We are facing a devastating cat crisis at our centres in London and East Sussex. The level of animal abandonment at our doors is currently at an all-time high; overwhelming numbers of requests are being received daily from members of the public to take in their unwanted pets; and requests for neutering services for feral cat colonies on the streets of East and South East London, East Sussex, and Kent are higher than ever.

With a no-kill policy, unless animals are beyond any veterinary help, our three centres are full to capacity caring for a total of almost 1,000 cats and kittens, 300 (42%) more than usual. Whilst awaiting rehoming, the cost of their care is taking a financial toll on our charity, detrimentally impacting both the rescue work we can carry out for sick, injured, stray, and feral cats, and the low-cost veterinary services we can provide.

Cause and effect

Cats are prolific breeders and are capable of breeding from four months old. They can produce up to three litters a year, with between two and eight kittens per litter. Many cat owners simply cannot afford to neuter their pets, and their animals are breeding out of control. Unable to care for or find homes for the kittens, many desperate owners are resorting to abandoning unwanted animals on the streets or having healthy pets euthanised.

Today's challenges

In 1995, we opened the country’s first low-cost neutering clinic for low-income pet owners and strays in Lewisham, South East London, to help solve the cat overpopulation crisis. Four years later, we opened a further clinic in Canning Town, East London. With each clinic neutering 150 cats a week, the number of unwanted cats in the area reduced dramatically.

Fast forward 30 years, on the back of the pandemic and cost of living crisis, the Celia Hammond Animal Trust is again experiencing the devastating effects of an increasing unneutered cat population, and the situation in 2025 is far more challenging than in the late 1990s as the cost of caring for cats and providing neutering surgeries is much higher.

We desperately need homes and funding to care for the 1,000 animals currently in our centres, as well as donations to pay for a large-scale, low-cost neutering programme to prevent the birth of more kittens into a world where there is no hope of enough homes to go round. This is the only humane and long-term solution to the cat overpopulation crisis.

Together we can make a difference

We have the necessary veterinary facilities at our London clinics, but we cannot afford the additional vets, vet nurses, and drug-related costs to neuter more cats. Therefore, we have launched this emergency appeal to raise £230,000 to enable us to neuter, microchip and provide necessary supportive treatment to approximately 3,600 female cats during October, November, and December 2025. The aim is to tackle the cat overpopulation crisis by preventing the unnecessary birth of potentially tens of thousands of kittens in 2026.

Cats are seasonal breeders who give birth to their kittens in Spring and Summer, so it is vitally important that this Autumn and Winter we neuter as many cats as possible before the next breeding season begins in early 2026.

How you can help

It costs us £45 to neuter a female cat using our own employed vets working at our London clinics (compared to local private vets which charge £150 - £250), and we are relying on animal lovers everywhere to support our emergency appeal to help tackle the cat overpopulation crisis.

Whether it is £10, £20, £30 or more, please donate whatever you can afford as we really need your help now, more than ever before.

And if you live within a 30-mile radius of our Canning Town, Lewisham, or Brede centre and can provide a forever home for one or more of the cats and kittens in our care, please visit www.celiahammond.org/adopt-a-cat for details of the animals currently seeking homes.