For some reason, cats have developed a bad reputation on Instagram.  I personally love them.  I would like to introduce you to a family that loves them so much, caring for them is a passion.  Please welcome Gray (@gray147) and his wife Claire (@c1e5), their daughter, and their passion, St. Francis Hospice for Cats (@sfhfc).  And today is their 1 year anniversary on Instagram!

K:  Kewiki G:  Gray C:  Claire

K:  You and your wife are both on Instagram. Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Where are you from and what is it that you do?

Hello we are a couple of 30 something’s from Burton-on-Trent which is a small town in the Midlands, UK.  We have been married for 11 years and have a young daughter called Penny and five beautiful cats who form part of our nuclear family.

G:  By day I am a civil servant, by night I am an avid cat lover. I like to think of myself as a very ‘hands on’ Dad with our adorable 19 month old daughter Penny. I have been a keen photographer for a number of years but have found a new creative edge since becoming an iPhone owner and finding a world of photo editing apps which really has opened up a new creative side in me. I have been on IG for a year now and would like to feel that I have learnt a lot so far and I know that I have more to learn. I have been a trustee at St Francis Hospice for cats for a number of years where I volunteer my time to help care for the cats, but when circumstances changed in 2011 I decided that we needed to raise the charity’s profile. So since then most of my spare time is taken by helping to set up a website as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as IG of course and also becoming the spokesperson for the charity (not something which I find too easy).

C:  My day job is a part-time accountant for the National Health Service, this combined with being a busy mum and acting as a Trustee for a small registered charity called St Francis Hospice for Cats takes up the majority of my time

K:  You run a really important charity. Can you tell us a little bit about it?

C:  St Francis Hospice for Cats (SFHFC) became a registered charity in 1997 and it cares for elderly and terminally ill cats.  Saying that, this often gives a misleading impression of our organisation – a number of our visitors expect to come and see seriously ill cats on drips and with grave conditions.  On the surface you would be pleasantly surprised as our cats look healthy and happy felines who enjoy their homely environment.  A high proportion of our residents have FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus), which is a virus that depletes the number of white blood cells which eventually makes the cat less able to fight off infection.  FIV positive cats can have a normal life span and some cats have no apparent health problems resulting from the virus.  Sadly the stigma of FIV means that people are not interested in caring for these cats and many get ‘put to sleep’ but if people actually took the time to learn a little more about the virus they would realise that there is nothing to fear and a change in attitude would mean that fewer cats would be euthanized unnecessarily.  Thankfully for cats St Francis is a place where FIV+ cats can live out their lives for whatever time remains to them, be it months or years.  We have a dedicated vet who visits St Francis each month to carry out health checks on the residents to ensure that they have the best quality of life possible given their condition.

St Francis also cares for elderly cats, some of whom have particular health issues and that require daily medication such as hyperthyroidism so it really is a lifeline and ‘last chance’ to all of its residents, without the hospice the cats would almost certainly get euthanized.

K:  How did you get into this charity? What was it that made you want to start it?

C:  I was working for a national cat charity a number of years ago and my work with this charity required me to make contact with SFHFC as I transported a couple of cats to the hospice who were FIV+.  I immediately felt a warmth and passion for SFHFC and was overwhelmed at the service which the charity offered to perhaps the most needy cats of all.  I immediately started to support the organisation financially and after a few years and a change in my work life balance I was able to volunteer my services …. little did I know that eventually I would end up as a Trustee overseeing the charity and its operations.

G:  I got involved in SFHFC about seven years ago after my wife took me over to see their resident cats one evening. I have to say I was hooked from the minute that I walked in. It really was overwhelming the peace and contented feeling which I got while I was there. At that time the number of cats was a lot higher than what we are currently able to look after and care for. The hospice was started by cat lovers Shirley and Michael Maynard and they adapted their family home to cater for the needs of the ill and elderly cats in their care. Sadly Michael died in 2008 and then in 2011 Shirley’s health deteriorated so much that she is no longer able to be involved in the charity. They had started SFHFC as Shirley had found that there was a need for somewhere for elderly and terminally ill cats to reside. Most other charities including one which at the time she worked at were turning these cats away. A lot of the residents past and present were diagnosed with FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus). In most of the cases which we have come across these cats live to have a happy and generally healthy life and in a lot of cases will live out a relatively normal life. One thing which we try to do is to promote the fact that FIV+ cats can be re-homed, as long as they are kept as an indoor cat.

K:  What made you decide to use Instagram to highlight your charity?

