9 Apr 2024

January – March Check-In

by | posted in: Adoptions, Fostering, General Updates, Spay and Neuter, Volunteers | 0

The first three months of the year have officially come and gone and spring is here! We wanted to share a few highlights from the first quarter of 2024.

Adoptions: 10 cats and kittens have found their forever homes so far this year, bringing our overall total since opening in June 2021 to 153 adoptions as of March 31st.

Current Residents: We have 12 cats living in the lounge right now: Charlotte, Dotty, Hanna, Noah, Pepper, Princess, Sassy (being adopted 4/11/24), Sizzle, Sophie, Spencer, Spice, and Star (being adopted 4/9/24). Princess has been with us the longest (14 months) and is also our oldest kitty (around 13+ years old). We have 5 kittens in foster who we pulled from the Apple Valley shelter: Catrina, Greycie, Harry Pawter, Ravenpaw, and Ron Whiskerley. They are roughly 9-10 weeks old and will be spayed/neutered once they hit 3 pounds. They are not yet available for adoption.

Lounge Improvements: We had safety film applied to the inside of all the front windows to increase their strength in the event of an earthquake or malicious intent on the part of a human. We also bought new cushions that were custom fit to the benches in the lounge. We replaced the original gray rugs with new blue rugs.

Medical Expenses: We helped Freya with two teeth extractions. During a vet exam for another reason it was found that she had two old fractures and we learned that those teeth needed to be removed. Freya healed well and is now living with her forever family! We also purchased more flea treatments, dewormers, and vaccines.

Volunteers: We have roughly 20 dedicated volunteers, including many who volunteer multiple times each week! Thanks to Jackie, Al, Robin, Brian, Shannon, Donna, Kay, Dani, Michele, Michael, Barbara, Bryant, Laura, Jennifer R., Jen F., Karla, Veaya, Marnae, Maddy, Beverly, and Melanie.

Food and Litter Donations: We have had roughly $2246 worth of food and litter donated so far this year! These donations help immensely and allow us to use the money the lounge brings in to cover rent, utilities, Internet, insurance, security, and vet bills.

TNR Support: Through front desk jar donations we have raised $164 so far this year to help local volunteer trappers with the crucial work they are doing to help curb the overpopulation of cats and reduce suffering. We have also donated dry and wet food for them to use when trapping and share with the kind-hearted people who will continue to feed the feral cats on their property.

1 Jul 2023

Getting Involved in Ventura County

by | posted in: Education, Fostering, Spay and Neuter, Volunteers | 0

While you may not see it there is a cat overpopulation problem in Ventura County. Too many unaltered cats are allowed to have way too many kittens and there is not enough space to take them all in. If you would like to be a part of the solution there are ways you can help. Two of the biggest ways to make an impact? Learning to trap/fix/return and learning to foster.

Here are some links to organizations around Ventura County with ways you can get involved!

Fostering with Humane Society of Ventura County (HSVC in Ojai)
Feral cat program at HSVC – this page also lists additional resources for trapping and fixing feral cats

Fostering with Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS in Camarillo)
TNR program at VCAS (scroll down)

Volunteering at Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center (SPARC in Santa Paula) – they don’t have a specific foster or TNR page but they always need help with both!

Trapping with Ventura County Feline Trap & Rescue – a two-person team as of this writing

Trapping with Cats Cradle Rescue (Ventura) – they have traps to lend (they may need fosters, too!)

There are more cats being born than there are homes. Combine that with people giving up their cats for various reasons and there simply isn’t enough space in our local shelter system to care for all of the cats and kittens who need it. We need more trapping and fixing as well as more fosters, especially in summer but really, all year long.

20 Jul 2022

The Cost of a Kitten

by | posted in: Adoptions, Education, Fostering, Fundraising, Spay and Neuter | 0

“Kitten season” is the time of year when kittens are being born and in Ventura County it’s nearly a year-round. Mild winters with little rain mean unaltered males and females are roaming and finding one another. Along with every other rescue and shelter in the area, we have been bombarded with requests to help with kittens for the last 5 months. Requests come both within and outside of Ventura County, as the problem of overpopulation is widespread and challenging.

