MEOW Cat Rescue

Mission

With respect and compassion for all animal life, MEOW promotes lifelong relationships between people and companion animals, providing shelter and care for each precious life until adopted into a forever home.

Description

MEOW is a small shelter established in 1997 with a no-holds-barred no-kill promise. We rescue and place between 800 and 1000 animals, primarily cats and kittens, and dogs from our Canine Division, into permanent homes each year.  We rely on donations to provide shelter and medical care. Our application process ensures that every animal is placed into an environment where there is appropriate space, human contact, and a commitment to safeguard and care for the animal for its entire lifetime. The welfare of the animals is paramount in the placement process. Volunteers, the lifeblood of MEOW, serve along with minimal shelter staff. Our volunteers work in the shelter as Adoption Counselors, Kennel Attendants, Animal Buddies or in their homes as Fosters, providing a safe and caring environment. Volunteers also plan and execute special events to raise critical funds, and they educate the public about our work and about responsible pet ownership. MEOW's goal is to help create a "no-kill nation", where people are responsible for their pets, where there are no helpless creatures abandoned to fend for themselves, where there is no longer a need for any healthy companion animal to be euthanized. To that end, since 2011 we have been providing free spay/neuter vouchers, through our Public Spay/Neuter Voucher Program, to low-income pet owners who need help to do the right thing. We believe that spay/neuter is the most effective way to end pet homelessness. 

GiveBIG 2024
This year during GiveBIG we are asking you to transform your compassion into action!

At MEOW, compassion is at the core of who we are and all we do. Each and every day, our compassion drives us all - our staff, our volunteers, our adopters, our veterinary partners, and our supporters.

During GiveBig your compassion will translate into life changing and lifesaving action. It will provide care and sheltering, facilitate adoptions, sustain our public spay/neuter voucher program for low-income families, provide outreach and education opportunities within our community, welcome the most vulnerable little ones into our foster care program, offer a loving home life to our Ninth Life long term foster cats, and secure emergency and specialty care for those whose very lives depend on it. With all of us working together, we can transform that compassion into action and make a wonderful difference in the lives of companion animals in need like Snap, Crackle, and Poppy.

It’s certainly not uncommon for cats and kittens to arrive at the shelter carrying intestinal parasites, but Snap, Crackle, and Poppy brought one of the more persistent – cryptosporidium. It can cause diarrhea, fever, and inappetence. Untreated, it can lead to dehydration, weight loss, and much worse. Although treatment with antibiotics is not always effective, Snap, Crackle, and Poppy were started on a protocol which included not only medication twice a day, but also the wiping of bottoms, the changing and deep scrubbing of litterboxes, twice a day, and complete bedding changes daily. The kittens were fed a special diet, supplemented with probiotics, given B12 injections for immune support, and monitored, and monitored, and monitored. This is a lot to ask of anyone, week after week, but their foster mom was completely committed to their care.

As time went on and on, it often felt like one step forward, two steps back. A lab report would say they were finally free of crypto. Hooray!! But when the confirming test came back, there it was again. The treatments and protocols had to continue. Thankfully, most days these little ones seemed blissfully unaware.

At last, after 5 long weeks of treatment, the lab confirmed that Snap, Crackle, and Poppy had cleared cryptosporidium. Compassion, commitment, and quality care won over this pesky and persistent parasite and Snap, Crackle, and Poppy have all been chosen by their forever families.  

Last year during GiveBIG, you, our amazing supporters raised $36,200. This year, we, like so many others, are faced with ever increasing expenses. If you gave last year, we'd like to ask you to increase your donation by 10% to help us reach our goal for this year of $40,000. If you are a new donor, thank you so much for joining us,  for believing in what we do, and transforming the compassion we all feel for the animals into lifesaving action!