The Douglas Sanctuary for Cats

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The Douglas Sanctuary for Cats

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Private Cat Sanctuary on the North Norfolk/Breckland border. Re-homing local strays and providing lifelong Sanctuary for displaced Colony cats. Why the Douglas?

We have many beautiful friendly cats looking for their forever home! The Douglas Sanctuary for Cats was established in April 2023 to re-locate and re-home a large colony of garden cats that were in dire need of safe refuge. The colony has a big mixture of cat temperaments! Some are real cuddle bugs that enjoy human interaction and fuss but most are "in-betweeners", cats that are happy around humans but are still nervous of physical touch and the full trappings of domestic life. None of these cats are feral so they couldn't simply be trapped, neutered and released. Semi domesticated, as the majority of them are, without the food source and shelter they had come to solely rely on for years they would have found it difficult to survive on their own. So, the Douglas was established to step in and help them. As a private sanctuary we are dedicated to the care of this huge colony which has cats of all ages, including kittens. We are committed to giving these wonderful cats safe refuge and the time they need to fully trust and accept human contact before re-homing. There are cats in the colony that really don't want their own human or the trappings of domestic life - Tom cats (now neutered) that have spent many years roaming around outside. For these cats we provide lifetime safe refuge at the sanctuary. Veterinary Care: All of the cats that come into the sanctuary are neutered, health checked, wormed, de-flea'd and tested for infectious disease. Sadly, without the benefit of vaccinations some colony cats can contract life limiting disease. We do not support euthanasia solely on a cats confirmed disease status. Well cared for, these cats can live a healthy and happy life for several years and such cats will remain with us at the Sanctuary. We will only make the decision to help those in our care over the Rainbow Bridge when it is the right decision for that INDIVIDUAL cat, its health and quality of life. The sanctuary is named for my Grandfather. An ardent cat lover! A final note. We are not a rescue centre. The Douglas is a private Sanctuary established to help this cat colony and we already have over 30 cats in our care!

30/10/2026

Bluebell & Tally had visitors on Wednesday and they took it all in their stride! They are absolutely thriving thanks to Sophie’s diligent care!

Lovely little girls and fingers crossed after the last round of antibiotics and de-wormer their tummies have settled and we can finally start vaccinations next week.

29/10/2026

DELILAH…..Evenings are always her better time of day……still here, still fighting for her…..love this old girl…still no idea what we are battling…..but she’s warm, comfortable and coddled and we have moments like this ❤️

22/10/2026

🐾🐾 BRAMLEY

We snapped this quick photo of Bramley while he was en route to the catio 🤭 he looks a little indignant about it doesn’t he? Thankfully he has fully recovered and is thriving after his THYROID SURGERY (a little too well, he’s a bit on the podgy side, sorry Bram but you are definitely well rounded!). It’s a relief to see him doing so well, he really was a very poorly boy.

Cats come into Sanctuary with unknown backgrounds having suffered all manner of neglect. It’s inevitable with the older cats that have been long term strays that we’ll be faced with dealing with the consequences of that at some point or other. Most Sanctuary cats do just fine but others often need expensive interventions like Bramley, Delilah, Millie and Tina.

We want to be able to unquestionably continue supporting our adoptable and permanent resident cats when they need us most. Please do support our fundraising efforts and grab a bargain for Christmas!! We are at Mutleys Pet Supplies, Swaffham Friday and Saturday x

21/10/2026

🚨😻😻 POP UP SHOP!! 😻😻🚨

Delilah would like to tell you that we have a POP UP Shop at Mutleys Pet Supplies Tower Meadow in Swaffham this Friday and Saturday. Please come and visit us and help us raise much needed funds!!

🧸 BRAND NEW CHILDRENS GAMES
🪀 BRAND NEW CRAFT SETS
🧙 NEW HARRY POTTER LEGO
🦇 Marvel & Batman Playsets
👚 Children’s & Adult Clothes
⚜️ BRAND NEW HOMEWARE
🧣 BRAND NEW GIFTWARE
🎄 Christmas Stocking Fillers
🧱 Complete Lego Sets
🧴 BRAND NEW BEAUTY GIFT SETS

All funds raised go directly to our veterinary fund to enable us to keep helping cats like Delilah ❤️

20/10/2026

🏡 This Rapscallion is Huxley!!

If you are thinking of adopting please head over to our website or complete the adoption form below.

https://thedouglascatsanctuary.co.uk/adoption-form/

Huxley and his friends are all waiting for their forever home. They are perfect Family oriented cats!

If you can offer a spacious Indoor only Home or a home in a rural location we’d love to hear from you.

