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09/28/2016 08:30 AMWhat began as a willingness to foster a few feral kittens about 15 years ago has turned into a passion for Pat Cotton of Branford Compassion Club (BCC).
Last December, the dedicated volunteer was officially hired as BCC’s first employee and shelter manager. Right now, Pat’s making a pitch to bring out as many animal lovers as possible to BCC’s Animal Awareness Day on the Branford Green Sunday, Oct. 2, from noon to 4 p.m. (rain or shine). Event proceeds benefit non-profit BCC.
“I hope everyone will come to Animal Awareness Day and support us, because we really need it,” says Pat.
Animal Awareness Day offers activities for all ages, live music, live animals, a food truck, and fundraising fun including a kissing booth and bake sale. Booths will be set up for animal care programs, rescue groups and pet product vendors. At 1:30 p.m., local clergy will perform a Blessing of the Animals. From gerbils to rabbits, cats to dogs, billy goats to bunnies, all pets are welcome (pet photos can also be blessed).
For Pat, every day is animal awareness day at BCC’s Feline Rescue & Adoption Center in North Branford. The center is currently sheltering about 50 cats and a scattering of kittens, with more BCC kittens being fostered at outside homes (including Pat’s) until they reach adoptable age. The center is presently home to about 20 more felines than Pat and her platoon of 70 rotating volunteers usually handle. The high number may be due in part to August being a traditionally slow month for adoptions, Pat says.
Volunteers help feed the cats twice a day, 365 days a year. BCC is a no-kill shelter that will keep or find fosters for fuzzy guests until they get forever homes. Prospective pet families can visit the shelter Saturdays or by appointment (call 203-483-MEOW for details). Part of Pat’s role is to screen potential owners to ensure each cat goes to a loving home.
“On Saturdays, we try to have all the foster kittens come in and meet people,” says Pat. “And if someone comes in and sees a cat they like on a Saturday, I can usually complete all the paperwork and have them adopted out by the middle of the week.”
Founded in 1997, BCC works to raise awareness about the importance of spaying or neutering felines, educate about kindness to animals, aid in the adoption of homeless cats, and care for those deemed unadoptable in area feral colonies maintained by BCC volunteers. The Feline Rescue & Adoption Center opened in 2011, thanks to years of effort by BCC volunteers and board members and generous donations and contributions.
Pat says people may think BCC is affiliated with the municipal Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter, which serves Branford and North Branford, but it is not. While BCC will often collaborate with other shelters to assist felines in need, it is not a municipal program.
“We get no budget money from town government or the state. We exist totally on donations,” says Pat. “We’re so grateful to all of our supporters and we welcome more support. We have a lot of volunteers but we always need more, whether they want to help at the shelter or get involved in helping with fundraising or at our events.”
Check out www.branfordcompassionclub.org to find ways to help, including shopping through smile.amazon.com (donations equaling 0.05 percent of eligible purchases go to BCC) or by making a monetary donation.
“We really require a lot of monetary donations because of our vet bills,” says Pat. “Even though we have a great relationship with our vets and they are very giving, the bills will pile up. We’ve taken in over 200 cats this year, and every cat is checked over before it goes out.”
Since 2011, a total of 1,200 cats have been adopted out from the shelter. All BCC cats are medically checked by a veterinarian, tested for feline leukemia and feline AIDS, de-wormed and de-fleaed, vaccinated against distemper and rabies (if more than three months of age), and spayed or neutered.
Other ways to support BCC include volunteering as a feral cat feeder, or building an outdoor shelter for feral cats and volunteering at BCC’s shelter.
“We always need more volunteers,” says Pat, who still pulls her Monday night volunteer shift at the shelter, in addition to her daily staff work for BCC. “Honestly, without the volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to survive.”
A Branford resident since 1978, Pat was putting in many hours as a BCC shelter volunteer while also working full time in a local attorney’s office. Last December, the BCC board offered Pat the newly created shelter manager staff position, and she changed careers.
“I was probably volunteering 30 hours a week on top of my other job, and I decided I couldn’t sustain both,” says Pat. “Because our president, Mary Mellows, had just stepped down, it was sort of a natural progression, in a way, because I had been helping her all that time.”
Dedicating her workday to rescuing and re-homing kittens and cats is dream job for Pat, who has always had a love for felines.
“One of my earliest family pictures, as a little girl, is of me carrying my family cat Twinkle Toes,” says Pat, who grew up in East Hartford.
Pat also remembers the names, dispositions, and stories of each cat coming through the shelter.
“It’s like what you know about your own pet,” she says. “They all have their own stories.”
Right now, there are lot of lovable cats, kittens, and juvenile felines of all colors, shapes, and sizes awaiting new homes at BCC. Some are just months old, others one or two years old, and some a few years older or more. As an owner of an older cat, Pat can verify they make great adoptive pets.
“You know what you’re getting,” says Pat. “Their health issues have all been checked out and resolved. Even a 12 year-old cat can live another 10 years, and a lot of older cats are just quieter, they’re calmer. They want someone to pet them, and to sit in people’s laps.”
Adoption fees help defray a portion of BCC’s costs to foster, feed, and medically attend to the cats and kittens rescued and sheltered. Those adopting more than one get a discount.
“We do have some cats we’d like to be able to keep together when they’re adopted, like Brock and Laila,” says Pat. “They were part of a litter we got when they were nine weeks old. A woman took in a pregnant outside cat, and let her give birth in her house, then gave them to us at the appropriate time.”
Pat says most of BCC’s cats and kittens have been found outside or otherwise abandoned. Some have been rescued from homes where the owners can no longer care for them. As much as BCC would like to help save every cat encountered, the need is greater than any one shelter can support.
“I must get between 5 and 10 requests a day to take cats in. I have to turn most away simply because we can’t take in those kind of numbers,” says Pat. “I have to intake wisely, because we’re not designed to be the last post, but it’s hard to turn people away. There just are not enough places in Connecticut for cats to go—there really aren’t.”
Knowing they’ve made a difference in the lives of many local families and felines keeps everyone at BCC motivated, Pat adds. Contributions have helped make the shelter a good way station for the animals awaiting adoption. In addition to opening an innovative Community Room, which features a system of wall steps and shelves to give cats vertical space, the shelter now includes a new “Catio” (a screened, enclosed outdoor space).
“It was an empty warehouse when we came in here,” says Pat. “We built the walls and worked with the budget we had. It’s not the Taj Mahal of kitty shelters, but we’ve been able to add improvements. We just really need people to continue to support us.”