Every animal deserves a chance at living a full, long life. With your help, we can continue ensuring that all of our babies have that chance.
https://www.facebook.com/BastetRescue
Hi, My name is Ashley and I am the founder of Bastet Little Cat Rescue, Inc. in Lakeland, Florida. Ive been rescuing and finding homes for feral, stray, abandoned, and injured cats for 15 years. I don't have a facility, so I run my rescue out of my home. Over the years, I have always paid for everything out of my own pocket, and have rescued and found homes for hundreds of cats. In the last year, I have ran into several problems (legal and personal) and need your help to keep my rescue going. If we reach our funding goal, we will be able to sustain the rescue for at least 3 months while we work on the outside issues that are keeping us from funding the rescue out of pocket as we have for 15 years.
Last year I filed to become a 501(c)3 Non Profit, and was granted the status in June 2014 (IRS EIN 46-3119809). I decided to be become a non profit in order to be able to take donations so I can keep doing what I love. At this time I have over 40 cats, and the costs are rising with the limited help I have and the issues that have arose in the past year. I have completely turned my house into a cat home, where all the cats are free to roam wherever they want, and I have a fenced in backyard so they can relax in the sun and open air, and they can run around and play. They are free to come and go from outside to in, so they are always happy and comfortable.
Feeding time:
Comfy kitties
Since they have full reign of the house, couches and chairs need to
be replaced about once a year, as well as towels, blankets, cat trees,
scratching posts, etc.
With this many animals, there is always a need for food ($400+/month), litter ($200+/month), cleaning products, and new (used) furniture, and the always present vet costs...with your help I can continue providing a home and care for these cats that otherwise would be on the street or end up in a kill shelter with no chance to live long, happy lives.
A little background on why I'm asking for help - Last year the bank sent my house (which I have lived in for over 20 years) into foreclosure after they sold my mortgage to another bank without my knowledge, and I am fighting to keep it. I have an attorney and am hopeful we can resolve it and not have to relocate, but legal fees, on top of the cost of caring for all of the cats has reached an all time high. I am also in a suit with my local sheriff dept because of an issue I have with Animal Control maliciously killing one of my cats (animal control is ran by the sheriff dept). I am fighting to get some local ordinances changed that will protect animals better. I do get generous donations of food, litter, etc from some wonderful people through social media, but every little bit helps, and if I can raise some money with this campaign, it will go a long way in helping with our current situation.
Some of the money raised will go to some new fencing. This past winter we installed The Purrfect Fence system around the entire perimeter of the
backyard ( http://www.purrfectfence.com/ ) which is designed specifically for keeping cats inside a
fenced in area, and lets them roam all around the yard. It works great but we need to replace some of the wooden fencing - a few sections of it is
over 20 years old and showing its age. New fence = more secure property.
Heres the Purrfect Fence installed. We put metal flashing
underneath to discourage cats from even attempting to test the mesh.
Those arms are spring loaded and give way when a cat tries to climb the
mesh, and spring back when they let go.
Now a little about the residents - Not all the cats I rescue find new homes for various reasons (feral, disabled, too old, etc), and I have many permanent residents that will live their lives out in my home. I have a 100% no-questions asked return policy as well - If for any reason, you adopt a cat from me and it doesn't work out, I happily will take the cat back. Several cats have come back to me because they weren't a match for the family that adopted them, or they didn't get along with the other animals, etc...the reason doesn't matter to me - what matters is that they deserve a chance and if I cant find them a forever home, they stay with me. This way I am assured that none of my babies end up a a shelter or pound where they could be euthanized for no reason.
This beautiful white boy is Jack Sparrow, I rescued him as a kitten 6 years ago. He had a bad eye infection and had to have one of his eyes removed, Ever since then, he is very skittish and doesn't like people much, but that is hardly a reason to give up on him, and 5 years later, he is a shy buy happy resident.
This next cat, Misty, is a 3-legged feral girl I rescued 4 years ago. This is her the day she came back from the vet after her leg amputation. She is another of our permanent residents.
This is Sweet Pea. She was found hanging by her beck leg from a barbed wire fence. We don't know how long she was hanging there, but once we got her free she spent 2 months at the vet recovering, and she is the sweetest, most loving cat. You can see the scar tissue on her back right leg, which gave her a permanent limp and limited range of motion, but she is a trooper and is another permanent resident.
Over the years, I have rescued cats that were on deaths door, but with
excellent vet care and love, they have defied the odds and lived long
happy lives. This is Lucky, who we lost recently. but lived 10 happy
years despite being told he would be lucky to live 5 years because of
feline AIDS. He had his ups and downs, but he was very loving and always
seemed grateful for giving him the life he would have never had
otherwise. I miss him every day.
Every cat I rescue goes to my vet for their shots and a checkup (and any treatment/medication they may need), and then they all get fixed with the help of the SPCA. Then I work with them to become friendly and get used to people if they are feral, and once ready they go up for adoption.
Here are a few of the babies enjoying life as cats - at what we have affectionately dubbed "The Cat Ranch".
As you can see, my home is their home. They are comfortable here and are all safe and loved. When I adopt cats out to their forever homes, I strive to make sure they go to a home where they will be kept inside. Inside cats live much longer, healthier lives inside, and my goal is to give all of the cats I rescue a chance to live out their lives without worry of being hit by cars, starving on the streets, being victims of abuse, or worse. Please help if you can, this is my mission in life, and with a little help I can keep doing this for years to come. Every dollar raised by this campaign will go directly to the care of these cats, be it food, litter, toys, vet care, cat trees, blankets, etc,..I don't do this for profit, I do it because I believe every animal should have a chance at life, no matter the circumstances, and I do everything I can to make sure they have that chance.
If we reach our goal, it will sustain the rescue for about 3 months while we deal with the legal costs and issues we have right now.
I cant offer much in terms of perks, but everyone who donates will get a special mention on our facebook page from our resident kitties...see perk list for specifics...and please know that each and every donation, no matter the size, makes a huge difference to us and the cats. Every dollar helps. Thank you for reading my story and please share this campaign so we can keep the rescue going! All of these beautiful babies deserves the change to live a long, full life...and with your help, I can continue to give them all that chance!
Ashley
https://www.facebook.com/BastetRescue