19 Aug 2020

Meet and Greet Scheduled

by | posted in: Education, Just for Fun | 0

We have a meet and greet scheduled for Saturday, September 12th. This is a chance to meet Jennifer, find out more about Cassie’s Cats, and meet other supporters. We’ll also bring items from our shop so bring your wallets! Who wants to be the first person to let us officially use our portable PayPal card reader? 😉

This will be a physically-distanced event and masks will be required. Feel free to come by at any time during the event and stay for however long you’d like. Bring your own coffee or tea (no food or drinks will be provided out of consideration for health).

The details:

Saturday, September 12th
Thille Park in Ventura (see map here)
9:30am – 11:00am
See the event listing on Facebook

Hope to see you there!

16 Aug 2020

Changes in the Shop

by | posted in: Fundraising | 0

We have been moving things around a little bit and tweaking the shipping model. Now, if you live locally in Ventura you will have an option for $1 local delivery or $4 flat shipping. Otherwise, shipping will be $4. Donation prices have been adjusted to reflect this change.

The other change is with some of the toys. Now, we are offering grab bags of 10 toys for $10, consisting of cotton mice, small felt toys, and larger felt toys. Mini kickers and kickers will still be offered individually or in groups of three.

Once we open the lounge we imagine that we will have fewer goods like this for sale but for now, this is a way for us to fundraise and build a solid financial foundation. Check out the earrings, masks, and note cards, too.

9 Aug 2020

August Updates

by | posted in: Education | 0

I feel like I just wrote the July update. Time seems to crawl and yet here it is, August 9th already. On to some updates!

Since the last post, we’ve raised about $670 and had some generous in-kind donations as well. We took in a foster named Amiga who was thought to be pregnant (turns out she wasn’t). She stayed with us for about three weeks, returned to SPARC to be spayed, and went to her forever home about four days after that! The same day we took Amiga in we brought home Toby and Kelly, two underweight and fearful kittens. They’ve been here about a week now, completely come out of their shells, and gained roughly 5 ounces. They still have a ways to go to get to a healthy weight for their age but they’re doing great so far.

We continue to watch what is happening in Ventura County with regard to coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates. Ventura County is still on the state watchlist and so we continue to bide our time until it is relatively safe to open a non-essential business. We have been researching different types of business insurance and what those costs might be, learning the difference between “Triple Net” and “Modified Gross” leases, and making more items for fundraisers. We found a new scheduling plugin for the website that might work well once it’s time to open and start accepting reservations and payments online. Jennifer’s mom donated some two-layer cotton masks in a beautiful cat print and they have been a big success, bringing in about $230 in the past couple of weeks. We still have some left in the shop.

Our support base continues to grow! We are up to 134 Facebook followers and 213 Instagram followers. The more we can get the word out, the better off we will be when it is time to open! We’d like to hold some kind of physically-distanced meet-and-greet so supporters, future volunteers, etc. can meet Jennifer and each other. We’re still working out how to that safely.

In the meantime, please share our Facebook and Instagram posts as well as our fundraisers with your cat-loving friends and family! Thank you. 🙂

6 Aug 2020

Cat Masks Have Been Restocked

by | posted in: Fundraising | 0

Our first batch of 10 cat-themed masks sold out very quickly. We’ve added 13 more to the shop so if you missed out the first time around now’s your chance to grab one! If you live in Ventura (93001, 93003, or 93004) we can deliver to you for a $10 donation; otherwise, we will mail anywhere in the U.S. for a $13 donation. http://www.cassiescatsandkittens.org/product/cotton-masks/

Thank you to Jennifer’s mom for donating her time, materials, and sewing expertise to this fundraiser!

3 Aug 2020

2 New Fosters: Meet Toby and Kelly

by | posted in: Fostering | 0

Toby and Kelly came to us on August 1st, and they were part of a litter of kittens named after characters from The Office. I’m not sure when they first came to SPARC but they have been there for a while and spent a good deal of time in the medical side of the building being treated for ringworm, and possibly other issues as well. They are almost 3 months old now and have grown up in a kennel in a shelter. They will let people handle them but they are fearful and prefer to hide. They are also not eating as well as they should be and are underweight for their age – neither one weighs two pounds yet, which you would expect from a kitten any time from about 7-10 weeks old.

They have been here for about two days now and have already made a lot of progress. When I walk in the room they don’t always run and hide, and when I try to approach them they will sometimes stay put and let me come over and pet them. They’ve each gained roughly an ounce since Saturday night, which is encouraging.

They are adorable and I have a lot of confidence in them and their ability to overcome their fear and realize that people are friendly! You can watch updates on Facebook and Instagram.

Toby (black) and Kelly (calico) on August 1st