The holidays: a time for family, food, and fun. I personally love the holidays, but they are an interesting time for rescues. Everything is in high gear – adoptions are up, surrenders are everywhere, and everyone is doing their best to keep up while trying to maintain their personal lives. This time of year, things go nuts – we’re trying to balance our “real” jobs, family, and friends with our work in rescue, and let me tell you, it is not always easy. Requests to take animals have ticked up (because you know, people have to get the pets they no longer want out of the house before the family arrives for the holidays), but on the other hand, adoptions were happening left and right this weekend. Honestly, it’s been a somewhat discouraging year – adoptions and donations were down, but the requests for help were as numerous as ever. In November, we took in 37 cats (out of the literally hundreds of requests for help), and adopted out only 10 – the rest are still in foster homes. Why are we telling you this? Because we just can’t do it alone – we need your help.
We need your donations
to pay for vet care, food, and supplies. None of us at Calvin’s Paws are paid, and 100% of every dollar that you give goes directly to the cats.
We need your time
to foster even just one or two cats. It may not seem like much, but to those one or two cats you help us save, it makes all the difference in the world.
We need you to adopt
and not just the cute fluffy kittens. Open your home to a shy, black, one eyed cat, or a longtimer that has been waiting for their forever home for years, left behind while their friends all got adopted. Just because they’ve been overlooked doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with them – they’re just waiting for their perfect home.
Our volunteers are not heroes. We’re not magical beings with wings and halos and harps and clouds. We have jobs and families and commitments. We have bills to pay and mouths to feed. We didn’t always have the space to foster or adopt – we made the space, because we wanted to. We didn’t start out being able to easily give up our fosters to new families – we developed the skill through years of tears (and wine – lots of wine) when our fosters got adopted. We love our cats like we love our family – every single one of them – but we’ve learned that there are always more cats waiting to be loved. More cats that need us.
So please, this holiday season, be the person that makes a difference. Adopt, foster, donate. Those three little words change the lives of countless animals every year throughout the country. Adopt, foster, donate. That’s what those of us in rescue think about, day in and day out, month after month, year after year. We keep on going, saving as many animals as we can and changing their lives. This year, we hope that you will join us. All you have to do is decide that you want to make a difference, and we will help you do it.
Thank you.
Calvin’s Paws is a 501(c)(3) rescue. We work through a network of foster homes throughout the Triangle area to save homeless cats. We are a dedicated group of volunteers with common goals: rescuing animals (both positives and non-infected felines), finding the best fitting homes for each animal, and educating the public on animal health and responsible pet ownership.
www.calvinspaws.com
Calvin's Paws 