Craig Street Cats

It’s been quite awhile since I posted any numbers, so I thought that I should probably do that

To date, Craig Street Cats has dealt with 32 kittens and 17 adult cats. We have 3 feeding stations feeding somewhere between 20 and 40 cats (and the ocassional raccoon). Currently, we have 1 adult female available for adoption, and 1 kitten being socialized. The original 4 kittens rescued in 2007 have become “shelter cats”.

This is an amazing start to a project that keeps growing. The original plan was to deal with just the cats on Craig Street, but that has morphed into a much larger project. Eventually, Craig Street Cats hopes to work throughout Wolseley, to manage our huge feral cat population. This is why we have registered as a non-profit organization, and have received permission from the Consumer’s Bureau to solicit funds.

Our application for non-profit status required us to list the purpose of the organization. Craig Street Cats registered purpose is: feral cat colony management, kitten rescue, community outreach and education.

Of course, as the project grows, so does the need for money, food and supplies. The wonderful donations that came in throughout October are almost depleted. We are down to our last case of canned cat food, last bag of clumpling cat litter, and dry cat food is at the “we really need to get more” stage.

Our current wish list, in order of priority, looks like this:

• dollars (for vets, kitten formula, supplies, winter shelters, emergencies, community outreach and education)
• canned cat food
• clumping cat litter
• dry cat food
• large totes with secure lids for storage
• large enclosures (4′ x 4′ or larger), with tops (to use as kitten playpens, mom and kitten dens, etc.)
• heat lamps (to keep kittens warm)
• towels, blankets, rags
• large, covered litter boxes
• medium to large totes with lids to make into feeding stations (softer plastic, so it’s easier to cut and sand the edges)
• cat trees / scratching posts / cat condos
• Canadian Tire money
• non-clumping litter

Of course, priorities change over time, and the order of things on this list will be very different in the spring, when we start getting more kittens.

The Cats of Parliament Hill Blog.

This is the blog kept by the volunteers who care for the feral cat colony on Parliament Hill. It is really very interesting, and includes lots of photos of the cats, the hill, and some of the care givers!

Explore the hill - Cat Sanctuary | A Treasure to Explore: Parliament Hill (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).

Even our federal government is taking care of feral cats. There is a cat sanctuary on Parliament Hill with shelters for a colony of feral cats that has been living on the hill since the ’70s. The cats are fed by volunteers.

Neighborhood Cats.

Another great site. This is the official website for New York City’s Neighborhood Cats organization. There’s a great slide show of a managed colony in NYC.