After overwhelming public support, the Bide Awhile animal shelter now has more than 100 cats in the building.
The shelter hoped to raise $24,000 dollars after they took in 2 dozen cats and kittens about a month ago.
But spokesperson Sam Cole says they quickly passed that goal.
“We’ve raised over $50,000, and we’ve actually been able to go back to the property and retrieve an additional 50 plus cats, who are now going to be finding their forever homes,” said Cole.
Every time she walks into a room, Cole said she’s greeted by 20 kittens running around, looking for attention, love and food.
“It’s really an interesting work day every day.”
The building was over capacity when they got the first round of 24 cats and kittens, but when they got 50 more, that put them even further over.
Cole said they’ve converted every closet, board room and storage room into a temporary place for the cats. She said they also worked a lot with foster families, who help get the cats out of the shelter until they’re ready to be adopted.
Lots want to adopt
When they took in those two dozens cats in early August, Cole said they were getting 20 or 30 calls a day from people who wanted to adopt.
“We’ve had an insane amount of people interested in adopting kittens,” she said.
Their adoption waitlist grew, too, and now sits at about 150 people.
But with so many rescue cats in the building they’re getting through the list pretty quickly, she said.
However, Cole recommends that people should also look at other shelters if they want to adopt, because they’re all trying to help animals in need.
The cats vary in age from kittens too young for their surgeries to cats who are ready for adoption. They also had eight babies, each about two weeks old, who needed to be bottle fed, but the Bide Awhile shelter wasn’t equipped to deal with that. So the Pick of the Litter Society in Bedford was able to take in those babies, she said.
Over the next month or two, more kittens will be spayed and neutered and be up for adoption, she said.
Cole adds that she’s really thankful to the community for their help.
“It’s been very overwhelming to see the support. It’s really made the difference, and it’s what’s been keeping us going for the past 55 years in the community.”
Comments