THE CAT SHOW LIVE sassily struts its way into the Birmingham NEC on Saturday 14^th September, and it’s an absolute must for all things Cat – including AdvoCATS, as we’re going to be there too!

Quite fittingly in this Olympic year, the event’s being hosted by Team GB’s very own Olympic medallist and long-tern record holder Iwan Thomas MBE, who let’s face it, is still Pretty Fit and he’s a cat lover – what’s not to like?!

The organisers are expecting around 5000 visitors during the day, which gives AdvoCATS its best live platform to date for talking to people about pets in lets and the little-known Head Lease issue which affects so many pet people, be they tenants or homeowners.

The word “Meow” appears in “Homeowner” Just saying……♥

Anyway, back to the show! – we are ridiculously excited to be taking part, and aside from giving out information about AdvoCATS and our work, we’ll have our mascot moggy puppets, kids colouring booklets and our fabulous AdvoCATS pens for sale at just a pound a piece (seriously, they are Incredibly Good Pens, and once you’ve used one, you want another. Yes, we are pen pushers). Oh, and if you pass by our stand, you WILL get stickered!

But of course, you wouldn’t just come to see us (you wouldn’t????) – there’ll be over 250 pedigree cats on display, an area dedicated to our hero rescue community, a theatre programme of well-renowned speakers, retail opportunities galore AND a live painting of a cat mural by Mr Mural which will subsequently be auctioned off raising money for Birmingham Children’s Hospital and a cat charity.

Now before you all dash off to The Cat Show Live to book your tickets, we’ve got one more thing to tell you – if you use the code TRADE10 at the checkout, you’ll save 10% off the ticket. Now how Cool for Cats is that?!!

The election’s been and gone, the kerfuffle has (temporarily) died down and the new Government is in place. It’s time to crack open the Heads for Tails! campaign once more!

We’ve all heard the quote about the pen being mightier than the sword – well AdvoCATS wants you to put this to the test, and write to your MP urging them to support Heads for Tails! so we can grow our grass roots political support and lobby the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, specifically the Rt Hon Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing, after the summer recess.

To help, and be a part of instigating legislative change, simply copy and paste the text below into an email or letter of your own and send it to your MP. To look up your MP, and how they should be addressed, go to Find your MP – MPs and Lords – UK Parliament

Thank you –

[Date]

To [MP]

As one of your constituents, I am writing to ask you to support the Heads for Tails! campaign managed by AdvoCATSeastmids as part of any renters reform legislation introduced by the new Government. This will significantly improve people’s well-being, and prevent tenants from having to make the choice between homelessness and their pets, something that currently happens right here in (constituency).

Opportunity and wealth are not evenly spread, and the ability to own pets and to enjoy the company of a companion animal should not be the sole preserve of those able to afford their own home, especially as we have more and more people living in “generation rent”. Currently, with less than 7% of properties on the UK rental market advertised as pet friendly, it means that pet ownership is limited to those who can afford to buy and those who get lucky and find an understanding landlord. The Heads for Tails! campaign looks to introduce protections in law for both renters and landlords so that more people can rent with pets without landlords feeling their property is at risk.

A major element of this would be to allow landlords to request pet damage insurance. Current statistics show that 66-75% of landlords would be more open to renting to pet owners with this in place, and if it were required in law, it would vastly increase the number of pet friendly rentals available on the market today. This amendment to the Tenant Fees Act’s List of Permitted Payments had been included as part of the previous Government’s Renters Reform Bill that failed to pass into law before the general election was called.

Aside from the improvements to human wellbeing this offers, it also increases the number of pets able to access stable loving homes and reduces the number of pets surrendered to rescues for rental reasons, thus removing a lot of the pressure on the rescue sector.

The full Heads for Tails! report can be read here: Campaigns – AdvoCATSeastmids, and I would ask that you, as my local MP, show your support for this campaign by allowing AdvoCATSeastmids to add your name to their existing list of endorsing cross-party MPs and Peers. They can be contacted by email at advocatsem@gmail.com, FAO Jen Berezai.

I would also urge you to encourage other MPs to join you in supporting Heads for Tails! and if you use social media to use our hashtag #HeadsForTails.

I hope that I can count on your support with this,

Kind regards

[Name]

[Address]

[Email]

[Phone number]

Check your calendars people! – the Dog Lover’s Music Festival is just two months away, and AdvoCATS will be there for the whole weekend.

Do you like any of the following: Robbie Williams, Oasis, Abba, Madonna, Pink, Madness or Muse? Maybe a bit of Billy Idol, Elton John or Adele floats your boat. Well you can see top rated tribute acts to all these rock & pop icons in one place, over one weekend, with dogs galore to make a fuss of. Do weekends get any better than this? Well, we’re hoping it’s a little drier this year…

AdvoCATS will once again be manning the scurry and the trial agility set where for just £1 you can see how your pooch fares against the clock and manages the weave poles and see-saws…and there’ll be treats a-plenty for all the hounds! This is a great festival for anyone who loves dog and music and we hope to see you there – look out for the purple gazebo!

This afternoon, our Prime Minister defied all expectations and called the general election for 4 July. Parliament will be dissolved and any draft legislation – yes, like the Renters Reform Bill, with it’s amendment to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 that we campaigned long and hard for – is now dead in the water.

Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth!!

BUT there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Labour have previously said they would introduce “similar” legislation; whether that would include the whole pet damage insurance thing is not known, however there are several reasons to be optimistic:

The current shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook, was on the bill committee that AdvoCATS gave evidence to, and so is very much aware of what we campaigned for and why.

We also had a lot of Labour MPs who backed us who will almost certainly retain their seats, and hopefully be willing to help us put together a new cross party political support base.

We’ll be emailing all our non-political supporters and see no reason why they wouldn’t continue to be onboard. We can use this as an opportunity to add even more big industry names. We are not starting from square one.

We are down.

We are NOT out.

We are known and we are heard.

We fight on.