News - Local - North County

Tuesday, May. 20, 2008

Shelter running out of lives

The no-kill cat home in Atascadero operates on donations that are falling in hard economic times

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Dwindling donations are putting the North County Humane Society’s no-kill cat shelter in Atascadero at risk of closing.

The sanctuary for rescued cats, funded almost entirely by donations, began with a humble storefront on Traffic Way more than two decades ago. Today, the shelter cares for more than 200 cats and has placed more than 3,000 felines in new homes in the last decade.

Organizers recently launched a campaign to raise the $300,000 needed to operate the shelter annually—sending more than 7,000 letters to community members seeking donations.

Ninety-three percent of the facility’s funding comes from individual donations. The rest comes from membership and adoption fees.

The shelter’s financial difficulty is largely a sign of economic instability being felt everywhere, said Kayce Daniels, director of animal care.

“It is a compounded problem,” Daniels said. “People are losing their homes and leaving their animals behind — increasing the need for space at the shelter. People are also left with making a choice between feeding their dog or cat or their children and paying their bills.”

Until last year the shelter housed about 125 cats, but it now cares for more than 200.

“We really saw the numbers starting to rise last year,” Daniels said.

And while donation amounts have fluctuated over the years, Daniels said this is the worst downturn since the recession of 1990-91.

Key donor programs within the shelter’s fundraising scheme are bringing in only half what they did last year, she said, and many larger bequests have halted.

The shelter has enough money reserved to operate at full capacity for about four months, Daniels said.

Those involved with the shelter don’t want to speculate about what will happen if money isn’t raised soon.

“We get down on our knees and pray every day,” Daniels said.

Controlling feral cats

Cats of all colors, sizes and ages roam the cage-free shelter on Ramona Road, where two houses have been converted into the feline sanctuary.

Daniels knows each of the cats by name and their individual personalities and quirks.

Volunteers rotate the duties of feeding, cleaning up after and playing with the cats. A small paid staff provides medical attention, keeps supplies in stock and helps with the daily operations.

The shelter’s no-kill policy means all cats are given the medical treatment they need to survive and later given the special care needed to keep them alive. A room is set aside for cats living with leukemia. Others are fed special diets because they are diabetic.

Starlight—a gray short-hair with one eye who loves to bask in the sun—was rescued from the county Animal Services shelter with a severe eye infection. The shelter paid the veterinary costs to have the infected eye removed because it was too damaged to save.

“We are a sanctuary for all cats — even those with medical and behavior issues,” Daniels said. “We get them healthy, socialize them and try to find them good homes.”

County Animal Services Manager Eric Anderson said the humane society plays a vital role in rescuing homeless cats.

“The service, the energy and the work they put into helping the homeless cat population goes a substantial way to help offset the impact that would be felt in other areas of the county,” he said.

The humane society provides the largest no-kill cat shelter in San Luis Obispo County.

Anderson said the humane society’s efforts to actively trap and spay or neuter feral cats are an essential part of the nonprofit group’s service.

“Without their work with feral cats in place, there will be a substantial increase in the reproduction of the feral communities of cats,” Anderson said, “and that would be a considerable challenge for our community.”

‘The money is out there’

More than 62 percent of the shelter’s annual $300,000 budget is now spent on the direct cost of running the shelter. Those costs include medical supplies, food, litter, spaying and neutering, and veterinarian costs.

The remaining money is spent on utilities, insurance and other expenses, including fundraising.

“Our biggest fault is that we have too big of a heart,” said Sandy Rakestraw, who sits on the shelter’s board of directors. “When people find kittens in Dumpsters or when neighbors find them in empty houses, we take them in. A lot of these cats come from pretty dire situations, and our calling is to save healthy lives.”

Keeping that mission alive means cutting as many superfluous costs as possible. The shelter uses rabbit food pellets for cat litter because it costs less than typical litter. It also us-es coupons for supplies and coordinateswith local companies for deals on needed items.

Rakestraw said optimism is a must when facing hard financial times.

“We know that the community supports us and the money is out there,” Rakestraw said. “We just have to get out there and find it.”

Reach AnnMarie Cornejo at 781-7939.