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On Homes for “Unadoptable” and Special Needs Animals

Because of the story about Rich and Smoke, a FeLV positive kitty who lived in his bathroom for a while (as to not cause a problem with his kitty, Beanie), in addition to the commencement of Project Treadstone, I've been learning a lot about feral cats, how to handle them, what diseases they might have, and what that means for trying to conduct a TNR effort.

As far as I know Rich will be bringing Smoke to Angel's Gate in Delhi, NY, which I recently saw featured somewhere on television and recall crying my eyes out. They don't adopt the animals out, which is good because they have a greyhound, Dreamer, whom I had my eye on (sent there from Florida, of course). They promise a loving home and whatever hospice care the animal needs for the rest of her life. They have quarters for cats with FIV and FeLV.

Down by me there's the Hobe Sound Animal Protection League, which houses (and I mean houses)

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cats who are adoptable as well as those who aren't considered adoptable, including those who are FeLV and FIV positive (please note that the fee is $300 per FeLV or FIV cat). The houses are on the grounds of the Caring Fields Sanctuary, which also has acres and acres for abandoned and/or abused horses. The Pegasus Foundation funds the sanctuary. The Hobe Sound Animal Protection League, you may recall, is the organization that made the odd choice to have a fundraiser where they auctioned off paintings "painted by" the resident cats. On the upside, this year's fundraiser did not include cat painting!

I've been to Caring Fields and the cat area is adorable and clean and the cats are in great shape and have plenty to do and lots of fun places to go. The horses area is huge and the horses, after rehab of course, look magnificent.

I thought maybe there were other people out there in the blogosphere who might need a home for a special needs animal or a FIV or FeLV positive cat, and if so they could call the places mentioned above. I also thought there are probably dozens of other sanctuaries that take animals deemed "unadoptable" (or at least I hope so), and this is a good time to create a resource list. So send 'em if you got 'em.

3 Comments Post a comment
  1. rich #

    Smoke may be heading to Angel's Gate tomorrow or next weekend depending on the weather. Since they are moving from Long Island to upstate NY and I have a small pickup I offered to help bring a load of stuff from LI to upstate for them when I drop off Smoke. But in order for that to happen I can't have snow or rain since I have an open pickup and it is horrible in the snow.
    I sent an email to Susan Marino for Angel's Gate and she asked me to call her. She has such a warm loving personality and her knowledge of FeLV is vast and one I can trust. Her ideas on how to best house the animals and her future plans are so positive and I hope to be able to help organize some work parties up there this spring or summer.
    When I am up there I will make sure to visit Dreamer for you and take some pictures.
    One other shelter I looked at and like is the Best Little Cat House in PA, they have a building for FeLv and FIV positive cats and so accept feral cats. http://www.thebestlittlecathouseinpa.com/
    Keep up your great work.

    December 6, 2008
  2. Mary Martin #

    Good luck with the road trip and the weather, and say hi to Dreamer. I was SOOO thinking of adopting her until I found out that they don't do that. Lucky Dreamer! AG looks amazing! And thanks for the Best Little Cat House tip.

    December 6, 2008
  3. Best Friends has the "TLC House" for "special needs" cats, including those with FIV or Feline Leukemia, and there's also the WildCats Village for feral cats. (See panes 7-10 here: http://www.bestfriends.org/atthesanctuary/animals/cats.cfm )

    I don't know much about the programs, but my aunt has visited Best Friends several times, and she just raves about her trips (especially the different species quarters). And she's not even much of an "animal person."

    December 7, 2008

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