20 cats seized from persons home.

leto86

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Here in St Thomas yesterday morning, we got a call from the animal control, saying that they had just seized 18 cats from a home. They had no cages left, so more than half of them were going to be euthanized.
So another lady from the rescue, and myself went up to the city pound to pick them up.

We took 13 with us, 2 adult females (pregnant I think) and 11 kittens. We had to leave the adult un-neutered males there because we have unspayed females that run free in the adoption centre.. but we made appts for them and will be picking them up next week.

They were fed, but no vet care, and no flea treatment. And from what the AC officers told me, the conditions they were living in was horrifying. The health unit was the one that notified them of the cats being in the house, so I'm sure it's pretty bad.

Here's some pictures of 12 of the 13 we got so far.


The kittens












You can see how scared they are from being in a new environment.. they should be okay in a week or so.
 

tink80

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bless you for taking them in...poor things..keep us posted on what happens to them.
 
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leto86

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Forgot to mention that their were 2 more at the house they had to catch, as well as 2 that they let the lady keep.

Also we have no money to be bringing them in, nor are we getting money for taking them in... vaccinations are $40 each set, and spays are $100, and neuters not far behind. But were we supposed to say no, and have them all killed?

It's going to be a rough summer.
 

diego

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Originally Posted by Leto86

Forgot to mention that their were 2 more at the house they had to catch, as well as 2 that they let the lady keep.

Also we have no money to be bringing them in, nor are we getting money for taking them in... vaccinations are $40 each set, and spays are $100, and neuters not far behind. But were we supposed to say no, and have them all killed?

It's going to be a rough summer.
Is there no way you can get some kind of funding? perhaps you might be able to get donations from people or something.

No you weren't supposed to say no, you have done a good deed, besides putting them down would be quite costly too I imagine.

Good luck with them, I hope you can find new homes for them.

When you adopt them out, do you try and recover the vet bills such as vax and fixing?
 
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leto86

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This is done through a rescue organization.. so yes, we do have an adoption fee... but it isn't as high as what the vet fees are because not a lot of people will pay that much. Our homes are also very carefully selected. Everyone that comes through the front door won't be getting a cat. We do have adoption policies, and we stick to them.

Pur adult cats that are already spayed/neutered and vaccinated are only $54 at the moment.. kittens are a bit more but thats how we make the money back for the vet fees. Also gives the adults more of a chance, being only $54

We do get a grant from the city once a year.. but we already got that for July 1st.. $5000 and it's already all gone.

Our bills every month are around $3000. Plus you figure in litter and food, as well as any vet care needing to be done.. and it's close to $5000 every single month that we have to come up with.

We beg for it if we have to.. did this morning so we could get some kitten food because we are all out, and no money in the bank. The summer months are the WORST times of the year. Most people are vacationing and don't send donations or adopt cats.

We do have our regular monthly donaters... but other than that.. unless it's people walking past and stopping in... there's barely anything.

We need to do more fundraising, but we simply do not have the volunteers to do it. It's basically me and 2 or 3 other ladies and thats it.
 

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Bless you for taking them! I am a firm believer in rescuing animals, but then when I see people like this who keep hoarding and hoarding, you know this does not make you a good citizen either. It just angers me when they think they are doing a good thing and they aren't.

I hope you will get the funding you so dearly need to take care of all these kitties.
 

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Pur adult cats that are already spayed/neutered and vaccinated are only $54 at the moment.. kittens are a bit more but thats how we make the money back for the vet fees. Also gives the adults more of a chance, being only $54
Have you tried raising the fees on adults and kittens?? We did that recently and it really hasn't hurt our adoptions. Consider raising each adult by $6 and each kitten by $10-$12.

BTW..is that what other rescues charge in your area??

Katie
 
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leto86

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Adults from the other rescue in town are $75. I'm not sure on their kitten prices.

But our kitten price is $140 (that includes spay/neuter, and up to 3 vaccinations and worm/flea treatment) plus PST... which equals out to $151.20. That barely covers a spay with a vaccination.

We have been thinking about uping our adult prices by a few dollars.. but haven't done it as of yet.
But it's not going to help when people aren't adopting.

We did get a donation today from 2 different people, enough to go buy some kitten food. We also talk to the employees at Petsmart and sometimes get discount on the food there. (we buy Spa Select, Science Diet, Nutro)
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by Leto86

Adults from the other rescue in town are $75. I'm not sure on their kitten prices.

But our kitten price is $140 (that includes spay/neuter, and up to 3 vaccinations and worm/flea treatment) plus PST... which equals out to $151.20. That barely covers a spay with a vaccination.

We have been thinking about uping our adult prices by a few dollars.. but haven't done it as of yet.
But it's not going to help when people aren't adopting.

