My name's Wendy Johnston. I work at Lothian Cat Rescue in Scotland. I started volunteering at the shelter seven years ago, and I've actually been working here for five years. The shelter can hold up to a hundred cats at any one time. Last year we brought in about a thousand cats and we also rehomed just over a thousand. Half of cats are brought in as strays and half of them are other people's pets that for variety of reasons had to give up. We've had few bizarre reasons. We had one from a vet. Somebody turned it in because it was too fluffy and they wanted it put to sleep. We had another one where a lady had actually taken a cat from us, she'd had it about a week, and because it hadn't purred since she'd had it home she didn't want it any more. Sad ones, we had somebody who had to give up their three cats. One of them was a 20 year old cat because the gentleman was very ill and they wouldn't, basically, let him out of the hospital until the cats were out of the house. So that was quite a sad one. People moving house, and to them it's accommodation, and they can't take the cat is one of the most common reasons. Another one is allergies in the family. We do get cats that people say are strays, but it's obvious that it's their cat, but because most shelters at this moment in time are absolutely full, they can't get the cat in as quick as they want, so they bring it in and say it's a stray. We are a no kill shelter, the only time we would ever put a cat to sleep is if there was something medically wrong that the cat had no quality of life at all. I think kittens will always get rehomed the quickest, then we have the pretty ones, and usually the ones that we'll have most of are black cats or black and white cats, and they're the ones that seem to be left until last. I have taken five cats, and that's in five years. Unfortunately, I've lost two, and at the moment I have four cats of my own. I think the biggest welfare problem for the cats is lack of stimulation. Because we do obviously have to keep them in pens, we make them as comfortable as possible, we give them toys, scratch posts, things, but a lot of them do just want out and about on the grounds. That's what cats do. The ways that we can try and improve the welfare of the cat, we do have volunteers that come in and who spend time with the cats solely. They play with them, brush them, just spend one to one time with them. Another way is ones that are very stressed or not coping with being in a pen, we let them into the big open pen where they're then free to come and go as they please. I think my message to cat owners would be to, first of all, always get your cat neutered. Don't believe the stories that it's best for your cat to have a litter first. It makes no difference whatsoever. Cats can start breeding five, six months old. We see the result of that in here. We homed last year about 3, 400 kittens last year, all on one teat. And the other message I would give to owners is to get your cat microchipped. Again, we have so many cats brought in here that aren't chipped, and if they were we could return them to their owners. I think anybody looking to get a pet, especially a cat, should think about what commitment they can give to that cat, or what their circumstances are maybe gonna be in a few years. A lot of times we get cats brought in here, people are pregnant, they give their cat up. They get a new puppy, they give the cat up. They have to think. It's not a disposable object, it's an animal, and they have feelings as well.