Erin of Cat shelter knowledge

[AnotherRound]

Erin (the old moderator Erin!) I have a woman in the Danbury area of connecticut (western border, near NY) who has 6 cats she wants to give to a cat shelter. She is hispanic and does not always have good access to informatino and I said I would help her to find a cat shelter in this area. I know of several up towards Rhode island, one in Westbrook CT area, and one in Branford but not around the Danbury area. I seem to have garnered the facts that you are connected to cat shelter folks, perhaps in CT??

Can you PM me and let me know how to get in touch with you or let me know who might be able to help me find cat resources?

Thanks!

[snkstacres]

Not that this is your fault but why the hell would anyone collect 6 cats and now decided to do a shelter the favor of giving them up.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr people p me off. Of course, I get the idiots who breed the heck out of there backyard horses, dont do anything with the foals and then at 2-3 years old, they want to "donate" them to me for a write off. Ya, big favor.

[Louise]

Lori, normally I agree with what you say 100%, but I have to say that I think that your comments on the woman with six cats that she wants to donate to a shelter are a little harsh. I say this because we don't know the circumstances behind this decision. We don't even know if the cats are hers. They may be strays that she has been caring for, or cats from someone else who could not afford them any longer. Even if they are all hers, it just could be that her circumstances, in this economic turndown, have changed enough so that she can no longer care for them. Those of us in rescue and placement have to remember that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and that we are there to help the animals, first and foremost.

I hope that Erin knows a good shelter where these six kitties can go.

[classicsporthorses]

Sadly most shelters are overwhelmed and not taking cats. At one of our local ones they are running a special "buy one get one free" for people to adopt cats.

There used to be a sanctuary for cats in Delaware county NY, on route 206. I recall passing it many times and stopped once on the way to my parent's other homes. Have not been by there in a few years not since dad died and the homes were sold.

Call around to local vets or shelters and they will give you the best information on who is accepting cats at this time.

[Susan P]

There are so many shelters that take cats, some take both cats and dogs in my area. I know they are full. This year was a boom for kittens and they can't place them all. This search may be more work that you realize. I finally got help through Forgotten Cats of Delaware http://www.forgottencats.org/index.php because most of the others were not interested in helping. This organization is also desperately looking for barn homes for their ferals as they are a no kill operation, and not a shelter. But they do take cats off the streets and spay/neuter and return. A good resource might be to go to your local Pet Smart or Petco store that has rescue organizations and adoption centers. At least these organization have outlets to find homes for the cats. I suggest that you go there to find local shelters or help to rehome these cats. Forgotten Cats has 2 spay/neuter clinics, one in Claymont, DE and one in Jenkintown, PA and have at least 3-4 adoption centers in Pet Smart and Petco stores. Also Concord Pet store chain in Delaware and PA have cats 2-3 at a time in each of their stores, they have higher end pet food. They take them in from a local rescue only. With all this local support there is still an overwhelming overpopulation problem here. :no:

[JumpOne]

This is a list of low-cost spay/neuter resources for cats by state (that I think was originally posted here on CoTH a while ago) - perhaps it could help lead you to other cat shelters:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html#ct

One of the listings is in Danbury - they should hopefully know who could help.

[Erin]

Unfortunately the only connections I have to rescues/shelters are down here in Maryland. I will say that cats surrendered to a shelter stand pretty slim chances of being adopted (although their chances are better in the northeastern states than elsewhere in the country) simply because there are just so dang many of them.

Your friend can try rehoming the cats herself through Craigslist or other local resources (make sure the cats are FIXED before they're rehomed, and charge a small adoption fee, like $25 or $50, to help weed out the crummy adopters), or right here on COTH. Or talk to local vets and see what shelters they recommend.

You can PM me if you want more general info, but unfortunately I don't really have any connections that far north... sorry!

[AnotherRound]

Thanks, all, for your responses (except Lori, that was really wierd) I collected the listings of all shelters and rescues in CT off the internet and set her to calling each one (she is computer illiterate) and also reminded her to ask at all the vets she can find.

Most of the cat oriented shelters all said in ads they weren't taking any at this time. Its too bad. I didn't ask her how she got the cats, I assumed that she was either caring for cats she found, had a cat who had a litter, had ended up saying "yes" to too many people trying to give her cats or something. I did ask her if the mother of the cats (I was actually assuming it was a litter) had gotten fixed or spayed, now. She said she had, and her face lit up enough I believed her, but she then volunteered that the other cats she couldn't afford to fix. I told her about "spay and neuter clinics" given here in CT about once a year, where you can neuter any animal for $20.00 and to ask vets about when that is happening. I think its done by the sheter or a vet in Bethany, but I don't remember. Anyway, she wanted to do the right thing for the animals, not neglect them, so why all the hate, Lori? I admire your rescue work, but that comment was judgemental when you don't know the facts. I don't either. I just was impressed she wanted to do the correct thing for the cats when so many incorrect alternatives are often done to catsn so I thought I would ask if anyone or Erin knew of a shelter around here.

Thanks again, folks.