Townsend Cat Network
 | Author:
Staff Reporter
Brenda Phillips: MT43 News Office Administrator |
Townsend Cat Network and Assistance Visited Reading Leaves Book Store
Brenda Phillips
Surprise visitors recently came to the Reading Leaves' Bookstore Romance Day!
These purr-fectly delightful kitties were helping to spread awareness of a local non-profit group that is addressing the stray and feral cat issue in Townsend. The kitties are being cared for and prepared to be loving companions in their new forever home. These kitties are all rescues and they come fully equipped with all the bells and whistles - spay/neutered, chipped and vaccinated. A small adoption fee applies to help cover costs. Almost all of the kitties were spoken for at Reading Leaves on Saturday, but this is an ongoing labor of love by the Townsend Cat Network and Assistance (TCNA) to connect kitties with good homes.
TCNA started when a group of people wanted to help with the care of stray and feral cats in Townsend. They began to see a larger number of stray and feral cats were continuing to have litters of kittens every year. The sad reality is most kittens born to stray and feral mothers do not survive to adulthood.
The group started trying to take these cats to local area humane societies, but quickly realized we would need to find another solution. We don’t have an animal shelter in Townsend that accepts cats and nearby shelters don't typically accept animals from outside their city limits. Nearby shelters are currently overwhelmed and TCNA did not want to continue to add to the already overflowing numbers of cats.
TCNA began fostering the cats and kittens themselves and researching spay and neuter clinics. Some of these clinics were as far as four hours away. They began making the drive to the clinics, out of our area, with the stray cats that had been trapped. They have successfully gotten many of these cats and kittens spayed/neutered, and vaccinated. While unsure of the exact number of kitties that have been fixed, vaccinated and found homes, they believe the number to exceed 500!
There are times when TCNA pays for medical care and basic necessities such as food and litter out of their own pockets. Everyone in this group is grateful when kind-hearted people in our community support their efforts, by donating essential items such as dog houses for feral cat shelters, cat food, cat litter, blankets, towels, crates and even live traps.
The mission of The Townsend Cat Network: Our hope is to get a proper shelter in Townsend, that assists in our efforts to help with the cat population. We want a shelter that is equipped to house dogs and cats safely, especially during the winter months. We also believe many local families would benefit from a spay and neuter clinic here in town that would encourage community members to fix their cats and help cut down on the amount of stray and feral cats in our area. We can never fully be able to stop cats being dumped or feral cats from having kittens. We are confident that what we do has a positive influence on our community, and we will continue to do what we can to provide a better life for these kitties.
TCNA can be contacted through their Facebook page: Townsend Cat Network and Assistance. Follow them for information on adopting a kitty, awareness events, volunteer meetings, fundraising projects and more! Don't forget to check out their current raffle which ends September 1st!
