When two cat-passionate young women, who also happen to be trained veterinary technicians, learned that a local animal sanctuary was closing and that the fate of 17 resident cats was in limbo, they took the cats home with them.

At the time both women worked full time at the South Mesa Veterinary Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo. It wasn’t long before their lives changed dramatically. They rented a 450-square-foot space in a storefront and turned it into a no-kill shelter. The 17 rescued cats became their first adoptees.

Within days their phones were ringing off the hook with requests for help with homeless cats. “It was like a revolving door,” says Sarah Swanty. “Every time a cat would get adopted, we’d get 10 calls for cats that needed our help.”

Today at the Fort Collins Cat Rescue one usually finds around 40 cats of all sizes and varieties available for adoption. In foster homes more than 50 kittens are generally being nurtured until they are old enough to be adopted. Besides Swanty and co-founder Anna Neubauer, a cohesive team of nearly 100 volunteers help with various facets involved in running a cat shelter.

Located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Fort Collins is home to Colorado State University and its transient student population. Unbeknownst to many casual observers, tucked in the shadows of the city’s mobile home parks and apartment complexes are many intact homeless cats that reproduce multiple litters a year, causing a serious cat overpopulation problem.

The university has one of the country’s finest veterinary schools, from which many pet-loving alumni choose to stay in the area. Eleven area veterinarians, including Dr. Jana Dean, Swanty and Neubauer’s former employer at South Mesa Veterinary Hospital, have embraced the efforts of the Fort Collins Cat Rescue by agreeing to provide no-cost first veterinary examinations for cats adopted from the rescue.

“I feel fortunate to be a small part of what Sarah and Anna are doing by offering these examinations,” Dean says. “They are doing such amazing things for our community. With new cats and kittens constantly coming to the shelter, it may seem as though they are not making a dent in the cat overpopulation problem, but I can attest to the huge impact they make every day.”

Since opening in June 2006, the Fort Collins Cat Rescue has moved two times, each time increasing in size and capability. Most recently, the rescue relocated in March to a 1,350-square-foot strip-mall store on the city’s northeast side not far from Interstate 25. Though not a busy retail destination, the location offers next-door accommodations for their newest endeavor, the Fort Collins Spay and Neuter Clinic.

“Our dream is to keep growing so that eventually we may have a facility large enough that we never have to turn people away,” Swanty says. “For now, we are thankful for all the community support we receive. We do our best to make each day happier for all the cats.”

The Best Care Possible
Swanty and Neubauer have built a solid reputation for offering the best care possible for unwanted cats. As the only no-kill cat shelter in Fort Collins, the rescue serves an important community service not only in helping to find homes for adoptable cats and kittens but also in offering low-cost spays and neuters for those who bring in cats from colonies as well as low-income pet owners.

Their reach goes beyond the Rocky Mountain foothills, with cats frequently arriving from throughout Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska. “There are very few shelters, let alone no-kill shelters, in many of these places,” says Swanty. “We’ve become a haven for cats throughout this Western region.”

The façade of the Fort Collins Cat Rescue looks plain, but once you’re inside bright colors and a warm, comfortable ambiance take over. “We’ve been so lucky that one of our volunteers is an interior designer,” Swanty says. “She helped us give this building a homey, friendly look and feel.”

The front office teems with activity. Twelve foster kittens, now old enough to be adopted, peer from crates as their foster parent unloads them. “Oakley,” a lanky, gray male cat, whose social skills grant him run-of-the-shelter privileges, rises from his perch on the front desk to greet visitors.

Just around the corner in the office is an 8-year-old black-and-white cat named “Don Juan” because “he’s such a lover,” says Swanty. Don Juan arrived from Wyoming more than a year ago. Though they would like to see the right family adopt him, in the meantime, he’s happy with the love and attention he receives at the rescue.

Finding the right family for each cat begins with education. “Education is the cornerstone of our mission,” Neubauer says. “Each adoptive family must fill out an application and participate in a pre-adoption interview. We make everyone wait 24 hours before they can take their cat home. We feel it is important to ensure people are adopting for the right reasons.

“We ask whether there are children or other pets in the home. If someone has relinquished a pet in the past, we ask questions to learn why. We also give detailed instructions about how to introduce an animal to a new home, and we stress the importance of keeping a cat indoors.”

