We take in stray cats and dogs and have them spayed and neutered, but right now the economy is bad and our resources for food and cat litter are pretty tight and low. We love what we do for the homeless pets: 10 cats and 3 kittens 4 months old, and 4 loving dogs. The kittens and dogs are house pets and the others stay outside. Does anyone know of any help out there? Thanks.
By lisa waddell from Nelsonville, OH
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Does your area have a Humane Society that can help take the animals off your hands (not somewhere that will euthanize, but somewhere that does spay/neutering and adopting out). I have also seen ads in the American Shopper type paper, asking for donations, placed by people that do the same as you do. Best of luck to you and your animals.
Check with your local Humane Society. Ours has a "trap, neuter, and release" program. We catch the strays, take them in for free neutering, then pick them up and release them back where we found them. The only problem is that I end up keeping all the strays I catch, after they have been neutered, of course, but the Humane Society does the surgery for free, and the cats get blood tested and receive their shots, as well.
Sounds like my house, 4 dogs (one a new stray) 10 cats including kittens. A feral colony outside. We participate in a trap, neuter and return program here, get out vaccines and spay/neuters done for free. Learn to give vaccines for boosters if you need to. Some food banks provide food, as do some humane societies. Go on Craigslist and freecycle. If you get shot down for asking as a rescue, just ask as a person needing the food. If there is a local TNR group, check into joining forces.
f you want to adopt some of them out you may try what I do. Kittens I can usually take to our humane society and they are returned to me if not adopted, but right now they are overwhelmed. If your shelter has room, though, try to talk to them as a professional. Do not treat this as a hobby or you won't find the help you need. You might consider getting yourself registered as a 501(c)3 organization. If you do that, you can list you adoptable animals on PetFinders. If you don't do that, you can go to your vet and have them use their letterhead to get you onto PetFinders. PetFinders has a page that explains how to do this. Also, blogs, facebook, twitter, all have had some reputed success, though I have not yet placed any of mine that way. If you try any of them and have any luck, post me a memo at my blog http://starfishrescue.blogspot.com With any luck, the economy will turn around and people will be wanting kitties again.
Good for you! My husband & I do the very same thing here in NC that you are doing. We take in all strays & abandoned animals, have them spayed or neutered and their yearly shots done also. We buy dry cat foods that are on sale for the week in 5 pound bags and mix them all by pouring them into a covered container for just that purpose in our pantry.
I truly believe that God has blessed us by helping with his furry babies by giving us (reaping) much more in this life then we have ever sowed.
We adopt them out when a truly deserving family wants them...other then that we have no field mice or snakes that are after the mice. The furry babies stay outside under our car port and only come in to eat because during the summer the dry food attracts ants by the 1000's.
The cats also come to eat by our ringing a hand held dinner bell for them (no more hollering their names) - our neighbors kid us about that so BUT are so amazed at how when they (the cats) hear the bell ringing they all come home within 15 minutes just like clock work. Good luck to you by what you are attempting to do!
Try contacting local 4-H groups. The kids are always in need of community service projects and may offer to run a supply drive for you. They can also help spread the word that you have animals for adoption.
Thank you everyone for all your nice feedback, Lisa.
I looked for and found my cat through Petfinder.com. You may have to be a non-profit to post. I researched non-profit pet rescue for someone a few years ago and found good info through Google.
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