About Us
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Visit our website at: www.havenhousecatsinc.org
FOSTER HOMES NEEDED!
We are looking for special people with big hearts who can open their home to a kitty in need. We have lots of kitties awaiting forever homes and we need people to love & care for them until they find their permanent family. This is a great opportunity to help cats in need when you cannot adopt. We have cats of all ages, colors, temperaments. You can help socialize kittens or shy adults, nurse a sick kitty back to health, or just simply snuggle with a well-adapted adult cat who just needs a place to crash until he is adopted. Our rescue pays the vet bills, all you have to do is provide the love, safe home environment and food. If you are interested in fostering and can commit to at least 2 months, please email us at havenhousecats@aol.com. Please include the following information:
- Do you rent or own your home?
- Are there other pets in your home? What type? Are they spayed/neutered, up to date on vaccines, tested for FIV/FeLV (cats)? (We will ask for proof of cat's vaccination and test results. We cannot place our cats in homes with FIV/FeLV positive cats unless the foster cat is also positive.)
- Are there any children in the home? If yes, please provide ages.
- Do you have any special request for fosters (i.e. kittens only, declawed only, short hair only, etc) or are you willing to foster whomever is most in need?
- How many cats can you foster at one time and how long can you commit to fostering for us?
We are always in need of donations, whether it is monetary donations or items from our wishlist. Monetary donations can be made through paypal to havenhousecats@aol.com. Or you can call on a donation to our vet All Creatures Animal Hospital, to help with vet care. They can be reached at 716-636-3600.
If you have any of our wish list items and would like to donate them to our rescue, please contact us at 716-830-5655. Our kitties will be so very grateful. :)
Our Wish List
- Paper towel
- Bleach
- Cat toys
- cat beds
- towels/blankets
- canned or dry cat food
- Advantage topical flea meds
- Scratching posts
- Cat litter
Adopting A Friend
We are strongly committed to finding homes for our kitties that best suit their needs. We work hard to match potential adopters with cats we feel would do best in the type of environment the adopter can provide. This means sometimes we must tell potential adopters 'No" to a particular cat because they are not a good fit, but we will also try and suggest some cats who ARE a good fit. The purpose of doing this is to prevent failed adoptions, when adopters return cats because they didn't make a decision based on the cat's needs and their ability to meet those needs.
We strongly believe the cat chooses its owner. You may have a particular cat in mind (color, breed, personality) but that cat may not be the best one for you. Please keep an open-mind when looking to adopt; this is going to be a member of your family for the next 10-20 years! We DO NOT adopt cats out on the spot at adoption events. We firmly believe that adopting a pet cat should NEVER be a spur of the moment decision, as it is supposed to be a lifelong commitment that is well-thought through. Kittens may be cute and tiny in the store, but please understand that they will grow up, get sick, require vet visits, cost money (for supplies/medical care/maintenance) and need a home until they die! Cats can live up to 20 years! Please only contact us if you are willing to commit to the animal's well-being for its ENTIRE life, which includes keeping up with it's preventative health care (vaccinations, well visits, etc).
All of our cats and kittens are in foster homes. These volunteers have opened their homes to our cats to care for them until they are adopted into permanent families. These volunteers have families, jobs, and other life commitments, so viewing cats is BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. If you need to adopt a cat RIGHT THIS SECOND, we are unable to help you. Please only contact us if you are serious about adopting from our rescue and are willing to go through our ENTIRE adoption process.
Our Adoption Process
1) Email us at havenhousecats@aol.com for an adoption application.
2) We will send you an application as soon as we receive your email.
3) Once we receive the completed application, we will contact you within a few hours to schedule a home visit/meet & greet. We will contact references in the meantime. If they check out, you will be approved to adopt the cat at the meet & greet.
** Approving an application takes less than 24 hours as long as the application is complete. Please have some patience.**
To adopt one of our cats, please contact us at havenhousecats@aol.com for an adoption application.Once your application has been approved, you can set up an appointment to view our adoptable cats.
