I got a call from a gentleman in Como the other day who had five kittens he needed to rehome or he was going to have to take "drastic measures." Though we hadn't intended to take any animals yet, the whole point of our organization is to save lives. So I met him at Wal-Mart last night. He was only able to catch four of the five, but they are now chilling out on my back porch in an XXL dog kennel. They've been well fed, but they are incredibly timid. They would be perfect barn cats as is, after being fixed, but I believe they could be tamed. I've tamed worse.  These little loves are about 3 months old. I haven't handled them much yet, so I don't know how many boys or girls I have, but there are three black kitties and one gray tabby, with one more gray tabby to come if it can be trapped. If you would like to "Pay for a Spay" we would certainly appreciate the support. To get five kittens vetted (spay or neuter, rabies, kitten shots) i

After a dental procedure this morning and a few hours sleeping off a pain pill... Went out and poked my head under a house today. 😫 No kittens spotted but a neighbor left a live trap and I left a can of food. I told them to call me if they had any luck. 🐱🐱 — Panola County Cat Rescue (@PanolaCats) November 26, 2018

Research has shown over and over that a managed TNR program is more humane and effective than trapping and killing or relocating colonies. Here is some more information. Fast Facts Feral Cats and the Vacuum Effect Case Studies Our initial focus will be on a TNR program, which we would like to morph into a fully functional cat shelter and adoption center. BIG dreams include a low cost spay and neuter program.  Our organization could do nothing BUT TNR for the next ten years, and we would still have only made a small dent.  We need your help, both physical and financial. We've been offered the use of traps, but we need more people to monitor traps and take cats to the vet. The only reduced cost program I have been able to find is an hour away in Memphis  and only takes feral walk-ins Tues-Thurs and only five at a time per client per day. At that rate, the maximum number of cats that we could TNR in a week's time is fifteen. Fifteen out of thousands. I haven't lost

We incorporated with the state, got an EIN, and filed our non-profit paperwork (thanks Alex!). Now we wait for the IRS to approve our non-profit status! Did you know that donations can be back dated to the date of filing? Please consider donating to us as part of your holiday giving. What we still have to do: Get a PO Box Get a bank account Purchase equipment (check out our Wish List ) And near future long term - open a shelter The stray cat problem in Batesville is so much greater than anyone realizes. To say we have a cat-astrophe on our hands is an understatement. Trapping and neutering will only go so far if new and existing pet owners don't get their animals spayed and neutered. I've seen this graphic a million times, but I wanted to share it again. Source As you can see from the graphic above, in less than a decade one single fertile cat can make the population explode. Due to the accelerated maturity of kittens, they can be fertile when only several mont

I'm hoping to have a concrete update on our progress tomorrow. Stay tuned!

My house has long been a stray cat magnet. I don't know if they smell the cat food, or if people drop them off because they know I'm going to take care of them. Four of the five cats I currently have were strays. I recently set up a trail cam on my porch to get an accurate count of how many cats I'm actually feeding. I've seen two extra cats and one very fat raccoon so far, so I'm hoping to get pictures. This is not just a problem at my house, though. All over town you see cats and kittens dashing between the shadows or foraging in dumpsters. I've picked up kittens off the side of country roads and gotten them a new home or to a rescue. I've decided it's time to make my actions official and start a non-profit dedicated to managing the feral cat population with TNR (trap, neuter, release), and finding homes for feral kittens and stray adults. You can read more about the difference between stray and feral cats here . To that end, I'm going to need