When a rehoming show found new owners for 19 cats, it was a happy ending for the moggies, but just another day for volunteers from the Basildon, Brentwood and district branch of the charity Cats Protection.

The rehoming event at the Markhams Chase Centre, in Basildon, was the latest in the charity's monthly attempts to find new homes for cats which are either strays or are homeless because their owners can no longer look after them.

Among those who won the hearts of the visiting animal lovers was Freddie, a black cat with a dislike of dogs, Cassius - who doesn't like men - and brother and sister Cleo and Top Cat.

It was a successful and rewarding day for the volunteers who give up their time to catch strays, provide temporary foster homes and carry out home visits to assess potential new owners.

But homing and welfare officer Brenda Bell said the best thing is it now means they have space to take more unwanted pets.

Over the weekend, she went to Craylands in Basildon to catch a female cat and three six-week-old kittens who were living under a pile of rubbish in a garden.

"Craylands is a problem area," she said. "People move in and out and leave their cats behind."

Last year the branch found new owners for 695 cats and Brenda believes "there's a home out there for every cat".

"We had a cat called Harry who was carrying the feline form of HIV," she said.

"We needed a special home for him and a lady came along and fell in love with him."

No cat is ever put down and, if it is too sick to be rehomed, it will die in the care of a Cats Protection volunteer.

"A woman took Cassius to the vet's to be destroyed," she said. "He was a stray and was annoying her cat. The vet rang me. He wouldn't do it because he's a young, healthy cat."

Brenda added: "Another cat, Mary, was found in a garden in Laindon. She was supposed to be a feral cat, but she's lovely and now we have a home for her."

The branch covers a wide area, including Brentwood, Corringham, Billericay and Wickford, and is one of 260 in the country.

It needs £55,000 per year to keep going and raises 90 per cent of the money itself through events, donations, raffles, selling refreshments at rehoming events and by selling cat related items.

People come from all over the area to offer a home to a cat and Saturday's show saw pets going to new homes in Rochford, Basildon, Maldon and Hutton.

When people come to a rehoming event, they are asked about their lifestyle so a suitable cat can be suggested.

"Someone might say they want a new little kitten but if they are at work all day, it's not suitable," Brenda said.

"If they have young toddlers, it's not always suitable."

There are more newborn kittens available in summer when Cats Protection can be called to look after as many as 100 in a week.

Brenda said people do not always get their cats neutered to prevent unwanted kittens being born even though there is help available for cat owners on low incomes.

Neutering females stops them getting pregnant, but males can also benefit from having the operation as it makes them less likely to wander or urinate to leave their scent to attract females.

At Saturday's show Flora and Finlay were the only kittens looking for a home, after their owner gave them to a friend who was then told she couldn't keep them in her high rise flat in Chadwell St Mary because pets were not allowed.

The other cats looking for owners were all adults who had been made homeless because their owner had died, someone was allergic to them or they had been abandoned.

This week they are all starting a new life.

"It's been absolutely excellent," said Brenda. "If I had brought more cats we would have homed them all. I could have homed 40."

* The next rehoming is in the youth hall of the Markhams Chase Centre, between 10.30am and 1.30pm on Saturday, February 3.