We did get a donation today from 2 different people, enough to go buy some kitten food. We also talk to the employees at Petsmart and sometimes get discount on the food there. (we buy Spa Select, Science Diet, Nutro)
Hey Leto....adults tend not to move as well during kitten season anyways and if you increase the fee...you can always offer a discount for adopting a pair of adults or an adult and a kitten. I would really explore the possibility of matching the other rescues as far as their fees go. You could charge a little less....say, $70...but I would stay within the same fees if you offer the same services. We changed from charging $125 to $150 (please note, we are in a metropolitan area where the rescues are charging anywhere from $110-$175 for cats/kittens) and we really haven't seen any significant drop in our adoptions. In fact, we are seeing a lot more repeat customers...people who adopted from us before and are looking to get yet another cat.


I think what you are doing is wonderful by the way.

Katie
 
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leto86

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I find that summer is slow for adoptions, both kitten and adult. People are on vacation or whatever. We do get several calls a day with people interested, but more than half the people that call don't show up.

Here's our website if anyone wants to take a peek.. hasn't been updated since the first of the month thoiugh.. should be soon hopefully though.
http://www.petsfriends4life.com/


And thank you... I do my best to help the kitties.
 

nekochan

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Originally Posted by Leto86
Aww, this kitten reminds me of the stray kitten I rescued last year... My sister adopted her. She was SO tiny we thought she was about 2-3 months old, but turned out to be about 6 months old.

Have you tried talking to vets in your area to see if you can get some sort of deal on the spay/neuter costs?
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by Leto86

I find that summer is slow for adoptions, both kitten and adult. People are on vacation or whatever. We do get several calls a day with people interested, but more than half the people that call don't show up.

Here's our website if anyone wants to take a peek.. hasn't been updated since the first of the month thoiugh.. should be soon hopefully though.
http://www.petsfriends4life.com/


And thank you... I do my best to help the kitties.
Leto...nice website...can I make a suggestion?? People love to have a description of the individual cat...is it a lap kitty?? Is it friendly?? Is it playful?? When I click on the pictures of your cats, it brings me to a larger photo of the cat but no description. Do you have descriptions elsewhere on your site?? Also, is your site listed on any national databases?? I don't know if Petfinder has a Canadian version. A lot of people who inquire on our cats/kittens don't show up...but I just move on to the next person.

Katie
 

shakadaka

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I do not have the words to describe how angry ppl make me
when they do these cruel acts ! Oh Thankyou so very much for helping these poor defenceless kitties, prayers for you all and all the luck in the world at finding these precious darlings the homes they deserve, in the mean time my hat ( if I was wearing one ) goes off too you and your friends, for doing what such a galant wonderful thing for these kitties
 
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leto86

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We do have a petfinder, yep. And it helps. We've had quite a few adoptions through Petfinder.
http://members.petfinder.org/~ON251/MAIN.html

We do have a local vet that gives us a discount. And a spay at the discount is $110 approx. But he is a really good vet and we have been using him since before we even had the rescue organization. Vaccinations are only $40 for us, but around $85 for regular clients.

We did have that on our previous website. The new one is run by a very nice guy that brought us a kitten last fall, but sadly nothing could be done for him and he passed away. I'll bring it up to see if he can add some infomation like that about the kitties.
 

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Bless you for saving all those adorable kitties!


$110 seems high for a cat S/N. I hope you can find a low cost S/N clinic in your area. I hope the info below helps:

Animal Crusaders of Ontario
Toronto, Ontario
Phone: (416) 438-4636
Email: [email protected]
Referral to low cost vets

Richmond Homeless Cat Society
P.O. Box 43043
Richmond Centre P.O.
Richmond, BC
Canada V6Y 3Y3
Phone: (604) 275-2036 or (604) 271-7729
Email: [email protected]

Keep up the good work. I'm sending more adoptions and more money vibes for your group.
 
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leto86

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Thank you very much. (:

There is a local spay and neuter clinic that a spay is under $100, and a neuter I think only $50. But the problem is transportation, we don't have enough volunteers to be able to drive to that city (about a 20-30 minute drive) and back again.
Hopefully we will be able to soon, because it would save a LOT of money.
 
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leto86

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We went and picked up the remaining 7 cats from the shelter yesterday and took them to the vets. They were all neutered (and one spayed, was picked up atfer we picked up the first batch) and got a first set vaccination as well as their rabies shots. That equals out to approx.. $750. One wasn't neutered because it was a female kitten.. we must have missed its cage last time.

They are all back at the rescue this evening. They aren't too bad... I thought theyd be more wild.. but they are doing pretty good. Definitely have shots at homes in a few weeks.
 
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