The adoption package includes one month of pet insurance that covers shelter-related illnesses, an introductory bag of cat food and a complimentary veterinary examination. Adopters leave the shelter with their cat’s health records and plenty of wisdom about how to get things off to a good start.

One year ago the Fort Collins Spay and Neuter Clinic opened. Since then more than 6,000 spay and neuter surgeries have been performed. Three days a week low-cost surgeries are performed on dogs and cats.

“One big problem is that people are not getting their pets spayed and neutered,” says Neubauer. “We hope our clinic will help to alleviate concerns of people who may not otherwise be able to afford the surgery. We also try to connect owners with a regular veterinarian in the community and teach them about responsible pet care.”

Neubauer is the clinic director and lead veterinary technician. She works alongside Dr. Thomas Welsh, a veterinarian who ran his own clinic for over 20 years before working at the spay and neuter clinic. He sometimes performs over 30 surgeries a day.

“I have always been passionate about pet overpopulation and shelter medicine,” Welsh says. “When I learned there was a no-kill cat rescue, I knew I wanted to be involved. Many people believe that homeless cats contribute to over 80 percent of our overpopulation problem.”

To help reduce rampant reproduction, the clinic offers a trap-neuter-and-release program. One day a month the clinic offers $15 spay and neuter procedures for people who bring in cats from colonies. These cats are also vaccinated and their ears are tipped to signify they’ve been sterilized.

“We’ve started targeting mobile home parks where cats oftentimes run wild,” says Neubauer. “One day we performed 25 surgeries from one park alone.”

Young cats and kittens are taken to the shelter, where they are rehabilitated to become adoptable pets. “Artemis” and “Dionna,” gorgeous jet-black littermates, are examples. At first the kittens were wild, but eventually they warmed to human contact and became sweet, playful cats.

The cat room at the shelter where the adoptable cats live is filled with spacious wire cages, all kinds of toys and trees, and people busy caring for the frisky felines. “We have people who tell us, ‘These cats seem really happy. Maybe I should adopt from a shelter where the cats are sad and really need a home,’” says Swanty, smiling. “It’s a good problem to have, don’t you think?”

While some cats have free run all the time due to their calm, easygoing demeanors, others get out two times a day during playtime. “This not only provides cats with the freedom to stretch their legs, it also gives them important socialization time with other cats,” Swanty says. “We realize that oftentimes people have more than one cat. If they have the right personalities, we want our cats to have the chance to learn to exist well with others.”

Despite their positive spirits, all the cats would prefer a forever home. “Bobbi” is one such cat. Kate Elston of Fort Collins was looking for a companion for her cat “Zoe” after her other housecat died. She came across the rescue’s Web site online and picked out a gray cat pictured on the adoption page.

“I went in thinking I was going to get the cat I saw online, but ‘Betty Lou,’ who at the time was named Bobbi, kept coming over to me,” Elston recalls. “She was rolling on her back with her feet in the air, and she kept climbing on my lap. I kept telling her that I wasn’t going to adopt her, but she was so friendly. It was as though she had chosen me.”

Swanty cautioned Elston that 6-year-old Bobbi was feisty and had been known to swat at people. The cat had been brought to the shelter with her litter of kittens, all who had been adopted. She had lived at the shelter longer than any other resident.

“I took Bobbi home and renamed her Betty Lou,” says Elson. “She has been the perfect cat. In the beginning Zoe wasn’t sure about having Betty Lou here, so Betty Lou would wait for Zoe to fall asleep and then she would very slowly lean over until she was lying on her. Today they sleep together wound up in a little ball.”

Elston’s positive experience at the Fort Collins Cat Rescue prompts her to encourage other interested adopters to visit. “The thing that makes the shelter so special is how loved the cats are,” she says. “Betty Lou had been at the shelter a long time. She had the run of the place and was the first to greet Sarah when she arrived in the morning. “Sarah cried the whole time as she helped me carry Betty Lou to the car. Even though Sarah was happy to see Betty Lou adopted, she was sad to see her go. This shows how dedicated she and Anna are to these animals.”

Their dedication is also what has made the Fort Collins Cat Rescue such a success. This almost 2 1/2-year-old cat shelter and spay and neuter clinic is helping to make a difference in the community while also bringing love and companionship to people who adopt their cats.