Are we “selling cats”?
As a followup to my last blog post, I’d like to clarify everything that goes into rescuing an animal.
First, we are a nonprofit. That means we cannot make a personal profit off of rescuing cats.
The cats we take in are not owned or are surrendered by their owner. At that point, the costs we accrue include food, litter, spaying and neutering (the largest expense), medications and supplements, and gas for all those vet trips and adoption events. An adult cat spay alone costs us the same as we ask for our adult cat adoptions. So this does not include the cost of vaccines, deworming, and care of the cat. Our adults are often with us for months before adoption, and we also treat for things that arise such as ear mites, respiratory infections, etc. We also fix all of our kittens before adopting out. Some litters of kittens go through respiratory illnesses and all require kitten wet food. If we chance to get a healthy litter that is in our care for a short period, fixed, and adopted, what we ask for our kitten adoption may be more than our cost for that cat; however it will go to try to recoup some of the costs for other cats.
These creatures that myself and volunteers spend hours weekly taking care of and investing in, are absolutely worth investing in by those caretakers who come after us, as well. One very good reason for us asking for an adoption donation for the cats is to ensure they go to homes that are financially equipped for lifelong care of the animal. Those people are going to put love and care into their animal and take it to the vet when it is sick. We have many adopters who have given wonderful forever homes for the animals.
We also appreciate those who donate cat food, litter, and finances. At this time we are a brand-new nonprofit, and we do not receive any large grants for our work. Most brick-and-mortar shelters do receive significant funding, and have paid staff, and may be able to reduce their adoption fees. If you have any specific questions you can always contact Heidi through the contact form. Be aware that the first priority is always the cats in our care.
