Dry cat food donated to feral cat sanctuary
On Wednesday, our admin assistant, Jennie, and front desk volunteer, Robin, shared a very special moment.
“What a day,” Robin said at the 12 o’clock hour.
“Too bad I didn’t wear my watch today,” Jennie said. “I probably got all my steps in already.”
Jennie, Valley Animal Center’s dedicated admin assistant, sits on a pile of dry cat food.
The two spent all morning happily accepting monetary donations and bags of dry cat food from individuals (and pets) who saw our post on Monday morning about needing dry cat food for the cats in our feral cat sanctuary. So many also credited ABC30 for running the story on Tuesday; over 500 people shared their Facebook post!
Donations were delivered in person or via UPS, Amazon Prime, and even DoorDash! Walmart, Costco, Amazon Prime, Chewy… dry cat food seemed to have been purchased from nearly every store or online retailer with available stock.
Spunky, a Valley Animal Center alumni and one of Jennie’s many pets, enjoys inspecting all deliveries.
“I have cat food to donate,” people would say as they approached the front desk. “I’ll need help unloading it.”
Jennie, who seemed to be opening boxes all day, would promptly respond with, “Let me just clear this cart.”
By the end of the day, there was a mountain of dry cat food in our warehouse and another in our admin office. Any cat would have been amused with the number of empty boxes we accumulated!
Community members purchased dry cat food from stores and online retailers.
Aside from our feral cats and staff, there’s one individual who’s especially brimming with joy.
Arthur “Art” O’Brien has donated countless hours to the feral cat sanctuary. He visits Valley Animal Center four times a week to feed the cats and help maintain their enclosure. According to Art, our feral cats consume about 30 pounds of dry cat food daily.
Art visits the Valley Animal Center warehouse to view one of the piles of donated dry cat food.
Ruben, our animal care adoption supervisor, has estimated that the food we’ve received this week will help feed our feral cats through the end of the year. Of course that might change very quickly as we received a new shipment of dry cat food yesterday morning. The shipment was so big, Jennie stationed herself at our Grand Lobby to organize it all. By noon, Ruben informed our executive director, Rob, that he had already loaded three pallets and was working on his fourth.
Ruben, our animal care adoption supervisor, and dog trainer, Mariah, load a pallet of dry cat food.
At Valley Animal Center, we do not receive government funds and rely heavily on financial support derived through donations from our community. Clearly, many members are cat lovers, and we absolutely love it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping us care for all of the beautiful feral cats in our care!
A feral cat found in Valley Animal Center’s feral cat sanctuary eats a bowl filled with donated dry cat food.
About Our Feral Cat Sanctuary
Our sanctuary provides a vast outdoor area for the local feral community, an indoor shelter with a high-end cooling system for the hot summer months, and an area used to nourish the feral cats we care for. Our animal care staff, with the help of our clinic staff, ensures our ferals receive routine wellness exams. Thanks to them, and especially thanks to longtime volunteer, Arthur “Art” O’Brien, the more than 80 feral cats in our care are provided with ample food and water.
Art began his volunteer journey at Valley Animal Center when the facility first opened. He has worked with cats for many years and is very skilled at socializing feral cats. The Valley Animal Center feral cat sanctuary is named after him. Five plaques dedicated to Art can be found in our Grand Lobby. One reads, “Ferals are wild cats who have not met Art O’Brien.”
About Our Trap, Neuter, Return Program
Unfortunately, we are not licensed to take in any lost, stray or abandoned animals. However, we are advocates of our Trap, Neuter, Return program. TNR is the process in which a community member humanely traps a feral cat and brings them to our low-cost clinic to spay/neuter. Once the cat has recovered from surgery, it is important that they are safely returned to their community.
“Cats tend to congregate around a food source,” according to the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon website. “When cats are trapped and removed from an area, new cats move in to take advantage of the food source.”
The cost to spay/neuter a feral cat is $50 at our low-cost clinic. Included is the Rabies vaccine and ear tip. This service requires an appointment, which can be made by contacting our clinic directly at 559-233-8706 or clinic@valleyanimal.org.
About Valley Animal Center
Valley Animal Center is dedicated to serving animal companions in the Central Valley and beyond. Our mission is to unite dogs and cats with loving people. We believe every animal deserves a loving family and furever home. Donate to support our endless mission as we care for hundreds of homeless dogs and cats.
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Hello!
Our staff here at Monkey Dog Coffee located in Clovis would like to extend our help by becoming a drop off center for Cat and Dog food or any other needed supplies for The Valley Animal Center. Please reach out to us if this is something that would be of use to your facility and our furry friends!
Antoinette Osuna
Co-Owner