Garston Animal Rescue, Registered Charity Number 701001, aims to rescue, rehabilitate and where possible rehome abandoned animals.

Our aim is to rescue, rehabilitate and where possible rehome abandoned and unwanted animals.
Our mission is to encourage the ethical treatment of all animals.

About us…

Our Aim
Garston Animal Rescue is a non-profit organization that aims to rescue, rehabilitate and where possible rehome abandoned or unwanted animals.

Where it all began
The rescue began by chance in 1984 with the rescue of a mother cat and her new-born kittens who had been dumped in a bin in Liverpool city centre. This dreadful incident served to highlight the plight of unwanted pet animals across the city and so Garston Animal Rescue was born and in 1988 it was granted charity status.

Our Work
Due to our facilities at the moment, the majority of animals in our care are cats. There is a relentless stream of stray cats in our city and we are constantly inundated with phone calls from people either wanting to offload their cat or reporting a stray cat or cats in their area. If we have the space we will take in the cat or cats, provide veterinary treatment, which can include worming, defleaing, neutering and in many cases medical treatment for illness or injury. Where possible our aim is to rehome the cats in our care with suitable families.

Advice and Information can this title be a link?
Although we are a small charity at the moment with limited resources, we do our best to support members of the public with advice and guidance on a whole range of issues, from advice on what to do if you have lost your cat to information on caring for your pets.

What are feral cats?
Feral cats are simply cats who have had little or no human contact. When a domestic cat is dumped on the streets un-neutered it will inevitably breed. A female cat has the potential to get pregnant from 4 months old and will give birth to an average of five kittens. The kittens, who are forced to grow up with no human contact will become feral and so the cycle will continue when any of the female kittens are old enough to breed. Within months one unneutered female cat can lead to a colony of feral cats.

Our work with feral cats
We have a neuter, recover and release program for feral cats. We humanely trap feral cats, take then to the vet to be neutered, health checked, wormed and deflead. We then allow the cats to recover for a period of seven days before returning the feral cats back to their original site. We are only able to return feral cats to a site where they are being regularly fed and have adequate shelter. In too many situations feral cats are unable to be returned to their original site; this may be due to inadequate care – they may not be being fed; unsafe circumstances – they may be being persecuted by youths or very often because the area where they are living is unsuitable – a derelict building for example. In these situations the rescue, where possible, will try to offer sanctuary to these cats. This is a huge long term pressure on the rescue, when you consider the care and financial responsibility needed to sustain these cats for an average of 16 years.

What funding do we get?
None. We get no council or government funding and rely on the income from our two charity shops and donations we receive from the public.

Our future?
We aim to get proper premises where our long-term animals can run free, and where we can give sanctuary to horses and farm animals too. We also want to use part of our premises to put on events, give talks and talks on animal care, especially to children as they are our future, and the future carers of animals.