Life after a cat hoarder
Back in September 2025, we were alerted to a property with over 150 Bengal cats. They were being housed in a shed in the garden, stacked on top of each other. Approximately 8-10 Bengals were in each 3m x 4m tiny pen. The juvenile Bengals who had never felt grass under their feet, learned to catch a mouse, or had a stroke from a human were terrified. At 4 months old, their socialization window had long passed, and they were becoming more ‘feral’ by the day. Having 8-9 of these young, juvenile Bengals in one small space together was a recipe for disaster. Constant fighting, boredom, and stress led to over-grooming and diarrhea.
When we first went to this property, nothing prepared us for what we saw. The conditions were shocking. We went with the mindset of evaluating the setup to come back and make a formal plan. Due to the circumstances, that didn’t happen; we took 10 that day. The last cat we took was a beautiful snow Bengal we named Nimbus. He was so scared that we simply couldn’t leave him, not even for another 24 hours, especially as the owner’s response was, “Are you sure you want him? He is horrible!”
The next day we went back and we took another 12, 9 of which were nervous juveniles a challenge indeed but we had willing fosterers, ready to put the time in they needed to learn what love looked like. At the end of the shed we discovered 3 sphynx cats, 1 entire male and 2 females, they had poor skin, sores on their elbows and terrible diarrhoea. Although our knowledge about sphynx cats was limited, we had a friend in rescue who knows a lot about them so I knew she would take them on. So, on the second day, we ended up taking home 15 cats.
Over the first few weeks, everyone took their time getting to know these kids and coaxing them out of their shells. Slowly, one by one, they developed personalities that we grew to love. They all went out to their new homes with a two-week trial in place, as we knew these kids would just take time to become the cats they now are.
Within this group of Bengals, there was Cami; she was heavily pregnant and very, very cross. Charlotte took her home and tried her best to befriend her over the next few weeks. Then, one Sunday morning, we were delighted to see she had kittened one huge, big boy all by herself. Over the next few hours, her labor stalled, and we sadly had to proceed with an emergency caesarean section and delivered another big boy. She took it all in her stride, though, and became one of the best mums we’ve ever had, doting on her boys, Ginger and Earl. They went from strength to strength, and once big enough, we moved to a second foster home to develop even more. Cami has turned into one of the loveliest cats, albeit a little timid, but is now in a lovely caring home.
At the start of November, we went back again with a very clear mindset of taking another 10 cats. Of course, we ended up with more and eventually took 17. Oops! This time we have 6 juvenile females, well over their socialization window at around 6-7 months old, 1 mom with 3 kittens, and 1 mom with 6 kittens. These kids have been the biggest challenge yet.
They were all scared, feisty, and very timid, requiring so much patience and perseverance. Our fosterers put so much time into these kids, and we took our time placing them in their forever homes. Letting them settle into life, learn what love looks like, and then we began to find them their new families.
Sadly, most of the young kittens had horrible eye infections, and Éclair, a young 6-week-old Bengal boy lost one of his eyes. He had a bad conjunctivitis that was left untreated, ultimately resulting in his eye rupturing. We can’t begin to imagine how painful that would’ve been for him. Our vets quickly got him in for his eye to be removed, a very difficult, fiddly surgery for such a young kitten weighing only 700g! He did remarkably well and went to a foster away from his siblings, Cookie & Cupcake, to recover without the fun, bashful playing that often comes with kittens. Of course, he ended up being adopted by his foster carers. How could you not want a cute one-eyed Bengal kitten?
So, by the end of 2025 we had rescued 44 cats from this establishment.
The latest instalment was just a few weeks ago, when we were asked (by the ‘breeder’) if we could help by taking some more. We thought it was a small, positive step in the right direction by willingly surrendering these cats and acknowledging the set up and care they were receiving, was not enough. However, when we went back, the conditions were much the same. This time, we returned with 21 cats and kittens , surprisingly they were not all bengals. We had one purebred British shorthaired litter, 2 bengal x British shorthaired, and one domestic shorthair x Bengal. Surprised was an understatement. We took 5 beautiful mum cats, and 16 little kittens. Once we got them all to a vet, one kitten was clearly in an incredibly bad state. Both his eyes had ruptured, and he must have been in an excruciating amount of pain. At only 4 weeks old we had to make the tough decision to have him put to sleep. Luckily, the rest of his litter looked okay, a few needs eye drops but they didn’t have big ulcers or damage to the surface of their eyes. Fingers crossed they all continue to do okay.
That means since September 2025, we have taken over 60 cats from this property. Which is utterly mind blowing. You can’t ‘plan’ when rescue cats or kittens will come in so this is on top of our other intakes of stray cats, sign overs, welfare cases and more. They all have a much better life ahead of them and we are so proud of them and the cats they are becoming!
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