no human interaction.

They also have one adult cat, Panthera, an unsocialised cat who came into the rescue’s care due to a life-threatening injury.

“While scavenging for food at some stage she got a dog roll wrapper slice stuck around her neck, which was embedded in, and skin was growing around it.

“In her time healing, we saw by her reaction to us she wanted to be our friend, so we knew we couldn’t send her back as a TNR to where she came from. We decided to socialise her with the hope she could gain our trust and one day have a family of her own.”

Reid said having been in a backyard and entering the rescue’s care as a young adult, she will always be jumpy, shy, and reserved towards strangers but once she feels confident, she’ll “capture your heart in an instant”.

“We recommend she has an adopter who will be understanding she will need lots of patience and also be kept as an indoor cat to prevent her regressing to her unsocialised behaviour.”

The Manawatū Alley Cat Trust’s website is manawatualleycattrust.org.nz.