This is classy cat hoarding or perhaps I’m being unkind to call it cat hoarding because it is also large-scale cat rescue at home using both the family’s four-bedroom home and outhouses in the garden where Silvana Valentino-Locke looks after 122 cats. There is a fine line between hoarding and rescue.
Another amazing fact about this exceptional cat hoarder/rescuer is that her husband accepts it all in good grace. Silvana has been married to Tony for 32 years and he does not mind her cat obsession.
£90,000 a year is about £1,700 per week. In American dollars this is over $142,000 per year!
Judging by the photographs, Tony really must be incredibly patient. I can’t believe that he does not like cats himself because they are everywhere in the family home.
Silvana says that when a man comes to adopt one of her cats they ask “have you got a husband?” The reason is obvious. They cannot believe that she has a husband who puts up with it. As it happens, Tony works long hours so he is not at home that much!
She employs two people to help which no doubt increases the costs substantially. This is a genuine cat rescue/hoarding operation being run out of the family home in the suburbs. They live in a place called Downe in Bromley, Kent. For international visitors this is in the far South East of England. Kent is said to be the best county in England for tourists.
Mrs Valentino-Locke began her cat rescue operation 20 years ago. As long ago as 1998 it was full up! Fifty-four of the cats live inside the four-bedroom home and the remainder live in the outhouses in the garden. Thirty to forty are currently awaiting new homes. Does that mean that the rest of them are not awaiting new homes and are therefore going to stay where they are?
Not content with looking after 122 cats at her home, she also looks after about 30 ferals cats who roam free in a nearby field.
Feeding the cats costs £500 per week ($791). The litter costs £30 per day. Mrs Valentino-Locke’s helpers who she calls ‘cat nannies’ are paid £250 per week plus food and board. Veterinary bills amount to £4,500 a month (over $7,000 per month).
Mrs Valentino-Locke works from 6:30 am in the morning until after midnight on some days looking after her cats. It’s an extraordinary story but it is successful and she is managing things with the help of a very, very patient husband who provides half of the running costs. The remainder is provided through donations and fundraising together with a charity shop.
The rescue operation is called Romney House Cat Rescue. Is this cat rescue or cat hoarding? What is the dividing line between the two?
So right, Michele. Numbers mean nothing.
Having any number of cats that are well cared for and healthy doesn’t qualify as hoarding.
And, Michael, hoarding in the strictest sense, means that someone has so many cats to care for that they aren’t, adequately, able to do it. Therefore, the cats suffer. To me, it doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of finances; it could also mean a lack of coping skills to emotionally deal with a brood. I’m positive that it takes an incredible amount of patience and stamina to cope day in and day out.
Michael, how do you think you would cope with 10 or more inside cats? Cutting you some slack, because your quarters may be small.
“Too many” cats is subjective. Hoarders take on more animals than they can cope with both financially and physically, to the extent that the health of the animals and their human carer begins to suffer. This does not appear to be the case at Romeny House Cat Rescue.
I understand your argument completely but cat hoarding in a strict sense does not necessarily mean that the cats life in poor conditions. It just means the person ends up looking after too many cats.
Meant to also say, I would imagine the cats are neutered so what is the problem really? I think she is doing a marvellous thing taking in these cats and caring for them.
I think its more of a sanctuary – animal hoarders are mentally ill and totally unable to care for the number of animals they have and quite out of touch with reality. I would not call it hoarding, the outdoor cats have acreage – they are not kept in crates full of filth and if she is happy to spend money on staff and keep the cats healthy by paying for it herself, we should not be passing judgement. People are very judgemental and throw the hoarder word around – does it matter if the cats are not being rehomed or only some get rehomed? As long as she and her husband can afford it, and have a decent sized house, plenty of room, including outdoors, I would not call this hoarding. We are supposed to live in democracies, but we are getting more and more burdened by “the nanna state” dictating what we can have etc. I say if the article is correct, let her get on and spend time/money on her passion for cats. I am a foster carer but have only a small place, so I have my own two cats plus one or two fosters, but I have found of late it is becoming very, very hard to rehome, especially due to family breakdowns and landlords not allowing pets.
For me this is very much a rescue organisation. Romney House Cat Rescue is a registered charity with employees and the cats are clearly being taken good care of, so I don’t understand the inference of cat hoarding. Their web site has some great behavioural information, so I have no concerns for the mental or physical welfare of the cats in their care.
As virtually all U.K. rescues are no-kill, it’s not uncommon for rescues to have long-term residents. When those rescues are full to capacity, they simply don’t take in any more cats or tell people the cat will have to go on a waiting list for a space at the rescue. Perhaps Romney House Cat Rescue, don’t turn away any cats?