Early one morning over 14 years ago, someone dumped 15 very sweet cats and kittens on Mona McKinniss’ road. While trying to help those cats, Mona realized rescue was not the answer to the pet overpopulation issue. Spay neuter was the only thing that was going to change life for the cats in the community. “I became active in rescue when I realized I couldn’t take in all the pets abandoned at the dead end near my home. That’s when Colony Cats was founded.”
Colony Cats Adoption Center opened in 2009 to provide a place for potential adopters to visit some of the great cats and kittens in need of a home. They provide a cage free environment for people to interact with the cats. Colony Cats also has been instrumental in getting over 9,500 community cats sterilized. They assist colony caretakers with shelters, trapping, food, medicine, and vet care. Since their inception, Colony Cats has placed over 7,500 cats in forever homes. “We offer assistance to pet owners when things are rough for them. Quite often, just supplying food and flea prevention is all that is needed to keep that pet in the family. We have helped several families and individuals by temporarily holding their pets until they could find another living situation. Everything we do is for the animals. Many lives have been saved because of the assistance we offer.”
During the course of opening Colony Cats, Mona has had to overcome several obstacles, the main being able to help adopt the idea of TNR; trap, neuter, return. The idea was catching on in other cities but was a very new idea in central Ohio. “I purchased humane traps, found veterinarians that would sterilize feral cats, and convinced people feeding feral and stray cats that they were not adoptable as pets and would be killed if they went to a shelter. At the time I was able to find two vet offices that would work with cats in traps at a reasonable cost.”
Mona and Colony Cats could not do all that they do without the help of over 175 amazing volunteers. Many are there every day, fostering a new litter of sick kittens, caring for the cat that had a leg amputated or an eye removed, and medicating the sick ones. There are volunteers that clean the adoption center daily by scooping boxes, cleaning windows and floors, feeding and watering, changing bedding, and doing laundry. The other large number of volunteers are trappers and colony caretakers. “These tasks are done every day of the year. There is not a holiday or vacation from it. Lives depend on them being there and they are dedicated above and beyond.”
Mona’s ultimate goal is for Colony Cats to be out of business in the next 10 years. “To know they are all safe and happy with wonderful people – that is the dream of a rescue person who does it completely for the animals.”
For more information about Colony Cats, please visit www.colonycats.org.