Multi-cat households... Cats breed very quickly and cat owners can find the situation gets out of hand very quickly...East London:  We received calls from concerned members of the public reporting a large number of hungry cats that had appeared and were trying to get into houses through windows and via cat flaps.

It was not difficult to locate the source of the cats and we visited to offer assistance.

It turned out that the cats owner had got two cats - one male and one female, both unneutered, two years ago. The cats had kittens and then the cats kittens had kittens and he now had 24 cats.

The property was rented and the Housing Association had taken out an injunction against the cats owner banning him from keeping them, so he had put all the cats outside his flat and shut the window.

The hungry cats had little shelter and some were wet through as it had been raining. Many were just waiting patiently, hoping the window would be reopened so they could get back into the flat. 

The cats were all very thin and had been without enough food for some time. The owner explained to us that he had tried to get help and showed us a list of places he had tried. He could not afford to feed or care for them properly and the situation had got out of control.

Most of the cats were quite friendly and we were able to pick them up and put them into cat carrying baskets. A few of the more timid cats had to be trapped. They were all taken brought to our Canning Town clinic where they were all  neutered, vaccinated, treated for fleas and worms and microchipped.

They were all thin but once provided with regular meals and sufficient food began gaining weight. They are mostly very pretty semi-longhaired cats and although some of their coats appeared rather scrawny initially they soon become beautiful looking cats again. The cats were transferred to our sanctuary near Hastings (East Sussex) in order to find homes.