London 'imports' hundreds of cats as Larry the Downing Street cat sets a trend

Whatever things come into your head when you think about Yorkshire, swamped with cats is unlikely one of them - but the region has a feline surplus. Down in the south east, on the other hand, the demand is so high that more cats are needed.

Luckily a partnership between Yorkshire Cat Rescue and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is help alieviate this imbalance and get the most moggies to loving homes. According to the BBC over 100 cats made the journey to the big city in 2017 alone.

Battersea's head of catteries, Rob Young, said it wasn't just Yorkshire that's sending their unhomed kitties to London but they recieve cats from all over the UK. Partly, Young thinks, thanks to the popularity of Larry and Palmsteron, the Downing Street and Foreign Office cats.

"At Battersea we're seeing strong rehoming interest in our cats," Young said. "Thanks to the likes of Larry and Palmerston, more and more people are coming to our rescue centre in search of their new feline friend, and we're finding that we don't always have enough cats to meet our customer's demand.

"As a result we've been able to help other rescues around the UK, helping relieve them of their capacity issues and find loving homes for their cats. Last year we took in 454 cats from other rescues across the UK."

Cats are more adaptable to modern lifestyles, Young said, suggesting that could explain their popularity in places like London. "Cats are increasingly being chosen as the ideal pet – especially in areas like London, due to them being able to fit into the modern lifestyle. While it's not true for all cats, many moggies are happy to be left for periods of time and many potential pet owners are choosing cats because they fit in well with the city lifestyle."