Feral Cat
Cowichan Cat Rescue was formed in 1999 when we found “Rocky,” an old, sick feral cat desperately in need of help and discovered there was no help available for such cats in the Cowichan Valley.**
Cowichan Cat Rescue is a federally registered charity operated by a Board of Trustees and a group of volunteers dedicated to improving life for homeless cats in the Cowichan Valley.
Cowichan Cat Rescue operates a “trap, neuter, and return” program (a “TNR” program) for feral and wild cats. Cats are trapped and taken to one of the many local vets who support our program, where they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, checked over and treated for parasites, and then returned to the place where they were trapped.
After their return, the cats are provided whenever possible with a regular supply of food so they are no longer in danger of starving when hunting gets bad in the winter months.
WHO IS THIS GUY?
Ryan Knowles, that’s who! Ryan has been CCR’s most generous contributor for the last five years. He has donated thousands of dollars to support our TNR program and this year was no exception — Ryan donated $2,500.00 just before Christmas this year (which we immediately shared out between the vet clinics!) Great Christmas gift for all of us — we are so grateful to have Ryan as a friend.
CRAM THE VAN!
We “Crammed the Van” on Saturday, December 31, 2011. The wonderful people in this community absolutely filled the Dodge Caravan with cat food for our feral colonies, and went on to fill the collection jars with money for our vet bills! Thank goodness for the coin counters at Island Savings Credit Union — there were several hundred dollars in coin donated! The first deliveries of food have gone out and cheques have been sent to the vet clinics and we are very very grateful to everyone who participated.
As usual, all of the proceeds of this event go to supporting our feral colonies and to support our spay and neuter program
by helping to pay down our vet bills. This is very important this year, as due to
the very strange weather we have experienced this year we are actually still
seeing new born kittens in the feral colonies and our foster homes are all
still full of late kittens. We have never had so many kittens so late in the
year before – and this means that at a time when we are normally paying off the
summer vet bills this year we are still running them up spaying and neutering
all these little ones!
Pepsi Refresh Everything Challenge WE WON!!!
Our proposal in in the Pepsi Refresh Challenge was declared a winner. We won $10,000.00 to provide low cost spays and neuters to low income residents of the Cowichan Valley, from Malahat to Chemainus, for a one year period (or until the money is gone!) Thanks are due to all the wonderful people across this country who voted for us every day for four long months. It was so worth it!
Low cost spay & neuter clinics will start up again as soon as we receive the second half of the grant funds, before the end of the month, we hope.
Application forms will soon be available again at Duncan Pets, at the Ministry office on Boundary Road, and at the Malahat Band Health Centre. The program is aimed at those living below the Low Income Cut Offs (LICOs) as set by Statistics Canada. There is a $15.00 per cat or kitten user fee and we are seeking donors who will donate that amount to help out those who can not afford that much. The response toour request for the donation of used cat carriers and some drivers, to help those who do not have carriers or transportation to get their cats to the clinics, has been heart warming. We are able to provide carriers to everyone who needs them. More information on these clinics will be available on our Facebook page and will be coming out in newsletters. In addition we will try to get our message out to every place we can think of where low income people might see it, using posters and brochures.
We have now completed almost 50 spays and neuters under this program. We expect to be able to do about the same number with the second half of the grant and the project will end by June. We have a number of approved applications waiting for the clinics to begin again. If you or anyone you know has an application that has not been completed and returned, we would advise you not to wait. It is clear that the demand for this program is going to greatly exceed the available funding.
Does anyone have a few spare thousands of dollars to donate so we can continue the program after the Pepsi money has all been spent? Just a thought…
We are always up to something in the fund raising department, so be sure to check out our Events Page for what’s new!
Cat in Drop Trap
Cowichan Cat Rescue is Now on Facebook!
All the latest activities, adoptables, foster and feeding opportunities, and some great conversations happen on FaceBook first!
Why not ”Like” us on Facebook and become a fan? Our page is jam packed with fun stuff and photos.
** Don’t leave us hanging! What happened to Rocky???
We are happy to report that with some privately donated money, Rocky got the medical attention he needed and lived the final days of his life in comfort, surrounded by affection, warmth and food. Such should be the life of every cat.
Donate using your Pay Pal account or your credit cards here. All donations over $20 will be issued a receipt.
Or Donate Using Canada Helps:
