Hey guys, I’m super in need of Tumblr’s sharing powers right now. Well, not me, but quite a few amazing animals. You can read the story of my home in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania - or, as I call it, Cat Planet - on the Go Fund Me page, but I’d like to talk about it from my point of view.
I’ve always been a cat girl. From the time I was born, my household has always had at least one cat. They’ve been a constant part of my life, and a rather huge part as well. For the past fifteen years (more than HALF of my life), my Dad, along with his fiancee, have been taking in, and taking care of stray cats. We took in whatever our local shelter didn’t have room for, and that was a lot. Easily hundreds of cats have come through our home, and plenty found it to be their last stop. If a cat couldn’t find a home, we kept them. No questions, no hesitation. And yeah, that means we ended up keeping upwards of thirty cats as our own, while always having another 10-20 fosters housed there as well. I think our record amount of kitties total was in the 70’s somewhere. Crazy, right? Well, if I’m honest, it was a little insane. That house belongs to those cats. My Dad remodeled our upstairs living room into a cat room, as well as half of the basement. He completely fenced in our back yard to keep them safe (and our neighbors complacent), and built structures for them to play on.
Everywhere you went, there were cats. Cats, cats, and more cats. Cats of all ages, shapes, breeds, temperaments, cats with one eye, cats with missing limbs. Cats with skin conditions that required regular care and medicine, cats with terminal illnesses that we just wanted to make feel safe and loved for as long as we could. We gave a home to cats that most people would turn down, or give up on, and that was MORE than worth how hard it was to live in a house that was basically owned by them. The amount of hard work put into that place on a daily basis is nuts, almost too much for even three of us (only two now that I’ve moved out), but we did it. My Dad did it. We had a few people turn us into animal control and the health department over the years, but passed every single surprise inspection we ever had.
However, as the article on the Go Fund Me page will tell you, about a year ago now, someone turned us over to the township, beginning a year-long legal battle for control over the house. Whoever did this, apparently said that our cats were getting out and ruining her tomato plants, which is a blatant lie, as NONE of the cats could ever get out. Obviously, a ton of responsibility comes with running what is basically a cat sanctuary, and we ALWAYS kept track of which cats were outside. We’d notice within half an hour if one of them had somehow gotten out of the yard. It’s definitely happened, but only a handful of times in fifteen years, and they never get further than a house or two away. Definitely nowhere near anyone who has any tomato plants.
Either way, long story short, apparently our town put forth an ordinance in 2009 (YEARS after we started this whole thing) limiting the number of animals, and this was what they were pinning us on. It would be an entire year of back and forth court dates, appeals, and my poor Dad worrying night and day about the future of these precious animals, before the board ruled against him. So, right now, he can either appeal, or starting August, they’re going to start hitting him with thousands of dollars in fees. Now, my Dad has never had a lot of money, so this is really, really awful. He’s stuck, and has nowhere to turn. Natrona Heights is a dirt ball of a town, so there is NO property value to be had, on TOP of living directly across the street from a steel mill. Seriously. No property value to be had, and even if someone, somewhere DID buy the property, it wouldn’t be for anywhere NEAR what he’d need to relocate. He wants to find a decent patch of land somewhere to take the cats, and be able to care for them without any more disruptions.
I can’t speak well enough about my Dad. I’m so proud to be his daughter. I’ve never known anyone so astoundingly selfless and hard working. All he’s ever wanted to do is help the people he loves, and help these animals. He built everything you see in the back yard, built TWO cat rooms in our house, hauls 50lbs of cat litter out of the house every week, spent every extra penny he had, spent every extra MINUTE he could spare, on these cats. I’ve watched him hold sick kittens the size of his hand and bottle-feed them, I’ve watched him play with them, TALK to them, CRY over them, and put his whole goddamn heart into taking care of, and loving them. It breaks my heart to see this all happen to him, and I know it breaks his heart to have to worry about all this, when he could be focusing more on them.
Please, even if you can only spare a few dollars, ANYTHING will help. I’m asking you, pleading with you, to lend a hand to my Dad, so he can continue to help these cats. If he can’t get out of that town, there’s no knowing what will happen. Please help me keep this wonderful cat sanctuary going.
GoFundMe: Can be found here