All of our cats can join resident cats, most are OK with dogs and they blossom around children.

https://thedouglascatsanctuary.co.uk/

❌ Just a polite reminder we do not re-home our sanctuary cats into towns or built up residential areas if they will have unrestricted outdoor access. There are plenty of Rescues that offer cats that have the street smarts to thrive in these locations, our sanctuary cats will not and we re-home according to their needs.

19/10/2026

These two 🤦‍♀️ Happy little mites aren’t they!
Unfortunately their tummies are not so they are back on antibiotics for a week to try to settle everything down again.

My fault I suggested to Sophie their awesome foster that we try and migrate them off the Gastro kitten 😩 very bad idea!!

It’s highly likely these little mischief makers are still suffering the effects of the horrendous worm burden they had. We are worming every two weeks with veterinary wormers but their GI tract is still very sensitive. They will grow out of it and get stronger….they just need a little more assistance and patience.

This happens sometimes with outdoor born kittens, some still with Mum come in and they are absolutely fine as Mum has continued hunting for them but others that have been left behind have to scavenge on God knows what to survive and along with the worm burden it causes problems for their tiny GI tracts.

Tally and Bluebell as they are now named are gaining weight as they should be and have plenty of energy so otherwise all is good!

They will be available for adoption in about a month (assuming all things are as they should) so if you are thinking of adopting two balls of chaos in fur coats and cute packaging please do message our page or complete an adoption application.

18/10/2026

🐾🐾 LOLA

Just wanted to jump on again and share this quick video of Lola sent by her Fosters. Well look at you little Miss!! This is brilliant progress and Lola looks very relaxed with the strokes across her body as part of play. Check out her relaxed posture and toe bean stretch at the end! Lap cat incoming!!

18/10/2026

🐾 Delilah

Not the best video of Delilah as she isn’t keen on the camera (don’t blame her) and she isn’t particularly active during the daytime…… but she’s still here, still fighting and so are we.

Delilah has good days and bad days, mostly alert come evening time when she’ll sit up and mooch a little. Today isn’t a good day…..she’s eaten but she’s not taking her meds (currently just Steroids & Mirtazipine with 2 week antibiotic) and is looking sorry for herself. Her Tremors aren’t as frequent.

We know we are most likely in palliative care for something not yet identified but we also know she’s not at the point where it’s too much for her……so we continue and pray for a miracle.

Delilah is a lovely little cat and her life before us was at the hands of a cruel world. She didn’t deserve her lot in life…..if these are her end days they will be in comfort with abundant affection.

We still need help….honestly the bills are astronomical. Nearly £3000 for Delilah…..We also have the 2 kittens to vaccinate and neuter and their digestive systems are all over the place meaning gastrointestinal food 😢

If anyone feels able to help us the best way is sending food donations from our Amazon wish-list. We are particularly short of Sheba Gravy and Biofensis Biscuits this is the staple for our 60+ Sanctuary cats. We’d be incredibly grateful as it would mean we can channel what little funds there are into veterinary care.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/3F96GUD1KQGQ6?ref_=wl_share

15/10/2026

🐾 Introducing Ash 🐾

You will have seen a post from August when Ash was first caught from the same location as the kittens. Trapped twice (she was that hungry) David decided not to release her again and called us.

Just as well as she was a little female. Not chipped or neutered. Our vet’s estimated she was about 5 months old….she had kittened judging by her extended ni***es (no milk), let that sink in….5 months old…. but it’s likely they were born sleeping, she’d miscarried or simply left them.

After spaying and vaccinations our wonderful friends at Blackney Feral Friends Cheryl and Richard have been fostering her hoping to “warm her up” for re-homing, she’s definitely shown promise at times. However, Cheryl and Blakeney Feral’s are experiencing an absolute avalanche of outdoor born kittens needing space and alas Ash isn’t progressing particularly quickly. We’d hoped she would and Richard and Cheryl could give Ash more 1:1 attention than we could so it was worth a try.

It’s obvious Ash is going to need a lot more time to work life out and space where she can do her own thing. We know she’ll come around eventually, she plays and I’ve fed her lick-e-lix but the timeframe will be long…..so today Ash is with us again. If she decides human hands aren’t for her that’s OK too, she has Sanctuary for however she wants to live her life.

Cheryl and Richard THANK YOU for looking after her and giving her a chance xx

14/10/2026

Kitten update. They are doing well, growing and definitely learning into their new circumstances! Impossible to imagine where they’d be now if they hadn’t been caught……

Address

King's Lynn

Website

https://thedouglascatsanctuary.co.uk/, https://thedouglascatsanctuary.co.uk/facebook

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