Saving lives is a magical thing that doesn’t only change the life you’re saving, but it changes your life. At Paws Cat Shelter, the goal is to never give up on a cat. Whether a cat needs IVs or time to recover, the volunteers are there to help the cats every step of the way. Roughly 900 furry friends are adopted each year at the shelter, and they’ve rescued cats from Hartford, Stratford, and across the state of Connecticut. The volunteers do the best they can do give the cats a great life, and they’re giving new best friends to great families in the community.
Paws Cat Shelter is a non-profit, no-kill, and an entirely volunteer rescue for cats and kittens. The business started in 2011 and was run by someone else. She retired at 74 in 2017 and they formed another 501c3 in November, 2017. The shelter is pretty busy, especially around the holidays, but they find good homes for the cats. Last year was a bad year for the shelter, as they had over 450 cats and kittens. 9 out of 10 of the cats they have at the shelter come in as strays and can come in anywhere from 4 days to 12 years. They have purebreds, declawed cats, and most of them are domestic longhaired or shorthaired cats. And of course, there is an adoption procedure for each cat that gets adopted. First, there is an adoption form that needs to be filled out, someone will do a vet check, and occasionally the people who want to adopt would come in and talk in case of questions. It’s better when people come in because it’s easier to get to know them better, and also lets the volunteer know if the people or person adopting would be a good match for the cat. Since a lot of the cats are strays, they are found in hotel rooms, dropped outside of the door, or even have previously had owners that hadn’t treated them well. This causes trust or anger issues with the cat and it’s good to know that they will be going to a good home in the end. All of the volunteers at the shelter work for the cats’ best interest and always want them to live a happy life, even if they’ve been through the worst.
To visit their website, click here.
Agriculture Weekly 