Craig Street Cats

Craig Street Cats is at a crossroad. For a long time now there has been much more work than one person can handle. I have been working 20 hour days, 7 days a week, trying to keep up with everything — cleaning and caring for the cats, adminsitrative tasks, fundraising, event planning, outreach, etc., etc.,. I cannot keep it up.  The volunteers who have been coming out faithfully are getting tired and burnt out.

If we are to continue, we need many more volunteers and foster homes. As a minimum, we need 3 volunteers every morning from 9:30 to noon, to care for the cats and kittens, clean and sanitize kitten pens and cat areas, feed kittens, and do the cat laundry. The cats need care every day, 365 days a year. They don’t stop getting hungry on weekends and holidays. Volunteers must be able to work independantly.  This is the down and dirty part of cat care — cleaning litter boxes, doing dishes, taking out garbage, washing floors, doing laundry.  All of this must be done every day.  We need many more people to step up and take on this responsibility.

We also need at least 12 more foster homes. Some of them must be long term fosters, for cats and kittens that are unlikely to be adopted. Food and veterinary care are provided for foster cats and kittens.

In addition to cat care volunteers and foster homes, we must develop a fundraising and event planning committee that is self directed and ongoing.  We need a strong core of self motivated people who can get things done without constant supervision.

The cats need your help.  Please volunteer or agree to foster.  You can call 223-6652 or email cats@wolseleygirl.com for more information.

Our parliament has unanimously adopted a motion to support the development of a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare.  This makes Canada the first North American nation to show support for this concept.  This is the first time in a VERY long time that I can honestly say that I’m proud of something Parliament has done.

This documentary will be shown on Global, at 7pm on October 9th.  I intend to watch, I hope you will too.

The film is about feral cat colonies, and their caregivers, in Toronto, but I’m pretty sure the theme applies across the country.

Every day I get at least one phone call asking me to do things that we just don’t do, like take away a colony of feral cats, or make a bunch of cats disappear, or come get a bunch of kittens, or take away someone’s pets, or take in a pet cat because its owner is tired of it / allergic to it / moving to a new apartment / has a new boyfriend or girlfriend that doesn’t like cats / has a new boyfriend or girlfriend that is allergic to cats . . .

I’m taking a stand.  Craig Street Cats does not do any of those things.  We cannot come out and magically solve your “cat problem”.

So, what DO we do?  Three things:

1. feral cat colony management.  We are directly working to manage the feral cat colonies in Wolseley using trap, neuter, return.  We help colony caregivers in other areas by providing access to information, food, supplies, and medical resources.  We will help concerned people do what needs to be done to manage the feral cat population in their own neighbourhoods.
2. kitten rescue.  We rescue, tame, foster and prepare for adoption as many kittens as we can.  First priority is given to kittens born in the Wolseley area.  When we have room, we accept kittens from the managed colonies that we help.  Kittens from other areas and situations are assessed on a case by case basis.
3. community outreach and education.  We teach people how to set up their own colony management programs.  We work with them to get things going and provide access to the tools they need to succeed.  We educate interested groups and individuals about feral cat issues and management techniques.

Those three things are our registered purpose.  We don’t have the money, manpower or other resources necessary to do any of the other things people are constantly asking us to do.