G:  As I mentioned earlier I love photo editing apps. I really have far too many. One day I stumbled across Instagram. I initially got the app as I knew filters were included, little did I know then about the wonderful community which I was about to join. When I first realised that it was a place to share pictures I was a bit unsure as I’ve never really got into Facebook or twitter and at that time I thought that IG would be more of the same. After looking through some amazing feeds I loved to see some great creative shots and started to post pictures as me (@gray147). I remember in those early days just loving to see the spontaneity of some of the photo’s and thinking, this really will help me to improve my photography skills.  At this time I had become a lot more involved at St Francis Hospice and one of the jobs which had been given to me was the on-line side of things. I had already worked closely with our web designer who had set up our new website to help promote the work we do with our residents and to hopefully start to gain extra donations as we can only continue our work while the money is there to do so. I thought what a great opportunity for me, to match both of my loves together, cats and photography. So I set up @sfhfc on IG and was amazed to find so many like minded people who just love their cats.  I don’t know if I have just been lucky, but I found it so pleasing that the overwhelming feeling which we have received is that of love and caring, I can honestly say that so far we have received no negativity at all, even though I know that not everyone will understand the work we do.  On 14th April we will have been on IG for a year and it really has been fantastic. Sometimes when I have a look at our stats using webstagram I find it astounding just how many likes and comments which my photo’s of our gorgeous residents have received. I know that stats don’t really mean a lot but it is a lovely feeling to know that in the past year our residents have become so liked and followed from people from all over the world. As the SFHFC IG feed has taken off so well I often find that I don’t seem to get the time I would like to develop and improve my own feed but I post when I can and still love to take photo’s. It has surprised me how IG has changed how I look at the world. Just walking down the street I now find myself looking at everyday objects in a different light trying to think how best to capture them and then wondering how some of my fellow IG’ers would photograph them. I had also never realised how much beauty is above us in the sky. Our world really is quite amazing when you look at it and take it in. I think I used to let a lot of it pass me by before IG.

C:  It was Gray that introduced me to IG and he told me of his plans to promote the charity.  I could not believe how perfect it was to build friendships with like minded people from all over the world and it started to become a pleasure to hear from people who were genuinely interested in our cats and to learn more about their lives with their cats.  We both also use IG under our own ID as well as for SFHFC and I have to admit I think that I am more addicted to it than Gray.  The IG community has such a positive vibe which to me makes it the most pleasurable form of promotion we could find.  The charity receives far more interest and kind comments from IG than any of our other methods of on-line promotion including our website blog.

K:  Would you say that the cats are your passion?

C:  Cats are definitely our passion.  We spend an incredible amount of time caring for the residents, trying to promote the charity and dealing with the public.  However much time we spend though never feels like it’s enough.  Of course Penny is always our priority but even at home cats are such a big part of our lives as our mischievous moggies are usually keeping us on our toes.  Arnie is FIV+ so he has purpose built home and run but we try and bring him in the house to have some fuss and watch some TV in an evening.  Arnie cannot mix with our other cats unless we are both around to supervise.  Also one of our other cats Poppy is on a special diet due to her Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Tommy is on a calorie controlled diet – so you have to keep your wits about you all of the time!

G:  I have always loved animals and when Claire and myself moved in together twelve years ago it wasn’t long before we had two adorable little kittens, Gizmo & Mikey living with us. Our furry family then grew as we took on Poppy  who was in need of a loving home as she had been abandoned. Then came Tommy who we rescued from, well I will just say not a very nice home and finally Arnie, who is FIV+ and lives in a purpose built enclosure in our garden. As Claire said he does come in some evenings but this is always under supervision if our cats are about. For me to be involved in SFHFC just seems so right. I know that we can’t save all the cats in the world but it does give me a good feeling to know that we are doing some good. When the cats look at you and you fuss them it really does give me a warm feeling to know that we have helped to secure a comfortable home for them to live out their lives. Because of the nature of our work this ultimately means that we also go through a number of very difficult times which I have to say has recently been made easier due to some of the very caring and heartfelt messages which we now receive on-line, with the largest number coming from our IG community. Now that we have these on-line outlets I am hopeful that we will be able to get our message across to many many more people.

We really don’t make it easy for ourselves, but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

K:  What can fellow Instagram users do to get involved?

C:  The charity has already received help from fellow IG’ers who have helped in a number of ways:

–          All of our followers have become part of SFHFC by keeping up to date with the comings and goings.  Comments and feedback is always much appreciated and sometimes help us through any tough times.

–          A few people have very kindly donated much needed finances on-line, as individuals really do believe in the work that we do.

–          A small number of people have got in touch and wrote newsletter articles on relevant issues which have been submitted to be included in our bi-annual Newsletter.

–          By sharing contacts a few individuals have promoted our charity on their own personal blogs etc, which has resulted in a number of donations arriving at the charity via our website.

To me it is all about spreading the word about our work.  On the face of it we are only a very small charity in a big wide world but there are so many cat lovers out there who could get behind us and support us – it is just a matter of reaching out to these people.  We operate entirely on the generosity of the general public and it is our role to make sure that we provide the best care we can to our residents (given our financial and manpower constraints) and to make sure that we do make a difference to be able to save cats lives and to enrich their lives so that they can have the best life possible while at SFHFC.

G:  I think that Claire has said it all there. I can only add my thanks to everyone who has followed the stories of our residents on-line and have given great support with your comments.

Take a moment and visit St. Francis Hospice for Cats.

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