💙💛2022: A year of Growth for the Euclid Beach Cat Project💛💙
Although 2022 has been a year of struggle to make ends meet,
the Euclid Beach Cat Project has grown stronger.
With your help, more than 260 cats came through our doors to find care and a safe place to rest. More than 180 were trapped and very few were unsocialized. We believe they were instead abandoned, neglected, or trapped young enough that they could be socialized, so they were not returned. Over 295 cats found their happily ever afters living with their new families this year! 2022 was a year of limitations due to the economy and the continued effects of Covid-19. However, in-person fundraising was beginning to happen again. Here at the Euclid Beach Cat Project, we were determined to find the funds needed to continue our mission to provide trap-neuter-return (TNR), medical care, socialization, and adoption services for the many cats and kittens in need.
💛The End of an Era Where it All Began💛
The Euclid Beach Cat Project began in the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park when a group of people saw the need to help the feral cats living in the community. At first, the group would Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR) the cats as a way to control the population and protect the cats that lived there. Later, the organization turned into a non-profit that grew to assist with homing cats as well. Now, as the rescue continues to grow and help cats all over the Cleveland area, it is also approaching the end of an era in the place where it all began as this year we were asked to remove the rest of the cats located there. We estimated there were about 75 being housed in a “ sanctuary,” type trailer as well as and outside. We have worked tirelessly with residents and our team members to rehabilitate and heal these cats as well as rehome them. At this time there are approximately 20 cats left to remove by Spring of 2023.
💙2022 Was Also a Year of Growth and Change💙
We grew stronger in numbers by having new families join our adoption center location teams! These families are the love and light that is brought to our cats while they wait for their adopters to find them. We also gained many loving foster families. They are the bridge between struggle and a happy home. They provide love that mends broken hearts and help our cats trust again. We also added several new members to the Euclid Beach Board of Directors. Monica Occhetti brought a wealth of knowledge to the board. She also brought a wonderful kindness and gentle touch to the humans that serve on our volunteer staff. RoseAnn Krannich also joined the board and has made a big impact at our adoption locations. Our third board seat was filled by Heather Hawk Frank. She has a background in education, and has a vast amount of data, communication, and other skills that will take us big places. We also have put in place a grant writing team. We are excited, and hopeful, to see what we can achieve in the up and coming year. With the opening up of the economy again, we were able to add more adoption center sites.
Monica Occhetti, RoseAnn Krannich, and Heather Hawk Frank
💛Come Visit Our Cats At Our Adoption Centers💛
💙Special Care for Special Kitties💙
💛Jalapeno- Continued Support and Care💛
At the beginning of 2022 after a neurologist consultation, multiple X-rays, an ultrasound, and multiple blood panels, we still had an open ended diagnosis for Jalapeno. The only thing left was Neurological FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis). So we started experimental treatment right away. With the help of so many people believing in saving his life we gave him over 90 days of treatment. Twice daily injections that cost over $45 a day in addition to cold laser and range of motion therapy plus hydrotherapy was also added in a few times a week for him. We had setbacks and strides forward; all the while never giving up on him. He had so much light in his eyes. He wanted to live. So we kept fighting with him.
Over the course of the year we did multiple diagnostics. He had ultrasounds, x-rays, MRI, two spinal taps, muscle and nerve biopsy, and many labs. We had good news, no Coronavirus detected. While the treatment worked, we also had more concerns. We feared that he also had a secondary degenerative nerve disease. We knew that he would never regain the use of his legs. Fortunately, over the course of the year his neuropathy has not progressed. He has never become incontinent. He can still roll places and he has torso and neck movement. Unfortunately, he still has limb contracture and his hind legs have lost most of their muscle and there is no use in them. He does still have feeling in those legs, though. Not to mention that he is so happy, and just such a good boy!
