Dear Friends of Catmandu,

When I first started Catmandu more than 5 years ago, there were few resources for homeless cats in our area. There was no CASI, no Nevada Humane Society Carson City, no big new beautiful no-kill shelter. The Carson City Animal Shelter was tiny, outdated, and had only a handful of small cages for cats. Euthanasia rates were extremely high, especially for cats.

Catmandu’s mission was to provide immediate housing, adoption services, TNR and other assistance for as many homeless cats and kittens as possible in a no-kill, cage-free facility. I started with no volunteers, no support system, no experience running a shelter, and next to no money. The only thing I had was faith in the goodness of people in our community and a pig-headed determination to help the kitties.

Since then, thanks to the many amazing people who stepped up to help in one way or another, more than 1500 cats and kittens have found forever homes through Catmandu. Hundreds of others have been helped in one way or another through our efforts.

Unfortunately, we are no longer able to continue our mission of helping as many felines as possible.

After 2 years of strange symptoms and increasingly poor health, I was recently diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disorder called Behcet’s Disease. While it is not life-threatening or completely debilitating, it does require that I significantly reduce my work load and stress level in order to manage the disease.

After much thought and soul-searching, I believe we have come up with a plan that will allow Catmandu to continue making a big difference in the lives of cats while accommodating the restrictions imposed by my Behcet’s disease. Our plan is to significantly reduce the number of cats we care for while shifting our focus from servicing  the huge population of kittens and young adoptable kitties to a much smaller group of senior cats age 10 and up.

While I hate to turn away felines in need, there are now many more resources for kittens and young adoptable cats in our area that can take up the slack. We have a big new shelter run by the Nevada Humane Society, Carson Tahoe SPCA, the DAWG found/foster cat program, etc. They should be able to take the majority of adoptable kittens and young cats that would normally come to Catmandu.

Senior cats are a different story. They are currently a sad, lonely and neglected group of cats. Few organizations will take them, most people won’t adopt them, and they have a much harder time adapting to living in a cage if they are “lucky” enough to make it into a shelter. These poor old souls are usually either euthanized, turned out onto the streets to suffer and die, or languish in a cage until they give up and die from a broken heart.

The Catmandu Senior Cat Center is going to change that.  Our cage-free facility will become a homey, loving and comfortable place for senior cats to spend their remaining years. In addition to providing on-site care to approximately 45 residents, we plan to start an active foster program that will place senior cats with senior citizens.

While we currently have 30+ kittens in foster care and another 20 or so adoptable adults at Catmandu, we hope to have them all adopted and have the transition to Senior Cat Center completed by early fall. If you have room in your heart and your home for one of them, please let us know. 

Thank you for all your support of Catmandu over the last 5 years. With your help, we made a huge difference for adult cats and kittens. We hope you will continue to support us as we work to make life better for the senior cats. Old Cats Need Love Too!

Meow!

Linda Buchanan, Executive Director, Catmandu