18/11/2024
** WHAT WE DO HERE ***
Justice Cats focuses on feral and community cats. In short - cats without owners found outside. I also volunteer for local cat rescues but mine is specifically focused on the ones who are not a good fit for places like AARF.
Specifically - cats that are too sick or too fractious to be adopted.
While I do practice TNR, my philosophy is:
✨Trap, Neuter, Rehome whenever possible and Return is done only when no other options are available. ✨
When a cat is too fractious to be a pet, there are barn cat programs, feral cat sanctuaries, and sometimes private fosters who are willing to take them in.
I do have more info on my website about the work we do and updates to needs and current intakes here on this page and our Instagram.
Winter is our toughest season, and I am working 95% out of pocket right now. Fundraisers for specific cases (listed on the website home page), get $20-40 in donations if we're lucky. My ongoing food and litter need fundraiser has been sitting at $0 in donations ALL YEAR.
I have a current intake, Luna, who needed emergency care and people (mostly my personal friends) were able to help me get that treatment but now she needs her spay and shots in order to be adopted. We need $100 for that, and she has a very interested adopter ready.
We have an unneutered male we've been working on for a couple of months who is out in the cold, and I've only just now gotten him to trust me for feeding so that I can trap him. We need $55 for his TNR. When neutered and fed regularly, many of them tame up enough that I can get indoors or in a catio to save their lives. Without it, the risk of death goes up exponentially when they travel following the scent of a female in heat. We lost one in June for this very reason.
For my rescue and colony alone, I am currently caring for 13 cats full time. I'm at max capacity and the food pantry is literally bare.
I also have a wait list of people throughout Winston-Salem who are desperate for help managing their colonies or spay/neuters for the outside cats they are already feeding, and I cannot help others when there are no donations coming in.
Some of my top priorities are:
• 2 female strays (mother and daughter) being fed by a homeowner on their property but need $55 each to be spayed and vaccinated.
• An older female in another nearby community who has already had NUMEROUS litters. People continue to feed her and her kittens, but no one is doing spay/neuter for population control of this colony. I'd love to be able to fix the whole colony and then allow the neighborhood homeowners to just feed them since they are willing, but the priority is at least the first mama cat.
But I get messages every single day about cats and colonies that I just do not have the means to help.
Well-meaning people drop the names of all the local rescues: AARF, Triad Cat Rescue, etc. but they don't understand that those rescues CANNOT take cats that are not friendly and able to be adopted. Plus, they’re nearly always at max capacity, especially in Spring which is kitten season.
A huge percentage of our rescue is education on community cats, TNR, local spay/neuter programs, how to attempt to socialize a cat you found outside, what to do when you find a cat/kitten, what to do when you find a mama cat with a litter of kittens (especially in the spring in kitten season).
Most of the colonies we work for population and disease control are in very low-income areas where the residents cannot afford to help the cats, outside of throwing some food out for them when they can.
More than anything, I'd like to see a government-sponsored TNR program in Winston-Salem, but in the meantime, volunteers are doing the best we can. But we need help.
If you can donate, or buy something off our wishlist, or even purchase cat food or litter on your next trip to the store (I can take in-person donations too), then please, please consider helping. I also have CashApp and Venmo for people who prefer to donate that way. The donate button on our website is set up with Paypal but you can use a PP account or a credit/debit card.
And if you cannot donate financially, please consider following the page and sharing the posts to help increase awareness. Plus, someone you are connected to might be able to help financially but they don't even know we exist.
Thank you! 😻
And to those who have already helped us, we are so very grateful for you! You're the reason we've been able to keep going.
Independent cat rescue helping feral and stray cats and educating people on community cats.
