Local cat rescue struggling to make ends meet
The Feline Café and Rescue Foundation in Hintonburg needs the community’s help to meet the financial demands for their rescue cats and kittens.
The café posted to social media this month saying “To put everything into one sentence; we are struggling.”
Katherine Clements runs the Feline Café’s Rescue Foundation and says, “These past few months have been especially hard... Really hard to keep going and get the vet care for these little ones.”
Clements says the pandemic has greatly impacted both the café and the foundation. “March 2020 hit and we lost everything,” The café was forced to shut down temporarily, which resulted in no one visiting the cats, and revenue plummeted. Fundraising efforts were also canceled.
But the need to rescue cats continued. There was also an increase in cats that were surrendered during the pandemic from owners no longer able to care for their pets.
“We have been pushing it... it has always been at the back of our mind—will we survive? We have no idea,” says Clements.
The café had to pivot during the pandemic, starting a takeout grocery and online store. Visitors are allowed to now visit the cats, but it is under provincial restrictions. The have tried to do fundraising online as well as a take-away, but that has not been enough.
In the past few months, the rescue took in three pregnant cats, who gave birth to 14 kittens, and nine other adults. Some required emergency vet care.
The rescue cats include mother Dash, who was taken in this winter and gave birth to premature kittens.
Clements says, "If we hadn’t taken her on they would have all perished because it was way too cold for her to have kitten at that time.”
She says it is expensive to cover the vet needs for the kittens. “Typically, depending on the cat their vet bill alone, not food or anything else, will be about $600 to a $1000 each.”
Clements says, “The rescue will not survive without the café, the café will not survive without the rescue.”
To help the rescue foundation you can visit https://felinecafeottawa.com/pages/support
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
This Toronto restaurant is no longer accepting tips. Here's how it's going
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff – tipping is no longer accepted.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
What new auto insurance reforms will mean for Ontarians, if they get introduced
Ontario has among the highest rates for auto insurance premiums in Canada -- just below Alberta and Nova Scotia -- however, the introduction of an insurance reform in the provincial budget could soon lower prices.