First of all, watch the above video. It’s a walkthrough of the facility I’m about to talk about so you know it’s legit. Also, here’s their Facebook page for a lot more pictures of their kitties.
I did not create the sanctuary, but I've visited their facility before and it’s been on my heart ever since.
Now, onto the ugly business. Now, since I’m on their e-news list, I just got an upsetting e-mail from Catmandu, the amazing cat sanctuary above, saying they have to close because they are entirely supported by donations and have not been getting enough to keep their doors open:
Catmandu has closed the gates and is not taking in any more cats or kittens at this time. Unless Carson City and the surrounding communities open their wallets and start providing support, the facility will likely not re-open.
Catmandu has been providing the bulk of services for cats in this area (340 adoptions in 2015), yet it receives no money from the city, state, or government. Nor does it receive grant-funding from large organizations such as PetSmart or Maddie’s Fund. Catmandu relies solely on donations from individuals and businesses within the community for our existence.
In 2015, we found good homes for 340 cats and kittens and helped numerous others in the community. Our annual budget was less than $65K. By comparison, Nevada Humane Society (NHS) in Carson City receives $700K in tax dollars from the city each year for their services; plus significant income from grants, donations, and fundraisers.
With the opening of the new, tax-funded NHS animal shelter on Butti Way in September, donations from animal lovers have been flowing to NHS leaving only a trickle for Catmandu. Even so the majority of cats have still been coming to Catmandu.
We are not just another shelter. Our cats live in a homey, cage free environ designed to meet their needs. Located in a former day-care center, Catmandu provides a cage-free group home environment that heals and rehabilitates the kitties who come to us. A frightened, stressed cat comes in; a happy, trusting, and calmer cat leaves.
If you want to have Catmandu continue helping the cats of Carson City, Douglas, and Lyon counties; please make a donation at http://www.catmanducc.org/donate.html to send a check to Catmandu, 1829 Brown St., Carson City, NV 89701.
To learn more about us, visit the catmanducc.org web site for a virtual tour and our story. If you believe in our concept, please help. We want to keep operating, but we need capital to keep our doors open. Without community support, we simply cannot continue to exist.
If 500 people donate just $20 each month, we can stay open and keep helping the cats. Do we stay or do we go? The answer depends on you.
The bolding emphasis is my own. One of the best things about Catmandu is their cage-free facility and the thought of losing such an innovative place for kitties waiting for their forever homes is utterly heartbreaking.
See that box with the door propped open by the cat scratcher in the background? That’s called a kitty condo. It’s a two-level, custom built housing. There are several of these at Catmandu where cats can temporarily be placed if needed (i.e. newbie, in need of medication, too scared to be near other cats…) but this is rare. Usually the condos are left open for cats to walk in and out of freely, in addition to roaming the remainder of the facility.
The furnishings are set up strategically for both cats and humans. See the dresser draws on the walls? Those are for cats to climb in and sit, sleep, hide, etc… There are also dressers, shelves, tubes (note the red blanket covered section atop the condos), and blankets for the cats’ comfort. There are also chairs and couches for visitors and volunteers to meet cats, pet, and play with them.
Now check out the catios:
In order to give the Catmandu kitties a safe place to enjoy the fresh air and sunlight, volunteers built enclosed cat patios onto the windows so cats can move in and out freely. (And per this post on Facebook, they are willing to build catios for interested parties.) Cool way to make an indoor cat happy, yes?
Right now it’s the middle of “kitten season,” when Catmandu is inundated with stray kittens. In past years they’ve taken in terribly ill stray kittens, rehabilitated them, and socialized them into adopt able forever friends. For example, a year or two ago several kittens were rescued from a junkyard and came in with eye infections and respiratory issues. The pictures were pretty disturbing, yet many grew into wonderful pets were adopted thanks to Catmandu’s hard work. In other words:
The donation link above takes you to their general donation page, but there are two specific options:
You can also select Carson City Cares as your community rewards location (you do not have to live in or near Carson City to choose them) on your Smith’s card and as your Amazon Smile non-profit charity. This doesn’t cost you anything. If you have Carson City Cares selected as your Smith’s charity, Smith’s donates money based on your purchases to your choice charity as long as you swipe your rewards card. (And you still earn the same rewards and fuel points as normal. It costs you literally nothing.) The same goes for Amazon Smile - the only catch with Amazon Smile is you have to remember to make your normal Amazon purchases using the Amazon Smile link, which is just http://smile.amazon.com/ (after you’ve gone into your account and picked a designated non-profit).
If the Catmandu rescue–and kitties in general–touches your heart the way it does mine, please donate!
Seriously: check out their official site, Facebook, and watch that video at the top of this post. (All of the pictures I’ve posted come from either their site or their Facebook.) The work Catmandu does is precious.
If you cannot donate (and I understand plenty of people might want to but simply can’t afford to, I’ve been there too), please Signal Boost!
Much love for any help–word of mouth and/or donation(s)–you can provide. Being a Ginormous Cat Lover, it’s heart wrenching to see a cat sanctuary go under.
