The party and charity auction, to be held next Friday evening, March 6, at Forbury Park Bowling Club, will recognise the extraordinary, ongoing efforts of dedicated cat lovers from all walks of life to save, nurture and care for cats and kittens across the city.
Cat Rescue Dunedin Trust chairwoman Debby Foster said the 10-year milestone had been reached in mid-2025, but volunteers and staff had been too "flat out" doing the demanding work of animal rescue to organise a celebration.
"So, we are really looking forward to letting our hair down and having the chance to celebrate our achievements over the past 10 years," Mrs Foster said.
The organisation, which works alongside the Otago SPCA to tackle the challenge of stray and unsocialised cats across the city, has made a big difference over the years.
Founded in 2015 by a small group of concerned Dunedin cat lovers, originally with the name Animal Rescue Network, the organisation immediately launched into trapping, fostering and desexing cats and kittens.
By 2021, the rescue had rebranded as Cat Rescue Dunedin and opened its intake centre in South Rd, Caversham, to provide quarantine and holding space for newly rescued cats and kittens before they were sent out to volunteer fosterers.
At times the organisation battled a "tsunami of cats and kittens", with cages stacked up in the hall and office at the centre.
Then in late 2024, Cat Rescue Dunedin had a breakthrough, establishing its own on-site clinic, funded through public donations, with a focus on desexing cats and treating illness in rescued cats and kittens. The part-time clinic is staffed on a voluntary basis by local vets.
Mrs Foster said the organisation had, at times, battled to keep its head above water due to the "rising cost of everything" and also a seemingly never ending tide of cats and kittens needing help.
But this year’s kitten season was showing signs of being less intense than in previous years, with 82 kittens brought into the intake centre in January and February. Across the same period in 2025, the intake centre received 129 kittens, and 144 kittens were received in January-February, 2024.
"We are daring to hope that all of our work and desexing is starting to make a difference, but only time will tell," Mrs Foster said.
Across 2025, Cat Rescue Dunedin took in 645 cats and kittens, down from 775 in 2024.
"The numbers do wax and wane a bit, depending on the weather and other factors."
However, Cat Rescue Dunedin worked with local veterinary practices to desex 970 cats in 2023, and the Otago SPCA had also had a major push on desexing cats.
Mrs Foster estimated that the clinic had desexed 1200 cats in the past year.
"The support of the vets and the SPCA has really made a difference.
"So, we are feeling hopeful that this positive trend will continue," Mrs Foster said.
Celebration and auction
The Cat Rescue Dunedin 10th anniversary celebration, from 7pm next Friday, March 6, at Forbury Park Bowling Club will include a "chairity auction".
The auction will feature art works created by local artists using chairs as a canvas, using a range of mediums, including painting, collage and mosaic.
The chair-based art works will be auctioned on the night of the celebration to raise funds for the work of Cat Rescue Dunedin.
The chairs can be viewed from March 2-6 at The Artists Room, 2 Dowling St, or at the bowling club on the night of the celebration.
