Early this morning my phone rang. It was an old friend of mine who rescues dogs. She told me of a lady who has been rescuing over 50 years and recently suffered a major financial setback. She has to find homes for all her rescues and to her credit, she has done so, except for ten senior cats she can’t find places for. Fran asked me if there was any way I could park a covered dog kennel on our land and take these ten kitties. On further investigation, the kennel is open on all sides, but covered with a tarp to serve as a roof. Not ideal for the high winds and extreme rain we get here for a dog, let alone ten senior kitties! You don’t keep senior kitties outside, it’s just not a wise idea, yet for this woman this is her only option beside euthanasia.
Mike and I talked about it a little bit. The only way I could help is to take the part of our old jacuzzi platform- fix the leaky roof above then build an insulated, vented cat enclosure fully enclosed to protect these cats from the weather. Although the jacuzzi is in a protected area between two barns, it still would be labor-intensive to convert this space into something these cats can live out their days in.
I feel for this woman, I do but I can’t commit to this project because we wouldn’t be able to do the work ourselves and would have to hire someone to fix the roof and build the enclosure.
I just find myself especially recently asking over and over in the course of rescue- “Why is it cats don’t count?” If these were dogs, there would be news stories and television coverage and each dog would find a home, but because they are cats, they are disposable and hardly worth mentioning.
This woman is elderly and broken-hearted about her current situation but unable to find the proper place for ten of her oldest rescues. It’s heartbreaking. I just have to stop caring so much but I can’t.
please email me how much you need and what is your time frame for the build and her time frame for the kitties.
If worse comes to worst, you could wrap that kennel with a tarp or two to block most of the wind and rain, and give the kitties some boxes full of straw to burrow into. Not ideal by any means, but might be tolerable for the short term, at least if these kitties go outside some. Something like that would be rough for an inside-only kittie.
Have you considered setting up the kennel in the barn? No clue what sort of setup you have, but that would at least keep the newbies out of the weather and reasonably safe from attack.
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We would be glad to put the word out about this and see if we can raise some money. I am a big feral cat person and have 22 here. Where are the cats?? And how much would it cost to build something for them. It is so sad when things like this happen. Would be glad for you to write me an email if you want to.
Good luck.
Not just cats – old cats. No one wants to take on a cat who may have health issues very soon. Society doesn’t value the aged no matter what the species.