Community Cat Coalition

10/14/2026

Barn Cat Programs - The Sad Ending You Don't Get to See

To the average person, barn cat programs sound wonderful. A cat deemed unadoptable is sent to live his life in a barn. The barn owner gets a free mouser and the cat gets to live. Sounds perfect, right? But there is giant flaw in barn cat programs, and here is one all too common example.

Max showed up in Kim's back yard on a cold December day and gratefully accepted the food she left out for him. She fed him for a few weeks and then trapped him thinking that he might be someone's lost pet. Taken to a local shelter, he was put in a cage to be assessed. Like many shelters, adoptable cats are sent out to be pets, while those found to be lacking are sent to barns. But how do you assess a cat in a shelter? This is where shelter barn cat programs fail miserably.

To help you understand the absurdity of assessing a cat in a cage at a shelter, we'd like you to imagine this. You are living your life, when suddenly you find yourself trapped and taken to a foreign jail. You don't recognize any of the people, can't understand their words and have no idea why you were abducted. The sounds and smells are unfamiliar and the other residents appear nervous and fearful. Then someone opens your door and reaches to grab you... Most people would find this terrifying and cats are no exception. Now imagine someone coming to your "cell" and interviewing you. Would you pass this interview? I know I wouldn't! Max didn't either. Terrified, he swatted at the strangers who opened his door and bit one of the workers who reached over to handle him. The shelter put a warning sign on his cage. AGGRESSIVE! 12 days later, the shelter told Kim he would have to be a barn cat.

Kim knew that his best chance of survival was in his home territory, so she opted to take him home instead. And thank goodness she did! Within a month of his return, Kim could touch his head and a month later he was meowing to greet her. By April, she could pick him up. The verdict was in, Max was not a feral cat. But what would she do with him now?

Max spent his days looking hopefully through the sliding glass door. "Can I come in?" She already had indoor cats and they didn't like Max. Was he even adoptable? The shelter had tipped his ear and branded him unadoptable, so he couldn't go back there for adoption.

Happily, Kim found Victoria. Willing to give Max a two week trial, Victoria agreed to assess and possibly adopt him if he passed this new test. If it didn't work out, Kim would take him back to her yard. Guess what? In just a couple days Max was the most tame and loving cat you can imagine. He was purring happily in her lap, running up to greet strangers and playing with any toys he could wrap his paws around. He was rocking this interview!

There are a lot of cats like Max, but you can't identify them in a shelter. Jail is scary for humans and scary for cats. Some are killed for their fear and others are sent to live in barns where survival rates are low and the hope of a warm lap is gone forever. People don't see these sad endings because barn cat programs are an out-of-sight out-of-mind solution for all but the lucky few who are both truly feral AND have a trained advocate helping with the placement and acclimation. Thanks to Kim's dedication and Victoria's willingness to give him a shot, Max is now a happy lap cat.

What can you do for cats like Max?

-1 Once altered, return cats to their home territory. Cats do best where they have been surviving, NOT in unfamiliar territory.

-2 Some people prefer to assess indoors, but it is perfectly fine to assess them while they are outside. Work on earning their trust by bribing them with food and gradually attempting contact.

-3 If they make progress, work on finding someone who can assess them in their home. Or offer them up for a trial adoption. This is a great way to see if the cat is going to be adoptable.

-4 When possible, visit the cat in its foster home. Cats often progress faster when a familiar human spends time with them, so Kim made a point to look in on him at Victoria's house.

10/09/2026

Friday's Cat - Foster or Adopt

🐈‍⬛ Peanut & Bare Bear Need a Safe Home Together! 🐈‍⬛ ❤️

Meet Peanut and Bare Bear, two adorable black kitty brothers who desperately need a new home!

