Animals needing guardian angels

Katie's Place has a Hard-to-place sponsorship program and a No More Homeless Pets sponsorship program. Our Hard-to-place animals are listed below. They are animals who are hard to adopt out because they're older or shy or have a medical condition or are fostered and too ordinary to catch an adopter's eye on the web. Browse through their personal profiles. Our sponsors are listed below with our thanks on behalf of their sponsored animals.
 

Those who prefer on-line payment can pay for their sponsorship through Paypal. If you prefer this method of payment, Paypal explains how to do it.

Hard-to-Place sponsorship program

Katie's Place has several animals who are unlikely to be adopted. They're lovable but they're elderly or sick. Some of them are too shy or high-strung to be good adoption candidates. Meanwhile there are people who'd love to take an animal home but they can't for one reason or another.

For those who would like to take a special animal under their wing, we have a sponsor program.

For $10 per month you can sponsor a hard-to-place animal for a period from three months to a year. You'll receive a sponsor certificate for your animal and we'll send you our newsletters and update you on any changes in your sponsor animal's life. Your sponsor animal may be adopted (if their lucky day ever comes) or, if you sponsor one of our elderly or FeLV/FIV cats, your animal's time may come to cross the Rainbow Bridge. If this happens, you will be able to choose another animal to sponsor.

Sponsorship will provide basics such as food and vet care. Your money goes directly to the animals. Less than three percent of our funds are spent on maintenance (eg. phone, bank fees, insurance). Administrative costs are donated by the volunteers, and nobody who works for Katie's Place receives any kind of remuneration.

There are different costs associated with each hard-to-place animal. An elderly animal may require ongoing medication for a chronic condition, and some injured animals have had surgeries totaling hundreds of dollars. But a shy animal may need no more than altering, tattooing and vaccinating. Regardless, the costs for each animal amount to more than $10 per month. So each animal could have several sponsors, each of whom contribute directly to the animal's care. Every animal requires a minimum of three to five sponsors to completely cover veterinary costs and expenses of daily life (food, litter, heat...).

For us, the most important words in our mission statement are: "The sick, elderly and homely are as precious to us as the healthy, young and attractive." Many of the animals we take in require veterinary care. It can end up being very expensive, but as long as their lives have meaning for them, we will do whatever it takes to make them comfortable. If they're young and have the potential for long, happy lives we will get whatever treatment is required to make them whole. If they are elderly or terminal we will get whatever treatment is required to keep them comfortable. Only when life becomes a burden for them we will help them pass. Cost has never figured into the decision. Our vets have trusted us to pay when we can and the generosity of supporters who donate whatever they can spare has kept our vet bills paid to date.

Sparky came to us in January '04, a fearful, tattered street cat who had struggled to survive on his own for more than a year. He backed into a far corner as we tried to get his photo. Eventually he learned to trust us and he relaxed (middle photo). But though he was an affectionate fellow, he had ongoing issues with scabby skin and sparse fur due to a persistent flea allergy. Despite that, he was adopted by a loving family, and the right photo shows the blissful pet he became. He was adopted in December '04 and that was the best Christmas present he'd ever had.
Another animal always arrives to fill the vacancy. Phoenix (below) arrived in June '05 covered with mats, some as large as her head, and teeth so bad that our vet had to remove them all. (No wonder her mats were so bad, grooming must have been an agony!) She was already spayed so somebody had loved her once. But that may have been a long time ago because she's about 10 years old. Animals like Sparky and Phoenix need a lot of care to recover.


Phoenix can now eat and groom in comfort (see right photo). But she steadfastly rejects contact with humans.

Click here on Phoenix's update for her status a year later.


The "No More Homeless Pets" Program

This is another sponsoring option. A sponsor can take financial responsibility for one of the hundreds of animals who pass through our doors each year. It takes $75 or 7½ months of sponsorship just to cover the altering/vaccinating/testing/tattooing costs for a healthy animal. (We test every cat for FeLV and FIV unless it's come from a home where it's spent its whole life and its medical history is known.) A $75 sponsorship will see an animal through its initial transformation from 'Unwanted' to 'Adoptable'. Many of the animals who come to us are not altered; they're thin and grubby and may be carrying a virus; and they have no identification that will reunite them with a home. We take each one to our vets and have them checked over, altered, vaccinated, tested and identified with either a tattoo or (if they're already altered) a microchip. Those with needs above and beyond these basics are listed among the sponsorable animals below. But the great majority of animals are now ready for their forever home. Some of them are with us for only days. Some are with us for months. But sooner or later, somebody recognizes how wonderful they are.

If you wish to take on one of the adoptable animals listed in our Petfinder Pet List, let us know which one. Your sponsorship will see that animal made ready for a new life. You'll receive a sponsorship certificate telling you all we know of his/her history and notification of his/her eventual rehoming. In this way you can be personally involved in the rescue process. You will be working with us to stop overpopulation and prevent the continuous supply of throw-aways.


Gaelen was a highly adoptable cat. He was young, healthy and affectionate. We'd seen him slipping furtively through the tall grass, but when winter set in and months passed with no sign of him we thought he was dead. Then one day we set up the live trap for another cat and came back to find Gaelen inside, alive and reasonably well. We had him fixed up at our vet's and watched as he changed from a withdrawn animal, beaten down by life, into a confident, happy member of our shelter. He came to us in March '03 and left us in August '03 when he went home to live with someone who was captivated by the handsome fellow he'd become.

If you're interested in sponsoring an animal, please email our volunteer business manager, Susan, at helpkatiesplace@shaw.ca to set it up. Your sponsorship can be either a lump sum payment for the length of time you want to sponsor, or postdated cheques. Cheques can be made out to "Katie's Place". Please contact Susan for the mailing address.

