Here's One We've Helped

Patty, who is in charge of the Barn Cat and Backyard Buddies program, has seen dozens of successful barn cat placements. She recently arranged to bring ‘Shadow’ to a couple who needed help controlling rodents in their outbuildings. Shadow had been living in a rough area, was terrified of humans, and just needed a safe place to live out his life. The woman was excited about getting a cat, but her husband Bryce was not enthusiastic. He wasn’t raised around cats, had never had a cat, and felt completely neutral about the whole idea. He didn’t dislike cats, but it was his wife’s “thing.”

Since it was a good environment for Shadow, Patty left him, along with instructions on gradually acclimating him to his new surroundings, and arranging for safe entrances and exits. Patty returned a few weeks later to check on Shadow and was surprised to see that Bryce had built an elaborate system of shelves and walkways throughout his workshop, with communicating doors and hidey holes. He spends much of his time in this area, and had already become attached to the shy cat.

Before, Bryce barely said a word to Patty. Now, he couldn’t stop talking about his new buddy. He told her that Shadow was becoming increasingly relaxed, and several times had even strolled over and rubbed against his leg. It was clear that not only had Shadow found a safe, comfortable place to live, but Bryce had also found a friendship he hadn’t expected!


Here's shadow on the day he came into the shelter. The poor kitty was clearly frightened.

And here's an acclimated Shadow in his awesome new home. 

Now that he feels safe, he's a completely different cat. 

Here are the awesome cat shelves and walkways his new pa built just for him. 

I love that the shelter is in place now that they can address these feral and free-roamers and find a safe spot for them in our world. And by spaying and neutering these cats, the number of kittens coming into the shelter is decreasing, which frees up time, space, and money, which ultimately allows them to do even more!   

Many good things are happening at our Humane Society because we are making our donations and are providing them with the resources they need to fix problems, and make life better for so many cats and kittens, just like Shadow.  

It makes me feel so good knowing we're making a difference. I hope you feel the same. 


If you would like to make a contribution today, it will help fund the Barn Cat and Backyard Buddies program.  We've got an awesome $5000 match in the works and our Awesome Anonymous Donor will be doubling our dollars until we hit the $5000 cap, or until 7:00 PM Pacific Time, whichever comes first. 

We've had kind of a quiet morning, and I'm really hoping we'll be able to pick up the pace. I would really love to meet this big match and give $10,000 to this very important program. 

To make your tax-deductible donation, please visit our Firstgiving page. 

Thank you so much!  

And thanks to Patty and Marguerite for sharing Shadow's story and photographs with me, so I could share it today!