Expansion our shelter: to continue to help more and better

We need to expand our current cat shelter, which catches 100 cats. With this campaign we intend to gather the necessary value for all the works necessary to realize our project and continue to save more felines in danger of life.

“O Cantinho do Tareco” (Kitty’s Corner) is a non-profit Animal Protection Association founded in 2008 by a group of friends and animal lovers in the Maia area, near Porto, Portugal. Its cat shelter is currently located in a building belonging to the Maia City Council, where there are some 80 cats, with another 20 being fostered by local families.

Our work includes taking in cats that are at risk, such as homeless mother cats with kittens, and giving them the best possible treatment until a family can be found to adopt them. All our work is done by volunteers, in partnership with veterinary clinics that allow us to pay in instalments. We survive on donations, which must pay for all the association’s expenses.

Because our current space is so limited, we have decided to expand our cat shelter into another three rooms, which also belong to the City Council. The association therefore needs to fund the work to expand and equip the shelter, which will allow us to create better conditions for our cats, as we need:

• A larger, well ventilated infirmary, separate from the shelter so that there is no possibility of contagion. The current infirmary only has room to treat five cats and leads into the shelter, so that there is a permanent risk of infection;

• A room for the kittens, so that, as they start to become independent, we can put them into their own special room, where they can play and learn to interact with each other;

• A bigger, better ventilated shelter with three rooms able to hold some 50 to 60 adult cats, in which they can live together in harmony. Currently we have only two rooms and some cats are showing signs of stress;

• A special, separate room in the shelter for FeLV-positive cats. This year we rescued three sweet cats that need care and treatment as they are FeLV-positive. These cats, which are being kept in cages, urgently need their own room separate from cats that are not carriers of the virus, so that they can have decent living conditions.

We urgently need to expand, as our current space is too small to do our work and ensure that our cats live together in harmony.

With these new conditions, we plan to give more help to more cats in the Maia area, to continue to promote their adoption and to build awareness in the local community of animal protection and the importance of animals in our lives.

We give huge thanks to all those who can and will help this worthy cause!

Gatil atual: duas salas e uma pequena Enfermaria com capacidade para 6 gatos em tratamento

About the author

“O Cantinho do Tareco” (Kitty’s Corner) is a non-profit Animal Protection Association founded in 2008 by a group of friends and animal lovers in the Maia area, near Porto, Portugal. Its cat shelter is currently located in a building belonging to the Maia City Council, where there are some 80 cats, with another 20 being fostered by local families.

Our work includes taking in cats that are at risk, such as homeless mother cats with kittens, and giving them the best possible treatment until a family can be found to adopt them. All our work is done by volunteers, in partnership with veterinary clinics that allow us to pay in instalments. We survive on donations, which must pay for all the association’s expenses.

In addition to our shelter care, we have a protected colony with more than 80 felines in the Cortegaça Campsite, in Aveiro, where all felines prefer the outdoors and are more independent of humans.

We aim to help more felines at risk of life and intend in the future to control the feline population in the numerous colonies in the area of Maia, Porto, Portugal.

Tarecos

Budget and due dates

To carry out the expansion and create special rooms, we need to fund the building, restoration and installation work listed below:

• Demolish walls; lay floor and wall tiles; install kitchen furniture (donated) with a sink and counter for the daily cleaning of the rooms; cover the walls with plasterboard; stop rainwater leaking into four rooms; paint seven rooms – Budget: 1900€

• Install light fixtures and plugs in the three new rooms, connected to the existing electrical panel – Budget: 250€

• Install water outlets (none currently) in the three new rooms – Budget: 200€

• Forecast total amount needed: 2500€.

We plan to open the new area in the beginning of 2018, where we will thank all the people who helped us to raise the necessary value.

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