A rescue shelter in the Lothians has been bombarded with 50 cats in the biggest animal rescue mission they have ever seen.
Lothian Cat Rescue said they have been truly "stretched to their limits" after taking in 50 severely neglected cats that came from just one Edinburgh address.
The cats are all currently having to be “quarantined" as most of them are sick with a virus or infection which could be spread to the rest of the home.
All of the poorly cats came in unneutered and many of them have gone on to give birth to kittens while in the care of Lothian Cat Rescue.
The home now desperately needs donations after having almost half of the centre taken up by the new cats. You can donate here.
Despite the cats requiring extensive round-the-clock veterinary care and costing almost £7,000 to care for, the shelter is determined not to give up on them.
Lothian Cat Rescue said: "Over the last month we have been working on the biggest clearance of cats from a single site in our history.
"A situation that has truly stretched us to our limits!
"In total, we have taken over 50 cats in from a single residential address.
"The cats are currently quarantined in four separate pen blocks at our shelter to avoid them passing any infections and viruses on to the other cats we have with us - so almost half of our shelter is being lived in by this colony!
"The cats range from just a few weeks in age, up to 3 or 4 years old.
"The significant majority are either black or tabby with a few gingers and two torties thrown in for good measure – sorting out this family tree would be extremely complicated!
"It has been an upsetting situation to deal with.
"Almost all the cats were unnamed, every single one of the cats was unneutered.
"Several were pregnant and have since gone on to have their kittens in our care, all were covered in fleas and parasites.
"Almost all had visible signs of cat flu, some just had sneezes and snotty noses.
"Many had infected eyes - for some the infection was severe and extensive round-the-clock veterinary care was needed, followed by a couple of weeks with us sticking to an intensive and time-consuming medicine rota at our shelter to save their eyes.
"And sadly, for some it was too late to save their eyes, the eye effectively being “missing”, where their infections had been left untreated.
"Some had other medical issues., swollen paws where allergies have been left untreated. Poor dental health where teeth have been left unchecked.
"Not just us, but also our vets have been kept busy - our vet bill for treating these cats already exceeds £7,000 and that figure is only heading in one direction
"Thankfully, whilst almost all the cats are timid, the majority want to be friendly, and we are already seeing a great change in their willingness and desire to accept human attention.
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"With time and patience, we have high hopes that these cats will be able to go on and live the sort of lives they deserve to lead – our intention is to home the cats in pairs, as and when they are ready.
"We hope to be able to give you a bit more information about some of our new additions in the coming weeks, but for now here are a few pictures of the troop.
"Beauties, all of them."
