What we have achieved and what we have not in 2019… And what we need to achieve in 2020!
Posted February 15, 2020
Dear Goathouse Family,
2019 was a hard year, to be expected because of the important changes we are working on, but also a year full of hope and good achievements. The most exciting news is that we are working with some wonderful people to open a Goathouse Veterinary Clinic and an Education Center…to help the kitties and help children and adults to learn about animal behavior, nutrition, health, communication and training. We have professional, qualified people that enthusiastically are joining us in this new endeavor! I sure hope that we will be able to make people see that cruelty is never acceptable or excusable! We will keep you posted as things come together.
With your help we added 125 new sustainers reaching 18% of the basic monthly cost to care for the kitties the way they should be cared for. This means that we still need to add at least 2,300 new sustainers that can give us from $10 to $20 per month…. And we could breath.
We lowered the population by finding good homes for 204 kitties, Cat Tales Cat Café alone placed 75 of our sweet Cats in loving families, including one very special cat, Wendy. She came to us in January 2014 with a broken pelvis and foot from a trauma that had already healed misaligned and caused her to limp. She had to have an emergency C-section because her kittens weren’t able to pass through her pelvis. After spending almost 6 years with the Goathouse, she finally found her forever home.
Sadly, we cannot take in all the kitties that need our help…. It is heartbreaking but we have to say no to so many. Sadness and pain is so much a part of life with creatures whose life is shorter than ours. I lost my Cowboy, my partner and companion of 18 years… he was a Norwegian Mountain cat, with an incredible ancient soul….
We need to be more active with our fundraising and recruit some good people that would become part of our Fundraising Committee; we still are only a few people working to keep up with an Organization who became big very fast. We will be looking for people to join a Promotion Committee, a Record keeping/veterinary and Shelter Manager Committee and the adoption Committee; we need a Manager for the Refuge and staff. I really hope to be able to soon spend more time in my studio; I feel that I still need to say some things with clay and found or fabricated objects.
We are searching and working to install a new Director for the Refuge that can keep all this coordinated and functioning, I am too old for it!
Many of our kitties are old, need dental surgeries and special care…. And many are still young and healthy and need families to love them. Some are still kittens playing and romping around in the Kitten Cabana. Many of our older kitties are forever residents, with health issues coming up, especially dental surgeries. If their mouth hurts they don’t eat and their whole body becomes weaker; it is so painful to see them suffering. Due to the costs of the surgeries ($800 to $1200 per cat), unfortunately, sometimes we must just give them pain medications until we can collect enough money to help them with the needed surgery. We need to come up with money for 16 old cats…. And I hope you will help us.
Thank you for all you have done and do for these great creatures and to help us! I have not invented yet a new, more significant word to express our gratitude… one day I will….
Much love,
Siglinda, the kitties and all the strong humans of our family
