Over the past month we have been helping with a situation that got out of control.  A family in a remote community asked for our help dealing with a very large number of cats that had been left in their care.  The organization that had originally promised to help backed out, leaving the family without access to cat food,
supplies or veterinary care.

To date we have removed 23 cats and kittens, and provided medical treatment for another 25.  Another 15 to 20 cats must be removed, as we have space.  All the while we are providing food, supplies and support so the family can continue caring for the remaining cats.

As you can imagine, this is putting quite a strain on our bank account.  The total cost of spay / neuter, vaccination, deworming, transporting and housing the cats until adoption will be well over $15,000.  We simply cannot absorb this cost without affecting our other programs, so we are asking for your help.

Of course, the most urgent things are money, cat food and litter.  We are thrilled to accept any or all of those at our adoption centre.  Credit card donations can also be made at http://www.craigstcats.ca/donate.html  Cheques can be mailed to 489 Madison St., Wpg, R3J 1J2

Items from our Amazon.ca wishlist are also very welcome:  http://www.amazon.ca/registry/wishlist/3PKPXKXLZPBMU

 Foster homes are needed for many of the cats.  Please email fostercsc@craigstcats.ca if you can help.

These cats are healthy and very well socialized.  They will make wonderful pets for their adoptive families.  4 have already been adopted, and another 2 will be going home in a few days.  We need more adoptive homes for the rest of them.

Thank you for your help!

UPDATE:  Thank you to all of our incredible supporters.  With your help we have paid the outstanding balance on our Hydro bill, and started to pay down our vet bill.  We could not have done this without your help!

I have been putting off writing this for the past couple of weeks, but today I am forced to come to you for help.  From time to time last year I wrote about our financial struggles.  Each time you came forward and helped with the immediate problem, and I am extremely grateful for that.  Unfortunately, the underlying problem is still there.  Our day to day operations are not bringing in enough to cover our operating expenses.

Today I received a phone call from Manitoba Hydro, stating that our electricity and gas are scheduled for cut off on the 15th of this month unless we make arrangements to pay the almost $3000 we owe them before the end of this month.  The cats will be cold and in the dark if we do not make that deadline.  Sadly, that is only a small portion of our shortfall from last year.

2013 was an amazing year.  Your generosity let us help over 400 new cats.  Our colony manager program grew so that many more neighbourhoods are working to reduce the number of cats on their streets.  Our foster program grew to accommodate over 100 cats and kittens at a time.  We found permanent, loving homes for over 300 cats and kittens (that's an estimate, but I suspect the actual numbers are a bit higher).  Our volunteer base grew dramatically.  CSC incorporated as a first step to achieving registered charity status, and the application process is ongoing.

These are all incredible, amazing things, and you helped us raise almost all of what they cost.  Almost.  Our budget is $250,000 / year.  We finished 2013 with $15,000 in outstanding bills. When you think about it, that is rather remarkable. That $15,000 represents a 6% shortfall for the year. It is absolutely amazing the amount of money that came in to support our work last year.  I truly wish that we could just celebrate that achievement.  Sadly, we can't.

Today I must ask you, again, to help us cover our outstanding debts.  Short term, we must raise $3,000 to cover our Hydro bills.  If we do not send that amount to Manitoba Hydro our gas and electricity will be
disconnected.  We must also raise $12,000 to pay off our other outstanding debts, most of which are vet bills.  These amounts are over and above what is needed to pay current bills.

How can you help?  Lots of ways. 

1.  Make a donation online at http://craigstcats.ca/donate.html

2.  Send a cheque to Craig Street Cats, 489 Madison St., Wpg, MB, R3J 1J2

3.  Drop into our adoption centre and buy some of our fundraising items.  We have gorgeous calendars that feature our beautiful cats, the world's best cat beds, cat trees, cat toys, and a lot of other items that make
great gifts for cats and the people who love them.

4.  Challenge your friends and family to meet or beat a pledge you have made.

5.  Share this post.  The more people who read it, the more likely we are to reach our goals.

Thank you.

I just had a most unpleasant phone call from someone who has recently moved into Winnipeg from a rural property and left a group of outdoor cats behind.  To her credit, this person had, over the years, spayed or neutered all of the cats, and had provided food and basic shelter for them.  Until she moved.

I had the unpleasant duty of informing her that the cats were hers, and that leaving them behind is considered abandonment.  Further, that there are no shelters in Winnipeg that can take a group of outdoor cats.  The only possible exception would be the Winnipeg Humane Society, where the cats would be killed because they are not adoptable.

The rest of the call was even more unpleasant.  Apparently I am supposed to sugar coat the truth and let people believe that everything is wonderful when they leave animals behind or surrender them to a kill shelter.  I am not supposed to use the words abandonment and kill  I am supposed the allay their feelings of guilt by saying something comforting and untrue.

Well, that just won't happen.

You should feel guilty about things like this.  You should feel so guilty that you don't do it.  You should feel so guilty that you move heaven and earth to find an appropriate placement for the cats if you can't take them with you.

Animal welfare is a tough business. There is a never ending supply of animals, but a limit on the number of volunteers and donations we can secure.  Because our business is hard, it is vital that all animal welfare agencies operating in a community work together.  

