My home is the cat’s WHISKERS!

KELLA SANFORD-CLARK (33) FROM AUCKLAND IS A RADIOGRAPHER AND FOSTERS CATS

I’ve been known to have 37 cats in my house during our peak times. My parents think I’m insane, but my kids love it!

At the moment, I only have two fostered cats but I can have anywhere between 20 and 30 during those busy holiday periods, such as Christmas.

A lot of people go on holiday, so there are fewer of us who can take kittens at that time. It’s also a busy breeding time.

Also in the house are four of my own cats and one goofball of a dog, a Dalmatian-boxer cross. He’s very good with cats, which is great because then I can determine if a cat would be good in a home with dogs.

My mum was a trained vet nurse and so is my sister, so we grew up hand-raising kittens and puppies. My childhood home was full of animals – cats, dogs, sheep, cows, calves, a goat, horses, you name it...

I work as a radiographer and tutor three days a week, which allows me two days to do all the vet visits. I’ve been fostering cats and kittens for about three years. I got involved after a fosterer for the Lonely Miaow Society in my area asked for help to look after some kittens because she’d run out of space.

I was happy to do what I could, so I took two kittens.

She rang a couple of weeks later and said she could take them back, but I really liked having them so I offered to continue fostering them and help find them a home. That’s how it all began.

I tend to take some of the special cases where animals are really sickly and we don’t know if they’ll make it. I like to give them a chance. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. Your heart goes out to these cats because it’s not their fault they’ve ended up the way they are.

But because I do come across some horrific situations, I have also had what we call “foster fails”, where we keep the kittens instead of adopting them out.

Two of my most memorable cats are foster fails who live with me today. Bob was thrown into a drain during a storm and his eye was badly damaged. He got really sick as a result and had to have his eye removed. He was very lucky to survive.

Then there is my little Ariel. She had her back feet chewed off – we think either by her mum after the umbilical cord was tied around her paws or perhaps by a rat. It’s awful to think about.

Then she also got a bad eye infection, the flu and a bone infection. At one stage, I was giving her seven eye drops every day. It took months to rehabilitate her and for her to heal, but I’m happy to say she’s with me today and we have a very tight bond.

It’s true to say that a house full of cats is absolute chaos! I have a spare bedroom which is now a dedicated cat room and it even has an adjoining en suite so I can split off the rooms or the cats can have their own giant area.

My six-year-old daughter

Zoe and four-year-old son Fletcher also have cats in their bedrooms when it’s peak season, but they love it and I think it’s very good for them.

They learn how to treat animals and they really look forward to it, even after all the cats we’ve already had.

Goodness knows how many people have come through my doors looking for a pet cat. It does kind of take over my life. I’ve had to put plans on hold to get these kittens adopted and sometimes it means I can’t join in on activities with my kids.

But the way I see it, the sooner I can get these cats a home, the sooner I can take in more off the streets. I think these cats are the ones that have been given a second chance.

I’m addicted to fostering kittens and as long as there are strays out there, I will continue helping them.

A lot of them are extremely timid when they come in and when you get that first purr from them, you know you’re doing some kind of good.”

‘ When you get that first purr from them, you know you’re doing some kind of good’