Adoption Policy
*You must be 21 years or older to adopt, have proof of address, landlord's permission to own a cat (if living in an apartment) and provide a vet reference on your application.
*We review and set up appointments to view our adoptable cats only AFTER we have received an application (sorry no exceptions)
*We do not adopt to homes where the cat would be free roaming outdoors. Our cats deserve a life of indoor quality only.
*We are a non-profit and do not earn a salary. Our adoption fees are recycled to help rescue future animals. We also wecome donations to help run our rescue smoothly.
Haven House Adoption Fees:
Kittens under 1 year- $80
Cats 1 year and up- $60
Adoption fees are subject to change due to increases in food, boarding and vet expenses for our adoptable cats.
Who We Are
Haven House Cats, Inc is a non-profit, volunteer-run rescue group based in Cheektowaga, NY. We take in abandoned and stray cats, as well as shelter overflow, kitties at risk of euthanasia due to lack of space. Haven House is a safe place for cats and kittens that are in need of medical attention and forever homes. We do NOT have a physical shelter; all of our cats are in foster homes where volunteers care for them and love them until they find permanent homes. Viewings are by appointment only, as our foster volunteers have jobs, families and other responsibilities.
Haven House Cats began in September 2009 in memory of Baby, a female tortoiseshell abandoned in a flood zone. When Baby was found on the porch of a condemned house, she was starving, flea-ridden, and very sick. Haven House founder, Christina Surdi, took Baby home and attempted to nurse her back to health. Unfortunately, Baby lost her battle to kitty cancer on July 20, 2009.
Haven House's mission is to give homeless kitties a fighting chance to live, love and be loved. No cat deserves to live or die alone, or be euthanized because there is no space for them and they are no longer wanted. Haven House provides medical treatment and temporary refuge to these kitties until they are able to find permanent homes. We are devoted to finding these kitties the very best forever homes, where they will be cared for and loved for the rest of their days.
Come Visit Us
SURRENDERS:
Haven House Cats accepts owner surrenders ONLY when space and funds permit us to do so. We cannot keep a waiting list and only take owner surrenders on a limited basis (approximately 1-2 cats every month or so). We do ask for a $60 surrender donation to offset the cost of taking a kitty into our rescue. This fee helps us afford food, supplies, and medical care for the incoming kitty. We cannot accept owner surrenders without a surrender donation so please do not contact us if you cannot afford this.
Plan ahead if you need to surrender a pet. Do NOT wait until 3 days before you are moving to contact us, as foster care arrangements need to be made in order to take your cat into our rescue. We need at LEAST two weeks notice in order to consider accepting an owner surrendered cat. The SPCA of Erie County takes owner surrenders without a surrender fee/donation, but be advised there may be a 6-8 week waiting list. They can be reached at 716-875-7360.
Be sure you have exhausted all other options before contacting shelters or rescues to surrender. Ask friends and family to take in your pet, post flyers and screen potential adopters, research other housing options that will allow you to keep your pet. We offer to post a complimentary ad for your pet on our Petfinder page for 30 days at no charge to you; we will not handle the adoption but rather direct potential adopters to you. Email us at havenhousecats@aol.com if you would like to place an ad.
If you have found a stray or abandoned kitty and can make a donation to our rescue upon surrender, please email us at havenhousecats@aol.com.
We do NOT accept feral /unfriendly cats. If you cannot get near the cat to pet it or hold it, we cannot help with the cat as we do not have live traps to catch them and we do not work with TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release). A feral cat is a wild, untamed cat that cannot be held or pet. No area shelters OR rescue groups are able to take in feral/unfriendly stray cats. Some groups may help with TNR; you can call around and ask or call Feral Cat Focus at 1-888-902-9717 for instructions on how to handle feral/unfriendly stray cats..