Cooperation means sharing things like knowledge and best practices, and sometimes sharing supplies when times get desperate.   

Also of critical importance is the need to work together to create a schedule of events that allows every agency the best possible chance at raising funds and finding good homes for the thousands of animals we collectively care for each year.

I am concerned that this cooperation is not happening in Winnipeg. Just today, the largest animal welfare agency in Manitoba announced a “Free Cat Day” for this coming Friday, November 22.  Also this weekend, are two scheduled Craig Street Cats adoption events for our fostered cats.  

This is the third time within a year that this agency has scheduled a “Free Cat Day” before one of our larger adoption events.  
 
This agency has made no attempt to contact us to inquire about our over-capacity situation or our adoption event schedule. If a phone call was too troublesome, a quick search of our website, Facebook page, or
Twitter account would have informed them that we had an adoption event scheduled for this weekend. 

The continual overlap of their “Free Cat Day” events is becoming harder and harder for me to believe to be coincidental.   

This large agency knows that the no-kill shelters in Winnipeg are struggling. To knowingly schedule a “Free Cat Day” on the same weekend as a no-kill shelter’s large and publicized adoption event, is irresponsible.  

Craig Street Cats is not in a position, financially, to offer our cats for free and we do not agree with the practice of discounting our animals to nothing.  The City of Winnipeg has an over population of cats in part because people consider cats and kittens to be disposable. Offering them for free and using a speedy adoption process with less stringent reference checks, reinforces this mindset and perpetuates the problem. 

A large number of the cats and kittens given away for free this weekend will end up in classified ads or discarded at no-kill shelters as people reconsider their “free purchase.” Simply put, a free item takes a lot less thought to acquire than one that involves a modest investment and a shopping trip that takes longer than 40 minutes.  

If you are considering adopting a cat or kitten this weekend or know someone who is, please urge them to visit a no-kill shelter where cats and kittens are valued and where we depend on the co-operation of Winnipeg’s no-kill donors and supporters for our survival.  

If you are a supporter of an animal welfare agency that conducts “Free Cat Days” please consider contacting them to let them know that such events are not good for reducing the unwanted cat population and in order for you to continue to support them, you need a commitment that they will stop these events and cooperate with local no-kill rescues on future scheduling.

You may also want to respectfully voice your concerns in ways such as social media and in media comment sections.

Information regarding our adoption events this weekend is available at http://www.craigstcats.ca/adoption-events.html

Every Friday you usually see me posting about $5 Friday, trying to impress on our supporters that small gifts given by many people add up to big dollars.  This is very true, but, lately, the small gifts have not been
able to keep up with our need.

It is time for us to do a reality check.  Ideally, monthly income should cover, or come very close to covering, regular monthly expenses.  Fundraising events are then used to create a contingency fund so that when there is a small shortfall or an emergency the fund can be used to make up the difference. 

It costs $20,000 to run CSC for one month.  Over the past few months we have had shortfalls of from $5,000 to $15,000 each month.  The size of our shortfalls has depleted our resources to the point where we have nothing left.

In the short term, we have almost $5,000 worth of bills that must be paid within the next week, and over 700 cats and kittens that are depending on us.  Long term, we must find a way to rebuild our monthly income to meet our ongoing expenses.

So, today I am not asking you to make a small gift for $5 Friday.  I am asking you to help us raise $5,000 to get through the next week.  Every penny will help.  Every dollar is precious.  Every time you share this
post will bring us closer to that goal.

Those of you who have been to our facebook page over the past week will already know about our name the kittens contest.  For those who haven't, two cute, fluffy, white kittens came in from one of our managed colonies. We were stumped for names, so we decided to have a contest to name the boys.  Nineteen names were submitted for the contest, and now the fun begins.  From November 6 to 12 you get to vote for your favourite names.  You may vote as many times as you like, but each vote must be accompanied by a $5 donation.  To vote for a name, just click on its button.

The contest is over, now, and the kittens are named Puff and Cotton.  Thank you to everyone who participated.  You helped us raise almost $200 to care for the boys!

We are entering that horrid time of year when people start to realize that the kittens they have been feeding all summer will freeze to death if they don't find a shelter placement for them. Over the next few weeks we will be inundated with calls from those people who will insist that 'their kittens' are the finest, cutest, most amazing creatures ever born, and will be snapped up in an instant.

We have no room for any of them. Any space that comes open is reserved for critters in our managed colonies. We do not have a 'waiting list'.

We can encourage these people to take the cats into their own homes and try to find placements for them on their own. We can give them tips for screening potential adopters. We can offer access to low cost spay/neuter. We can even offer some dry cat food.

We cannot take the cats.

Many of the people who call will become abusive when told all this. They will accuse us of taking donations under false pretenses, not caring about the cats, being heartless. Some will threaten to harm the cats if we don't take them. Some will offer generous donations if we take 'their kittens'.

None of this changes the fact that we have no room.

The next few weeks will be very difficult for our entire staff and volunteer corps. We all want to take every critter. We can't. If we take any more, the ones we already have will start to get sick. All we can do is stick together, and try to make it through the next few weeks as best we can. Be kind to each other, and try to let the nasty things go.