NO KILL CAT SHELTER NEEDS URGENT HOME IMPROVEMENT

WE ARE A NO-KILL CAT SHELTER; WE ALLEVIATE THE SUFFERING OF STRAY, ABANDONED, UNWANTED, ORPHANED AND COMMUNITY CATS.

The Catnip mafia-Shelter is a non-profit cat shelter

The Catnip mafia-Shelter in Vestfold, Norway is in need of home improvement. We need your help to keep our kitties warm and dry all year long while they wait for adoption.

Who we are:

• No kill - All cats who find their way to us have found a safe home for the rest of their natural life. Pretty awesome.
• Free roam - Our residents roam freely in large, unconfined spaces customized for their needs.
• All volunteer - We have no paid staff. We have about 10 active volunteers who clean the shelter and medicate, feed and socialize the cats and an additional 10-15 who contribute outside the shelter (at outreach events, craft fairs, fundraisers, etc).
• Special needs - We are one of a small number of Norwegian shelters to provide sanctuary for Feline Leukemia positive cats. Our mission includes expert ongoing care for cats living with varied medical issues.

The Catnip mafia-Shelter was founded in October 2014, when five volunteers took over an existing shelter that was closing and saved 37 cats in the process. Our purpose is to rescue abandoned and unwanted cats regardless of age or medical condition; we place them in loving, responsible homes or provide them a lifetime home at the shelter. We currently have 10 residents but can accommodate as many as 30.

Our home improvement needs:

• New furnace - The current furnace hasn't been replaced since well before we bought the house. We will have a high efficiency furnace installed that will last 20 years. This is needed because a significant percentage of our population are older and medically challenged cats to whom temperature control is especially important.
• New gutters - Did you know it rains cats and dogs in Norway? Ours show the wear and tear of many years of hard use. By replacing them we will insure our volunteers will be safe (remember, wet can equal slippery), the house won't suffer needless water damage and our supplies will remain in good condition (a leak in our basement would be truly tragic for us).

Help complete The Catnip mafia-Shelter

We are NOT a grey, cinderblock building full of cages and cold, metal surfaces. The Catnip mafia-Shelter is literally a house: an 1,198 square foot house built in 1617 in a pleasant, residential neighborhood in Vestfold, Norway. If you walked past, you'd never know that there are 10 cats living inside instead of people. We even have a gorgeous well-tended garden in our back yard.

We purchased the house in 2011 and have spend thousands of hours repairing, remodeling and maintaining it. We've customized the house for the cats' needs including: cat-bed sized shelves installed near all windows; a seven foot wall of cubbies (we call it the Kitty Condo) for sleeping in and climbing upon; safe and accessible surfaces near ceiling level to accommodate cats that prefer heights; about half our shelter is a dedicated, isolated area for our Feline Leukemia positive cats.

We have bids from animal-friendly contractors that will allow us to replace the furnace and the gutters at a discounted prices. They have agreed to give us a great bargain. but only we complete the work this summer before the rain and the cold returns.