Help Us Save Hoarding House Cats
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A couple months ago, my husband and I were told about an old lady in the neighborhood who had 20 cats, and wanted to adopt them out to just anyone because she couldn't take care of them anymore. We went to meet her and decided to help her. While there, we saw that she had MORE than 20 cats.
I contacted rescues, but no rescue can intake 20+ cats at once. A couple rescuers started looking for solutions, but the process of adopting out cats is slow, and finding homes is hard.
Meanwhile, I decided to go help my neighbor declutter her house, because she needed help badly, and that house was not a safe environment for such an old lady and the cats.
I found a kitten who had been dead for a while in the house, and the lady hadn't noticed. All the cats have been exposed to ringworm in the house, which is mostly visible on the kittens, who would have ended up miserable hadn't they been taken to safety.
Only a couple of the cats are vetted, none of the others have been fixed, which means they continue to make babies and have more and more kittens.
Last week, my neighbor called me and said her grandson told her he would take all the cats and take them to his "farm". After questioning her, I found out he just wanted to dump them outside in the country. That would be a death sentence for these cats who are not feral and have never lived outside.
I made her promise to not give them away, but I knew I needed to take a good bunch of them away in order for her to be patient for a few more weeks at least. I asked her which cats she wanted gone first, and she said the ginger cats (a dozen). They were the first cats to be rescued from that whole situation. The remaining cats will be saved from that home as well after this "first wave" is taken care of.
After the cats were collected and taken to safe places, I messaged several rescues in and outside of Houston. Most refused to intake or help me vet the cats, and many didn't even reply. Only three awesome rescues agreed to help, one of them being Animal Justice League. AJL has been so far the most active. One of their volunteers has been exploring every opportunity and meeting people to find new ways to help the poor cats, and the Facebook page of the rescue posted a call for help here.
I have made the goal of this fundraiser $2,500 because according to the post AJL made on their page, the vetting for each cat would cost about $100, and the last time I counted, my neighbor had about 30 cats (six kittens were born a few weeks ago), but a couple of cats were already adopted out.
If there's any leftover money, it will be donated to the rescues that helped with the cats.
The cats will all be adopted out to good homes.
The funds are needed as soon as possible. Every rescue I spoke with want to vet the females first so they don't end up with more kittens. Also, the faster we can vet the cats, the faster they will be adopted out and that will give us the opportunity to save the other cats still living in the house.
Thank you so much for reading this story. If you consider donating, remember that no amount is too small. If you can't donate, please share!
I contacted rescues, but no rescue can intake 20+ cats at once. A couple rescuers started looking for solutions, but the process of adopting out cats is slow, and finding homes is hard.
Meanwhile, I decided to go help my neighbor declutter her house, because she needed help badly, and that house was not a safe environment for such an old lady and the cats.
I found a kitten who had been dead for a while in the house, and the lady hadn't noticed. All the cats have been exposed to ringworm in the house, which is mostly visible on the kittens, who would have ended up miserable hadn't they been taken to safety.
Only a couple of the cats are vetted, none of the others have been fixed, which means they continue to make babies and have more and more kittens.
Last week, my neighbor called me and said her grandson told her he would take all the cats and take them to his "farm". After questioning her, I found out he just wanted to dump them outside in the country. That would be a death sentence for these cats who are not feral and have never lived outside.
I made her promise to not give them away, but I knew I needed to take a good bunch of them away in order for her to be patient for a few more weeks at least. I asked her which cats she wanted gone first, and she said the ginger cats (a dozen). They were the first cats to be rescued from that whole situation. The remaining cats will be saved from that home as well after this "first wave" is taken care of.
After the cats were collected and taken to safe places, I messaged several rescues in and outside of Houston. Most refused to intake or help me vet the cats, and many didn't even reply. Only three awesome rescues agreed to help, one of them being Animal Justice League. AJL has been so far the most active. One of their volunteers has been exploring every opportunity and meeting people to find new ways to help the poor cats, and the Facebook page of the rescue posted a call for help here.
I have made the goal of this fundraiser $2,500 because according to the post AJL made on their page, the vetting for each cat would cost about $100, and the last time I counted, my neighbor had about 30 cats (six kittens were born a few weeks ago), but a couple of cats were already adopted out.
If there's any leftover money, it will be donated to the rescues that helped with the cats.
The cats will all be adopted out to good homes.
The funds are needed as soon as possible. Every rescue I spoke with want to vet the females first so they don't end up with more kittens. Also, the faster we can vet the cats, the faster they will be adopted out and that will give us the opportunity to save the other cats still living in the house.
Thank you so much for reading this story. If you consider donating, remember that no amount is too small. If you can't donate, please share!
Organizer
Demi Sword
Organizer
Houston, TX