27 Nov 2020

Feeling Thankful

by | posted in: Education, Fostering, Fundraising | 0

It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I wanted to take a few moments to say thank you. Storm is doing well, eating a lot, recovering from her surgery, and looking after her babies. Rain, Cloud, and Hurricane are one-week old today and doing fantastic. They’re gaining weight just as they should be and look like healthy, roly-poly kittens. I’m grateful for that. I’ve been posting photos on Instagram and Facebook.

Our fundraiser last weekend went really well and brought in almost $400. There are lots of new masks out in the community now and several kitties got new toys to play with. Two former fosters even got the two crocheted cat beds! My daughter is home now (and is also a board member) so together we may do one more pop-up for a couple of hours on December 12th. Stay tuned for details about that. Chris Frost wrote up a nice article about us and the event, too.

We’ve been pushing to bring our total fundraising up to $10,000 by year’s end so that we’re more than ready to launch our retail space as soon as it’s safe to do so. As of today, we have a little over $5500 in the bank and in cash and another $1650 promised to us. We’re hoping that one donor’s $1000 donation will be matched by their employer. All said, that would bring us to about $8000! That is so amazing and we are humbled and inspired by the support and generosity shown by our community.

Thank you for supporting us, for following us, and for helping our dream come true. We can’t wait to open our space and start helping more cats find their furever homes!

22 Aug 2020

Welcome to 4 New Fosters!

by | posted in: Education, Fostering, Spay and Neuter | 0

We brought in a mama cat and her three kittens today. They had been living outside and a caring woman looked out for them and then reached out to have them taken into a rescue. No more babies for this mama, and no babies ever for her three kittens! This is what it takes to try and get a handle on the cat/kitten overpopulation problem in Ventura County.

Mama Cali is a tortie and looks to be an excellent mom to her babies. All three kittens are plump and adorable. Names and gender verification are coming. We’re guessing the kittens are around 2.5 weeks old.

Welcome to our home, sweet family.

Mama Cali with her two gray tabbies and one orange tabby
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
15 Jul 2020

New Foster: Mama Amiga

by | posted in: Education, Fostering | 0

We took in a new foster on Monday, an adorable tabby/calico named Amiga. She came into SPARC as a stray and they had a feeling she might be pregnant. They performed an ultrasound and sure enough, kittens! I got a call asking if I could take her in and after figuring out where to have her stay safely while Coriander and Saffron are still here, I said yes and drove over to SPARC to pick her up.

Coriander and Saffron go back to SPARC Saturday afternoon for their spay/neuter surgeries and then to their “furever” home after that. Once they have moved on (sniff, sniff) I will deep clean the back room and move Amiga back there. For now, she is in a playpen in our daughter’s room (she’s living out of state for college so we have a little extra space on our hands). Amiga is probably not due for a few weeks, so we will just let her relax and keep her well-fed and well-hydrated. She’s very affectionate and friendly, and I am looking forward to getting to know her personality better.

If you’ve wanted to foster but didn’t think you had the room, these playpens can be very helpful. An extra bathroom, den, or bedroom works too! I like setting up these clear panels that can be found on Amazon for my fosters, but for several years I used the playpen until I felt the kitties could roam safely in my laundry/craft room.

Welcome, mama Amiga! Can’t wait to meet your kittens. 🙂

Mama Amiga, our newest foster