A local rescue contacted us for assistance in getting a senior's cats spayed and neutered. The owner recently broke his hip and is hospitalized, and unfortunately, he will not be able to return home. The conditions where these boys are currently living are extremely unsafe, including flooding and caved in floors from water damage. They have been indoor outdoor in their current home but won't be able to live in that mobile home community after he gets into his new assisted care place. We really need to get them somewhere safe as soon as possible! (The shelter that contacted us for help said they can't take them. 🙁)

Peanut and Bare Bear are twin brothers, both neutered, incredibly playful, and VERY food-motivated! 🐾❤️

These boys are bonded and MUST stay together. We are urgently looking for a foster home, foster-to-adopt, or a loving forever home willing to welcome both brothers.

These boys have already lost the only home they've known, and we don't want them to lose each other, too. They deserve a safe, loving place to land together.

Please reach out if you can help, even temporarily! If you can't foster or adopt, sharing this post could help us find someone who can. ❤️🐈‍⬛

Peanut and Bear are neutered, vaccinated, combo tested, microchipped and treated for fleas and worms. Email [email protected] if you have questions or would like an adoption or foster application. No adoption fee if you foster before adoption.

10/07/2026

Indoor Cat Lost Far From Home

Raven enjoys taking her cat Kaos out on a popular walking and biking trail in rural Snohomish county. An indoor-only cat, she purchased a pet stroller to keep her safe and prevent escape. Or so she thought.

After a long trail walk with Kaos last week, she looked in and found the pet stroller empty! The zipper had separated and Kaos had escaped without her noticing. Quickly she ran up the trail looking for her cat and asking passersby if they had seen a cat. About 10 minutes up the trail, she passed a dog walker who pointed up the trail and said she’d seen a cat run from her dog just by the footbridge. Frantic, Raven ran up to search. But there was no cat. And now that she was looking, she realized that she needed more information. Heavy brush and blackberry bushes extended to both sides of the bridge and there were tall trees and wood piles where land had been cleared beyond. Exactly WHERE had the dog walker seen her?

After posting on Facebook, Raven connected with some CCC volunteers who recommended setting humane traps in her last known location. But where to set them? She wasn’t sure exactly where she had been spotted near the bridge. Using the bridge tip as her only clue, she set out with master trapper Mary to choose good trap locations and set them next to cover so Kaos could go in the trap without walking out in the open. Mary also loaned her a wildlife camera in the hopes of spotting Kaos.

For 4 days, Raven went out morning and night to check and rebait the traps, but saw no sign of her cat. Kaos didn’t respond to calls or pet treat sounds and she certainly wasn’t visible. Getting up early on the 5th day, she spotted the dog walker who had seen Kaos near the bridge and was able to provide an exact location. Though she had carefully searched both sides of the bridge, she had only set the traps on the side she believed the dog-walker had meant. It was the wrong side!

Raven went out again with Mary and set the traps and camera on the other side of the bridge. There was nothing the following morning, but on day 7 Raven’s early morning trap check revealed Kaos in the trap!

Kaos is so lucky to have a caring owner who was willing to do all the work to get her back. Thank you Raven! We knew right away that with an owner like that, Kaos would most likely be found. Many owners give up hope when they can’t see their cat after a thorough search. It is hard to believe a stranger who states, “Your cat is almost certainly hiding nearby. She can hear your voice, but is hiding in silence.” Others rely on the slim hope that they will end up at a shelter. (Nationwide, only 2 to 4% of cats entering shelters are claimed by owners. This includes microchipped cats!) We tell lost cat owners that if their lost cat is too scared to come out for them, they certainly aren’t going to come out and allow a stranger to pick them up!

If you are helping someone with a cat lost in an unfamiliar area, remind them that it is completely normal for the cat to avoid detection during a thorough search. But that doesn’t mean the cat isn’t there! Cats are masters at hiding in silence. If you keep baiting those traps, you will usually get them back. It may take a week, two weeks or even months, but we have found that most are recovered if their owners don’t give up.

10/06/2026

Are Bottle Babies better than Feral Kittens?