💛Baby Spice💛
At the start of 2022 we received a call from a concerned neighbor that her friends needed some help. We jumped into action and headed that way with many carriers. We took one two-year-old female that originally became pregnant the year prior, her now adult four born cats from that pregnancy and one other unrelated female. None of these cats had ever seen a vet, so the son from that litter got the mother cat, sister cats, and the unrelated cat pregnant. Four of the five females gave birth with us. Baby Spice was born of one of those pregnancies. Baby Spice was born runted and if left with her littermates, would not have survived. She was so much smaller than them and, due to this, they were smothering her when they were nursing. We made the decision to send her with her aunt’s litter that was born over a week later, which made them smaller and safer to be with. Baby Spice continued to grow at a much slower rate. Eventually, she was big enough to space, and for a short time, was placed into our adoption system. After some time of not being adopted she went back to a foster home where we noticed that she was tachycardic and did not walk with a normal stance. We started to dig deeper medically. She spent a couple days at Great Lakes VCA Hospital, where they did some testing, monitored her heart and did an ultrasound on her heart. They referred her to MedVet West Neurology. She had a clean neurological exam, and the orthopedic doctors said she was walking with dropped hocks because her back legs were growing at the normal rate while her front were growing stunted. They said the next step was a cardiologist. With a few months to wait, we finally had her appointment at Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital. They did an echo and said the right side of her heart is enlarged, and she likely has Swiss cheese-like holes between her right and left atrium. They were concerned enough to want to see her back in four months. Likely at some point she will need medicinal intervention. We are able to provide this special care for this very special girl, because of your generous support.
Baby Spice as a newborn kitten.
Baby Spice today.
💙Together We Can - Partnerships💙
There is no “I” in the word team.
Rescue:
Begins with the Good Samaritan that wanted to get them help.
Next, the volunteer team members helped rescue and then foster the cats.
When the cats are ready to be fixed, wonderful partnered organizations/vet clinics help spay/neuter and do medical care on the cat to get them ready for adoption.
After recovery we have the opportunity to place them in our adoption centers located inside our Pet Supplies Plus location until YOU adopt them.
During this process it takes so much funds and support to make it happen. Without the volunteers that transport them, to the ones that care for them, to the partners that help us raise funds and supplies needed that make it happen, and help us transport large items and quantities of goods to our destinations. We could not do it with our teams.
This year Pet Supplies Plus Brunswick and Twinsburg, franchised by the same wonderful owners, held litter drives that raise money to be able to provide us with 116 pails total. They also help collect canned food and other supplies for us throughout the year. These locations provide dry food and litter for the cats that stay at the store waiting to be adopted as well. We are forever grateful.
Staff members at the Brunswick location.
Staff members at the Twinsburg location.
Pet Supplies Plus Brooklyn and Garfield also help us by providing us with adoption centers within their stores. They provide dry food for our kitties and collect canned food donations for us, as well as other local nonprofits. It is such a pleasure to be a part of their locations.
Staff members at the Brooklyn location.
Staff members at the Garfield location.
Nick, owner and operator of Grass Roots Lawn Service in North Royalton, has been a long time transporter for us. He not only helps cats get to vet appointments, but has also moved large adoption cages to the centers and helped set them up, and has moved large quantities of litter and other supplies. He is a very kind and compassionate individual, and we are lucky to have him as part of our team.
We are grateful to Nick and Grass Roots Lawn Service. He may be reached at
(440) 263-0657 or grassroots.lawnservice@protonmail.com to assist with your
residential lawn care needs.
💙We Need You More Than Ever💙
We currently have about 120 cats in foster care. Even with hundreds of adoptions this year, we face the daily heartbreak of turning away cats and kittens in need due to lack of space and funds. We hope to count on your continued support in 2023. Our need for supplies like food, litter and vaccines, along with funds to cover medical procedures, remains greater than ever.
💛How Can You Help?💛
Help us tell our story Connect with us and like and share our social media posts. Raising our profile keeps us on people’s minds when they want to adopt or know someone who does. Find us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. Volunteer Want to hang out with our cats? Volunteer to feed and socialize them at adoption locations, events, transporting, and as a foster while they await their forever homes. Want to help TNR, transport, or provide recovery space after surgeries? We’d love to add you to our TNR Division! Contact Us: Volunteer@ebcatproject.org Donate As a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer group, we rely on donations. Your financial support, of any amount, means the world to our cats. One hundred percent of every dollar is used for the cats in our care. Ask your employer if it has a matching gift program to maximize your contribution.
If you prefer to donate supplies, we have an Amazon wish list and a Chewy wish list of most-needed items to care for our cats.
Everyone deserves a happily ever after. Somewhere outside is a cat that desperately needs us. With your help, we can find it, love it, and give it the fairy tale ending it deserves.
Thank you for your support!