We are holding a yard sale fundraiser on Saturday June 25th 8am – 2pm. Please stop by and help us raise critical funds for the cats and kittens in our care! Each foster kitten, once weaned, can easily eat 1.5-2 cans of food a day. We have 12 kittens in foster which means 18-24 cans of food every day. If you can’t shop but want to help out we welcome donations from our Amazon and Chewy wish lists. Thank you!
On June 2nd we celebrated the first anniversary of the lounge being open for visits! While the nonprofit itself was formed in early 2020, because of covid-19 we did not open a physical storefront until June of 2021. In the year that we have been open we have adopted out 50 cats and kittens and have taken in an additional 29. We are happy to be helping cats and kittens in need and also to be providing a place in midtown Ventura where cat lovers can come hang out with cats. Our second year has started out with foster kitten Montebella’s adoption on June 3rd!
May gave the volunteers at the lounge a chance to step and take charge while I (Jennifer) went out of town for about 10 days for my daughter’s college graduation. A team of about 16 volunteers pitched in to make sure the lounge could remain open as usual, including hosting one of our First Friday events. Cats and humans alike had a great week and it was awesome to know that the organization already has enough volunteer support to keep the lounge running in the absence of its director.
Adoptions were slow for 5-6 weeks but then we had some BIG ones!
Michael – If you’ve EVER come to the lounge then you surely met Michael, our bow-tie wearing tuxedo. He joined us in late May of 2021, before we were even officially open. He was at the lounge for 365 days. But his purrfect family found him. This couple visited the lounge countless times and just fell in love with our boy. He is spoiled rotten now, as he deserves, and they are smitten.
We also found homes for Kiki, Oliver, and Ivy! Kiki has a kitty brother and her new family just loves her. Oliver and Ivy went together to a quiet home of a retired couple who love the kitties and will give them all the space and time they need to feel secure. We are so happy for all of our recently adopted cats.
At the lounge we currently have 9 cats, and in foster we have 18. Rachel has been with us the longest, having joined us in late-August, 2021. Our newest intakes at the lounge are Rose and Mango, both young mamas. Cindy and Coral are still with us and have become SO much more confident and friendly. Same and Steve are young tabby brothers who play hard and sleep hard! Both sets of kitties would make excellent companions and we would love to see them stay in pairs if at all possible. Cassie is our long-haired tortie who is learning to trust people and get along with cats. We know she’d do better in a quiet, predictable home as the only pet but she is still improving here, even with the other cats around and the changes in people coming and going each day.
In late May Four Brix Winery hosted a fundraiser for us at their space here in Ventura. The band that night was Karen Eden and the Bad Apples and they were amazing in their support of us, too. We received hundreds of dollars in food and litter donations as well as over $550 in cash donations from patrons that night. Everyone had a good time and the kitties benefited from the generosity. Upcoming fundraisers include a yard sale on June 25th, a small puzzle tournament late summer, and a silent auction next fall.
Save the date! We will be offering visits on Friday, April 1st from 6-7pm so you can kick-off your weekend with cats! They’re usually playful and active after dinner, and the lounge has a different feel after dark. Come on by and enjoy a different experience from the daytime lounge. =^..^=
We can take up to 6 visitors in each of the half-hour time slots. If you’d like to stay for a full hour be sure to book both half-hour time slots.
Save the date! We will be offering visits on Friday, March 4th from 6-7pm so you can kick-off your weekend with cats! They’re usually playful and active after dinner, and the lounge has a different feel after dark. Come on by and enjoy a different experience from the daytime lounge. =^..^=
We can take up to 5 visitors in each of the half-hour time slots. If you’d like to stay for a full hour be sure to book both half-hour time slots.
Current Cats and Kittens in the Lounge
We have 14 cats and kittens living at the lounge, ranging in age from about 5-6 months old to 13 years old. Our three newest residents (Cindy, Coral, and Hershal) come to us from Stray Paws Animal Haven in El Monte, CA. They are still adjusting to their new surroundings and are not out and about with all of the other cats yet. Our next three newest are Cheyenne, Dallas, and Bagel. Cheyenne was trapped outside of Golf n Stuff in Ventura and she’s a very friendly young mom whose kitten days are behind her forever now that she’s been spayed. Thanks go out to Foundling Kitten Society for working to get her trapped, vaccinated, spayed, and transported to us. Dallas and Bagel came to us from SPARC and we’re hoping different exposure here will help them find their perfect home(s). They are not brothers but they get along great! Buffy, our little black kitten, also loves playing with her new friends. Our longtime residents are still with us: Michael, Missy, Snickers, Twix, Jacob, and Sadie (plus Rachel, though she hasn’t been here quite so long). They’re happy with us and well cared for, but we sure would like to see them land in real homes. Adopting out cats who are older is harder than adopting out the younger ones. But we know there are kind-hearted people out there who want to help a cat and meet that cat where it is rather than hope to mold its behavior and nature in some way.
Volunteers
We’re up to about 20 volunteers at the lounge now and always looking for more help! Some people are able to volunteer on a regular basis just about every week while others can only come in sporadically. We are grateful for all of the help we receive and definitely still need more. If you would like to volunteer with us please fill out our volunteer application. During business hours shifts are two hours long. We also have shifts to help open the lounge (one hour) and close the lounge (45 minutes). Shifts during business hours do require some customer service potentially, while opening and closing shifts are just the volunteers and cats. All shifts include time to just hang out with the cats!
Kitten Adoptions
Chewy, Vader, and Yoda are now available for pre-adoption. We anticipate sending them home around November 29th, after they’ve had their spay/neuter surgeries and the second round of kitten vaccinations. If you are interested in applying for any of them please contact us.
Events
We are having another “Cats at Night” event on November 4th. Visitors can come to the lounge for tea and dessert for 75 minutes and see what the cats are like at night. (The last few times we’ve been there at night they’ve been wide awake!) During Thanksgiving week we will have modified hours, rates, and capacity, and we’ll be offering 10% off all purchases.
Fundraising
We have added a few new items to the lobby shop and encourage you to take a look. It’s a great way to find some small gifts and help support the cats. We have some new pillowcases in various prints (cat, holiday, and other), a few aprons, scented jar candles, new earrings, and more, plus new toys and stockings for the cats in your life. If you’d like to help out by sending needed items for the cats and the lounge you can shop our Amazon and Chewy wishlists, or our Target wishlist that’s all just-for-fun stuff for the cats to help us celebrate our 6-month anniversary of being open on December 2nd!
Thank you, as always, for your support!