The sponsor animals have more than one sponsor in many cases. Money raised through sponsorship certainly takes care of the needs of the sponsored animals. Some have urgent medical issues. Some are healthy but have other issues that make them hard-to-place. Even without veterinary expenses, all the animals need funding to provide for them. If a sponsor animal has minimal expenses at the moment, the funds from his or her sponsorship help support other animals who need extra care immediately. Many of the cats we take are highly adoptable except for a fixable medical problem. Fletcher needed surgery for his eyes. Otherwise he was healthy and friendly and he now has a home. Nicole also needed to see the vet about her eyes and this sweet kitten is adopted. The vet determined that Swayze had ingested some kind of poison that affected his balance. But this lovable cat recovered and was adopted. Many need their matted fur shaved; many need dental work.... Homeless cats arrive with issues more often that not. For many of them, once a vet has addressed their problem they become highly adoptable and soon go to new homes. Often they come to us because cost of care was the only stumbling block that kept them from finding a home. We don't list these highly adoptable cats as sponsor cats since a Guardian Angel could go through a dizzying number of cats during their sponsorship. So the cats that we assess as hard-to-place represent the whole group. Their sponsorship funds help take care of all the animals and all the funding goes to their care. Nobody who works at Katie's Place takes any kind of remuneration.

Hard-to-place animals looking for guardian angels

Browse through the profiles of some of our sponsorable animals. We hope their stories will touch your heart. We try to update the animal's stories whenever there are any anecdotes or news about them. Through these pages you can see rescue work from the perspective of the volunteers -- the hope that's raised when there's an inquiry about adopting, the sorrow of letting a sick one go.... We hope you find these worth reading.

Adam    updated Nov 11/08
Baby    updated Sept/08
Barnaby    updated Sept/08
Beyonce    updated Sept 17/08
Bootsy Boy   updated May/08
Chi Chi  updated May 12/08
Colette  updated Sept/08
Donny  updated Oct 11/08
Freddy  updated July 12/08
Harry and Sally     updated July 6/08
Lazer    updated Oct 18/08
Mickey  updated Nov 17/08    Mickey has a home!
Palmer  updated Sept/08
Periwinkle  updated Nov 5/08
Puddy    updated June 3/08
Rambo   updated Nov 7/08
Randall   updated Oct 18/08
Roscoe  updated Nov 17/08
Scamp   updated Nov 7/08
Scotlyn  updated Sept/08
Stitch  updated May/08
Taz    updated Sept/08
Tia & Kyle    updated Sept/08
Turbo    updated Sept/08
Waldo    updated Sept/08
Wannabe (formerly "Claire's Family")  updated Sept/08
 

Those who prefer on-line payment can pay for their sponsorship through Paypal. If you prefer this method of payment, Paypal explains how to do it.

Our animals' guardian angels

Below are the people to whom our animals owe a debt of gratitude, though in their innocence they'll never realize that. On their behalf, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Palmer is sponsored by Bob and Lorie
Wannabe is sponsored by Bob and Lorie
Taz is sponsored by Ann Marie
Wannabe is sponsored by Judy
Tia & Kyle is sponsored by Jane
Beyonce is sponsored by Joyce
Puddy is sponsored by Joyce
Colette is sponsored by Joyce
Taz is sponsored by Joyce
Lazer is sponsored by Kevin
Stitch is sponsored by Kari
Puddy is sponsored by Kari
Randall is sponsored by Ena
Adam is sponsored by Kari
Stitch is sponsored by Norma
Chi Chi is sponsored by Lynda
Colette is sponsored by Margaret Rose
Baby is sponsored by Flora
Chi Chi is sponsored by Rita
Stitch is sponsored by Rita
Taz is sponsored by Donna
Adam is sponsored by Lily
Randall is sponsored by Laurie
Bootsy Boy is sponsored by Lily
Beyonce is sponsored by Greybrook Academy - Pre-K Class
Periwinkle is sponsored by Brenda
Bootsy Boy is sponsored by Brenda and Jim
Turbo is sponsored by Jenny
Bootsy Boy is sponsored by Jenny
Chi Chi is sponsored by Roanne
Roscoe is sponsored by Roanne
Harry & Sally are sponsored by Roanne
Colette is sponsored by Alison and Colin
Turbo is sponsored by Jim
Waldo is sponsored by Debbie
Tia and Kyle are sponsored by Flora
Puddy is sponsored by Richelle
Baby is sponsored by Richelle
Adam is sponsored by Joyce
Barnaby is sponsored by Pauline
Mickey is sponsored by Michael
Periwinkle is sponsored by Lorna
Freddy is sponsored by Ena
Beyonce is sponsored by Wendy
Turbo is sponsored by Kate and Will
Barnaby is sponsored by Kate and Will
Baby is sponsored by Kate and Will
Roscoe is sponsored by Sari
Roscoe is sponsored by Nanook
Scotlyn is sponsored by Sandy
Palmer is sponsored by Debbie
Roscoe is sponsored by Nemo
Lazer is sponsored by Tara
Freddy is sponsored by Mike
Palmer is sponsored by Cyril and Roberta
Waldo is sponsored by Lauralee
Lazer is sponsored by David & Vanessa
Puddy is sponsored by Irene
Tia & Kyle are sponsored by Jean
Barnaby is sponsored by Susie
Waldo is sponsored by Chris
Wannabe is sponsored by Jill
Scamp is sponsored by Jill
Scamp is sponsored by Diane
Beyonce is sponsored by Aimee
Chi Chi is sponsored by Audrey
Periwinkle is sponsored by Phyllis
Rambo is sponsored by Samantha
Tia & Kyle are sponsored by The Fairbrother Family
 

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