It’s a fact that most cats don’t like being in big noisy places for long. Those that do are a rare breed! That said, you will find a healthy cast of beautiful cats at any Cat Lovers Festival, just not hundreds and hundreds (unlike our Dog Lovers Festival)!
We appreciate that an important part of the visitor experience is interaction with cats, so for the sake of all the cats at the Festival, we have developed the following visitor guidelines for the welfare and safety of every cat at our Festivals.
Every cat in the Show needs every visitor (and infants/children in your care) to respect and abide by the following important guidelines for everyone’s sake:
- In all cases, please seek permission from the owner/handler before approaching or interacting with any cat at the festival.
- Please respect the signs on each stand advising, “You must ask permission and supervision by the person in control prior to approaching any cat on this stand.”
- We encourage you to use our special hand-sanitiser available at various points throughout the festival (after patting each cat) to prevent any bio-hazards being passed from animal to animal and humans.
- If you see a cat sleeping or behind a barrier, crate, rope-line or fence please don’t approach or pat the cat without the owner’s permission. It’s likely the cat has been put here for a rest or the owner doesn’t wish for that cat to be handled by the public.
- Please ensure that all infants and children in your care are closely monitored to ensure they are not approaching or handling any cats at the event without your supervision and adherence to these rules.
- Listen out for general PA announcements throughout the show with regards to cat safety and welfare messages.
- If you see any cat under stress or have any concerns whatsoever regarding cat welfare please report this to staff at the Info Desk or to security.
- We have dedicated staff roaming the festival to monitor cat safety and welfare including an experienced vet on-site at all times.
We always commit to also ensure every cat at our events has a bed to rest on; a place to get some quiet time away from crowds; plenty of water at all times; and has been vetted for behaviour and health.
We even have a number of dedicated ‘Animal Welfare’ staff and dedicated vets roving our events to ensure all cats at our festival are being taken care of, never under stress and happy.