By Page H. Gifford
Correspondent
For 35 years, Caring For Creatures Animal Sanctuary has been a safe refuge for cats and dogs who have been abused, abandoned, and forgotten. CFC has been a lifeline for these animals waiting for homes and for those who can love them, something many of them have never known. These dogs and cats came to the sanctuary fearful, shy, and some with behavioral issues. But with compassion, patience, and training from volunteers, staff, and professionals, they have overcome these barriers to interacting with humans.
Those that never get adopted, live their lives out at CFC but with the continued commitment of staff and volunteers who care for them as if they were their pets. Support from donors has helped to maintain their existence with food, medical care, medications, and a safe and comfortable environment. Mary Birkholz, the president and founder of CFC, has a holistic approach to the animals she cares for and sees each of them as special.
Over the years, CFC has taken in animals from high-kill shelters in states like South Carolina and found them homes in Virginia. They rescued many dogs and cats and even a horse from a hoarding situation in Columbia. The dogs lived in cramped pens with overgrown weeds. Some of the dogs had no medical care or grooming. During another rescue, a litter of abandoned puppies were found near a dumpster at a landfill and brought to the sanctuary. Recently, a man almost hit a puppy in the road and not only saved the pup but found the rest of the litter and their mother, who was dead. He brought them to CFC. These are just a few of the stories.
Thirty-five years ago, cats testing positive for leukemia and/or FIV were routinely euthanized since rescues had no options. Thanks to support, CFC has always provided a safe refuge for these cats. Often, long-term residents were overlooked for adoption but over the years, adoptions have increased for these positive felines.
For the past two years, CFC has been involved with an unmanaged feral cat colony of abandoned cats, suffering from a lack of medical care and food and always on guard to stay safe.
Birkholz explained the ongoing plight of cats who are abandoned or born into a colony, where breeding is not controlled through spaying or neutering.
“These cats struggle to find food and shelter. I want to clarify that we are not referring to cat colonies that have proper caretakers who provide food, medical care (including spaying and neutering), shelter, etc. We are focusing on those large cat colonies that are continually reproducing and do not have a reliable source of food and usually there is a lack of shelter.” They have trapped 108 cats and moved them to CFC. A total of 27 have been adopted and 16 were transferred to a rescue partner. Another 16 cats have been spayed/neutered and released back to the colony due to a lack of space at the sanctuary. She adds that they plan to re-trap the cats and bring them back to the sanctuary.
“Running out of space at their regular cat shelter, they made plans to build a small shelter to house 30-35 additional cats.
“This will help us make a larger impact. We provide complete veterinary care to these cats and our staff and volunteers work hard to socialize them. Surprisingly enough, the vast majority of these cats become tame pretty quickly – they are not true feral cats at all,” said Birkholz. “Our goal is to place the cats into loving and responsible homes.”
As space opens up in their larger Scratching Post cat residence, they will move socialized cats from Magnolia Cove to The Scratching Post for further socializing and adoption.
“We can then bring in more colony cats to Magnolia Cove. Moving forward and as space allows, Caring For Creatures has deemed Magnolia Cove as a place where we will assist cats living in unmanaged colonies.”
Currently, she estimates there are about 50 cats at the colony they are helping. CFC provides about 150 pounds of cat food every week and provided housing and feeding stations for this colony.
As a result of a generous bequest and donor support, the work on Magnolia Cove began with volunteers coming together to do the work. The building consists of a small isolation area and two living rooms. Both rooms have a spacious outside patio/catio attached. The building has an HVAC system, inside living areas and the protected catios will include beds, shelves and perches, and hidey holes for those cats who prefer a low profile.
“We are grateful to a generous bequest which helped us get this project off the ground.” She added they will need ongoing support to help maintain the building and provide medical care and food for their new arrivals.
“The world of rescue over the past year has seemingly turned upside down. Most shelters and rescues are dealing with a large volume of requests from individuals who want or need to surrender their dog or cat companions. For many organizations, adoptions are not keeping pace with intakes or requests for help,” she said. “As far as the feral cat situation, we have heard of at least two other unmanaged colonies in our general area with 100-150 cats each. Most folks do not even realize these colonies exist and the cats are struggling to survive.”
Birkholz stresses that spaying/neutering is key to preventing this from happening in the first place, but many kind-hearted individuals who want to help the stray cat that appears on their doorstep cannot afford to provide those procedures.
“Availability of low-cost spay/neuters also cannot keep up with the need and appointments are like gold. It can take several weeks or longer to get an appointment in some cases. As a result, the number of litters being born keeps growing.”
The name for the new cattery came from a large Magnolia tree not far from the building and one of the first cats they brought to the sanctuary, named Magnolia. The Cove came from its meaning of a small, sheltered space.
For anyone who would like to donate or volunteer to help, visit Caring for Creatures at www.caringforcreatures.org.
