Goathouse Newsletter and Updates

This is Major Tom! He’s one of five new arrivals at the Refuge. He is blind, but will thrive in our environment and even have a blind friend Omero (Homer in Latin– like the famously blind Greek poet).

THANK YOU!

First off, we wanted to thank you. Due to your generosity in our matching campaign, we are getting closer to being able to pay off all our vet bills which will be a massive weight off our shoulders. As you can imagine, having so many cats (especially those who are older and may have health conditions) means that’s a nearly insurmountable task, but with your help, we are getting there!

UPDATE ON FEZZIWIG

Speaking of which, a bunch of our kitties have been having medical issues, and Fezziwig in particular was seemingly going to need surgery on his lungs. After Fezziwig was neutered, the doctor took more x-rays of his lungs. Thankfully, we found out his lungs have improved! After several consultations, the vet has helped us decide that — since he is rarely coughing and the surgery is both intense and dangerous — we should try to taper down the antibiotics and see how his lungs manage before committing to the surgery. Phew!

WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP!

As wonderful as that news is, we must be honest with you and say that we are struggling in a different way right now. While we often fundraise for our cats’ specific needs, we find it much more challenging to bring up raising funds to keep our hardworking employees at the Refuge. It makes sense that it’s more difficult to fundraise for our workers than our cats, of course: you are here, much like we all are, to help our kitties out and make their lives as full as possible!

But without our workers, that is nearly impossible. We try to keep ourselves lean and have only five employees who come in each morning at 7 AM and stay until 4 PM taking care of our cats: feeding them, cleaning up after them, administering their medication, transporting them to and from the vet, and much more. They do this seven days a week! Beyond that, they do it for far less than they could earn in the private sector because they love what we do at Goathouse.

As mentioned above, we have 5 employees who take care of our animals. We have around 150 cats. That means each worker is responsible for roughly 30 cats. If we lose even a single employee, the attention our cats receive unfortunately gets spread thinner. As much as we adore our volunteers and would love to have more come by to help, our employees are what allow us to function day-to-day and take care of our cats.

We have experience with how challenging it can be to find and retain good employees, but have finally managed to find stability. That stability, however, is threatened when we may not be able to afford to keep everyone.

Summers are always a bit harder on us, but this summer is particularly challenging. We are doing our absolute best to ensure our cats receive the attention, love, and care they deserve. Please, please, please help us maintain a high quality-of-life for our cats by giving whatever you can.Any amount, whether $5 or $5,000, can help ensure that we can remain open and can take care of all our animals. If we lose more workers, that may not continue to be feasible, so please, give generously if possible. We thank you so much for your support.

Donate by clicking on the button below!

Donate today using PayPal, a Debit or Credit Card, or Venmo using the Donate button!

Or to become a Monthly Sustainer, click on Subscribe button and follow instructions on our website:

OUR STORE!

Another way you can help our kitties is by purchasing items at our shop! 100% of the proceeds go towards veterinary costs, food purchases, or other necessities to help the cats.

Here are some of the items we have available. If you click on any of them, you’ll be taken directly to the store page for that item!

Thank you for helping us help the cats at the Refuge!

We are their Refuge  • You are their Future

Include Goathouse Refuge.org in your estate planning

Goathouse Refuge:  680 Alton Alston Road, Pittsboro, NC 27312

officemanager@goathouserefuge.org / 919-542-6815 /  http://www.goathouserefuge.org

https://www.facebook.com/TheGoathouseRefuge/

https://www.instagram.com/goathouserefuge/

https://twitter.com/GoathouseRefuge

Have you read “Behind the Scene”? It has some great stories about kitties and other animals saved by our refuge! Check it out by clicking on the link above.

Plan on visiting the Refuge? Please consider making a donation of one or some of the items on the list of daily-needed items:

To view Refuge Amazon Wish List use this link:

Sign up for an account at Chewy.com using this link and The Goathouse Refuge will receive a donation in your name!