When we are able to say yes to taking in kittens we do. We’ve taken in 20 since March: Monte, the Seinfeld kittens, the Schitt’s Creek kittens, Mia’s 4, Luna’s 4, and the I Love Lucy kittens. This is happening in foster homes, on top of running the lounge and taking care of the young adults and adult cats there. Just running the lounge and looking after the health and well-being of the cats there costs a certain amount of money month to month. Kittens add on a whole new level of expense that adoption fees barely even begin to cover. Let’s break it down…

Spay/neuter and other medical: Each kitten in our care will be spayed/neutered, microchipped, and tested for FIV and FeLV. On average this costs us $90 per kitten. We can do vaccinations in-house and that typically runs about $14/kitten for two doses. Dewormers, antidiarrheals, probiotics, and other treatments add on to those totals.

Food: from about 5-6 weeks on, kittens are weaning. It’s fair to assume that we will be feeding a kitten wet food and some kibble for 5 weeks while in foster. This amounts to roughly $90 in wet food and $27 in dry food.

Litter: one 20-pound bag of non-clumping pellet litter runs about $10.

Adding that up, we come to approximately $231+ per kitten when they are weaned and we have them for about 5 weeks. Each additional week adds another $23 in food. Our adoption fees are $150 for one kitten, $225 for a pair.

In order for us to say yes to helping kittens, while still running the lounge and caring for our adult cats there, we simply must do more fundraising. Please know that when you shop in our lounge, donate to a Facebook fundraiser, pay the entrance fee to visit, or simply make a contribution you are helping us say yes. We have to say no way too often, and we appreciate being able to say yes when we can. You can donate here. Thank you!

23 Jun 2022

Yard Sale Saturday June 25th

by | posted in: Events, Fostering, Fundraising | 0

We are holding a yard sale fundraiser on Saturday June 25th 8am – 2pm. Please stop by and help us raise critical funds for the cats and kittens in our care! Each foster kitten, once weaned, can easily eat 1.5-2 cans of food a day. We have 12 kittens in foster which means 18-24 cans of food every day. If you can’t shop but want to help out we welcome donations from our Amazon and Chewy wish lists. Thank you!

5 Apr 2022

March Updates

by | posted in: Adoptions, Fostering, Fundraising, General Updates, Spay and Neuter, Volunteers | 0

Since our last update we have had 6 more adoptions: Bandit, Willow, Phoebe, Simba, Bambi, and Missy! Yes, Missy, who joined us as one of our 4 original cats back in May 2021. She is settling into her furever home and has become quite the little snuggler (when she wants to, of course!). We are so happy for all of the kitties who found their homes.

In the first 3 months of the year we had about roughly 310 volunteer hours donated by nearly 20 volunteers. (That is in addition to the hours that Jennifer puts in.) We had approximately $1700 in food and litter donated, and we had nearly 400 visits! We have started doing First Friday evening events and have had a few visitors during each of those. The next one will be May 6th from 6-7pm, so mark your calendar.

At the lounge we currently have 11 cats and kittens: Michael, Rachel, Cindy, Coral, Kiki, Ivy, Oliver, Jasmine, Cassie, Sam, and Steve. We also have baby Monte in foster and you can see him on Facebook and Instagram under Melt Your Heart Meow’s accounts (Shannon Evans, longtime Greyfoot Cat Rescue volunteer and current Cassie’s Cats volunteer). We also have two young, friendly pregnant cats in foster together with another one of our volunteers (thank you, Gina!). All told we have taken in 59 cats and kittens over the past 10 months.

Looking ahead, we hope to do a community garage sale fundraiser this summer, a silent auction next fall, and a holiday market with contributions from local makers. We are also working on a fundraising event with Four Brix Winery on May 27th!

Kitten season is well underway so if you are interested in being a part of the solution please help out with efforts to spay and neuter community cats in our area.