"Happy - Healthy - Home" - our cat program's new mantra that was announced at the 2010 planning meeting last week.
In 2009, APA! saved 750 cats who were on the euthanasia list at TLAC. Our goal for 2010 is to save 1,500. We plan to not let even one kitten be euthanized during kitten season (with the help of our Bottle Baby Trailer).
Last year was a wild ride in an attempt to save as many pets as possible in our first year. This year, now that kitten season is over and we're able to take a breath, we're putting all that we've learned into making a better program. We're so fortunate to have picked up many incredible volunteers in the last year and are excited about what we can accomplish in the future.
Our mantra this year is to get our cats:
Happy. We are building programs to help fosters better socialize the shy, fearful, and feral cats and kittens.
Healthy. The upper respiratory viruses going around right now are like nothing anyone has ever seen. Almost every cat that's coming out of TLAC is sick with it and they've been taking a long time to get better. We will also likely be taking many more cats with ringworm (a fungus which is contagious by contact, relatively easy to treat, and no reason to kill). Our medical and foster teams will be building programs to help fosters pro-actively get our cats healthy faster.
Home. We'll be putting a lot of work into infrastructure for more adoption events and marketing so we can get the cats into their new homes as quickly as possible.
Of course, we will continue to need help from the community. To support our goal, we'll need:
Volunteers. We really need volunteers who can help with adoption events, help support our fosters, and keep everything organized.
More adoption venues. We need to think creatively and find ways to get our cats out into the public eye. Have a business with good foot traffic, good environment for cats, and room for a cat condo? Please contact us at [email protected].
Fosters. Of course, we can't do anything without our amazing fosters who nurse the cats back to health and get them ready for a new home.
