What do you think.

Just got in this morning, (zero hour 9 am)

was at the beach eating when we left the restaurant
one of my girlfriends had a doggie bag...
we saw a cat under our car..she goes...oooo!
lemme feed this to the kitty!

She calls the little fella out...and then another pokes his head out of
the bushes..
she calls him...then another, and another..

I lost count at around 20, somewhere between 20 to 25 beautiful cats
were ganged up around us eating from this little carton...

It was funny, there was no cussing among the cats, no pushing, they
we're so nice to each other, and many of them looked alike in the
face...very pretty cats.

Soo... we are going to start a shelter (a private shelter), but
ultimately the city will pay for these services to the public.

20 CATS it was very very cool!

So how are most shelters setup anyway, private or by the city, or by an
animal lover(s) who just takes it upon themselves (like in our case)...

On Tue 15 Nov 2005 04:10:16p, whitershadeofpale wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav (news:1132089016.390766.34050
@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com):

Soo... we are going to start a shelter (a private shelter), but
ultimately the city will pay for these services to the public.

U rock. Good luck!

--
Cheryl

"whitershadeofpale" wrote in message
ups.com...
Soo... we are going to start a shelter (a private shelter), but
ultimately the city will pay for these services to the public.

20 CATS it was very very cool!

I've taken to doing the street mission approach myself. The wife and I
started with 4 indoor cats. This past April a mom had 4 kittens in our crawl
space. One of the twin white ones was snatched up by a neighbor for a pet.
The mom and 3 remaining babies kept showing up for chow. A really beautiful
long haired female we call Puff joined. One of the earlier travelers we
called Scruffy due to his patchy fur loss became a regular. Another female
showed up who took over keeping the kittens company when mom decided to wean
them. We call her Nanny.

An old shy red tom we call Sad Eyes comes around and has lost much of his
fear of us. We can get close enough to touch but he prefers if we don't - a
far cry from the days when he would run and hide when the door opened.
Scruffy's hair has grown back in nicely, mom cat doesn't have the emaciated
protruding hips anymore. One of the babies, a male tabby we called Bubbles
decided he wanted to see what house life was all about a few weeks back. He
is now house cat number 5. All told we have up to 9 regulars that show up at
any given time - usually at least 6 make it to every feeding. These are in
addition to our 5 inside cats. We go through an 18 pound bag of dry food
every week in addition to treats and a mixture of leftovers.

With winter coming on, I've built the crew a plywood shelter. The floor is
elevated on 2x2's, insulated beneath with blue foam insulation as are the
walls and removable roof. The roof is shingled in regular tar paper and
household shingles. The rest of the structure is wrapped in Tyvek and
covered with vinyl siding to match the exterior of our home. A heating pad
beneath the bedding goes in soon. Temps are just now dipping into the 30's
at night. It's not at all surprising to see 5 or 6 of the strays at a time
inside the 'hootch'. It measures 24 inches square by 16 inches high with a 2
inch pitch to the roof.

Mission work with the strays takes on a life of it's own.

Are you ready for it Barry it is a lot of money, and emotional stress

RobZip wrote:

Mission work with the strays takes on a life of it's own.

That's very kind of you. I know it has it's rewards.

I have about 5 that feed outside my door every night.
Initially they ate soo much, but I think they must be feeling
better and safer, they are not eating AS much, but plenty.

I don't interact with them at all..I just hear them munching, if I open
the door
they scatter like leaves.

I have an old cinderblock wood shed out back, I gotta remove the rotted
firewood
and then I will put a heat source out there. Probably a heat lamp. It's
all well suited
since the building is inside a privacy fence; you know...real cozy.

No More Retail wrote:
Are you ready for it Barry it is a lot of money, and emotional stress

heck yeah!

I don't know in what way I will be involved, initially or
ongoing...I'll do what I am able to do.
As I say, these ladies are the driving brains and force behind the
matter. I consider it a priveledge to see a shelter operation built
from scratch.

How long have you been doing the work you do at you're shelter.

20 + years

No More Retail wrote:
20 + years

That is more years than I have been alive...hehehe!

Well the whole thing should be very interesting, and in many
ways...life changing.

Are you folks not able to get money from your county or city?

I'm thinking part of the reason some can get the city to fund a
shelter, is if it becomes
win win for the community on more than one level..(like in the case of
hiring recovering addicts?)

Beside my self the cat society receive grant money that we apply for every
year from the state to be honest the money pays the 3 vets salary we have on
staff plus the other workers. The city do nothing for us , county does food
donations, the cut from the ASPCA yearly donation to Florida, the rest you
can guess where it comes from
We don't go out and solicited money We do ,do charity drives and that money
usually goes for hurricane season . We do shot clinics but only money made
pays for the shots. The local school does some charity work for us and the
money gets donated to our foster families.

This year I think I will give my tax accountant another heart attack. This
would be the second one from the hurricanes last year and all my out of
pocket expenses. This year was worse while I was in New Orleans. still
shuddering from the events out there


You are that young lucky you do not let it pass you by The 20 years was
not all doing what I do now it started out a few hours a week a day here
2 days her you know how it goes but for the last 5 years it has been 30 -
40 a week volunteer work

No More Retail wrote:
Beside my self the cat society receive grant money that we apply for every
year from the state to be honest the money...I do now it started out a few hours a week a day here
2 days her you know how it goes but for the last 5 years it has been 30 -
40 a week volunteer work

I think the hours go with the territory, (wherever your treasure is,
that's where your heart is)

One cannot give anymore of themselves time and money?

You sound very resourceful, at some point you are looking to pass the
mantle on to someone? If something were to happen that you cannot
participate in all the ways that you do...someone will need to write
the grants.

I for one, should learn the art of grant writing.