A Little Bit About Us

Rhodes Minnis Cat Sanctuary was founded by the late Miss Veronica Huthwaite in 1970. When she died in 1996, she left her property at Rhodes Minnis, near Canterbury, Kent, to the Trustees, who have carried on her work with resident managers. There is now a staff of 5 at the Sanctuary.

The Purpose of the charity is to take in and care for unwanted and homeless cats and kittens from Kent, London and sometimes further afield. Some are strays, others have been ill treated or abandoned, but most are brought to us by their owners because, for one reason or another, they are unable to look after their pets any more.

Cats are also brought to us from other animal charities, the Police, local authorities and private landlords. We work closely with Animal Aid and Advice in North London (Registered Charity 1036940) and we take cats from them whenever we can.

Our aim is to re-home as many cats that are brought to us as possible. However, those which cannot be re-homed, because they are too timid, dirty, bad tempered, on permanent medication or just won't settle in a house, stay with us for the rest of their lives. At any one time we have about 150 cats on the premises, of which about 60 are available for re-homing. Since 1970 we have found homes for over 23,000 cats. In 2022 we took in 259 cats and re-homed 245 cats & kittens, the re-homing figure includes the kittens born in the Sanctuary during the year. We are finding it increasingly difficult to find new homes for the older cats so it is likely more cats will stay with us, certainly for longer periods. 

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