Wow, it was disappointing to read a post from a popular online source telling people that bottle babies are just so much friendlier/human oriented than feral kittens. I really doubt she meant to create a negative image for feral kittens – my guess is she was just so in love with her sweet bottle babies she didn’t see what she was projecting for the feral kittens. She also didn’t see how she might be undermining the goal of cat rescuers who promote raising babies with mom, even feral moms, if at all possible.

Bottle babies – if they survive – are indeed well socialized to humans. No one will deny that – and obviously since the humans took the place of mom, it’s pretty much a given. But babies get so much from mom, not only the nutrition but the constant source of comfort, and the better chance at surviving, that we encourage everyone to work hard on reuniting them. True orphans or kittens in need, yes of course, work to help them survive by bottle feeding. But please work FIRST to reunite, and explain to others if you can’t, why you can’t. (need some guidance on setting them up with mom? We’ve got lots of posts on this…)

But, in the long run, are they friendlier? The kitten pictured below was growling, hissing, lunging at his foster when he arrived. And six days later he was spending his days a relaxed lap kitten, It’s pretty obvious, that is a very people-oriented kitten. Trappers are full of pictures and stories of very feral kittens who became total lovebugs – and implying that bottle babies are somehow better can be harmful to all.

No matter what start in life your kitten had, we hope you enjoy a long and happy relationship! Thank you to all who Rescue, thank you for saving their lives!

10/05/2026

Thank You Bella's Voice!!

Thank you for supporting Feral Cat Month by raising funds for the Community Cat Coalition as well as three additional organizations that work to improve the lives of community cats.

If you are looking for some great deals on gently used merchandise of all kinds please shop Bella's Voice this month. You can find some great buys and support the Community Cat Coalition at the same time!

10/02/2026

Friday's Cat- 🙂 Adoption Pending 🙂

Meet Mica and Gus - a dynamic duo

Approximately 12 weeks old, Mica and Gus are cute tabby kittens. Mica (a female) and Gus (a male) don’t mind being picked up and cuddled. They will purr loudly. Both are sweet, friendly and affectionate. They have lots of kitten energy
and are curious and playful.

Gus is a kitty on a mission and has things to see and do.

Mica is calm and with follow along with her brother. This duo is bonded and will need to be adopted together.

A lady contacted our rescue about a male cat that needed to be altered. That male kitty turned out to be a young, friendly female that gave birth to 4 kittens before her appointment. That “whoops” litter is now ready to find their permanent home.

Mica and Gus will do best in a home with no dogs and children 8+ years old. They have never known the dangers of living outside and will need to be indoors only all their lives.

The kitties have been spayed/neutered, up to date on vaccines, flea rx, wormed, tested negative for FELV and FIV and microchipped. ***Adoption fee applies.

Meet these cuties at Maser’s Pet store and grooming at:

6515 NE 181st in Kenmore, WA

Hours:
9-6 Monday through Saturday
10-5 on Sunday.

10/01/2026

This is a great chance to get your pet vaccinated. A huge thank you to Everett Animal Shelter for providing this service.

Monday we talked about World Rabies Day and efforts worldwide to prevent this deadly disease. In Everett, WA, is contributing to those efforts and offering new, low-cost vaccination clinics starting this weekend, with the first one on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 10 a.m. - noon.

Please visit their website for full details and income requirements. If you can't make it to this one, the upcoming dates are:
Saturday, October 3rd, 10am - 12pm
Saturday, November 7th, 10am - 12pm
Saturday, December 5th, 10am - 12pm
www.everettwa.gov/2748/Pet-Vaccination-Clinics

These monthly clinics offer affordable rabies, FVRCP, and DAPP vaccines for cats and dogs. In addition, they provide flea/worm treatment and microchipping. Providing accessible preventive care helps keep pets healthy and protects them from common, preventable illnesses in our community!

09/30/2026

This Common Household Item Can be Deadly

***Sharing this post may save a life!***

Most people know that string, yarn and thread can be deadly for cats, but how seriously do you take this thread threat? Pardon the word play here, but kitty "Balogna" is here to remind you that this warning isn't a bunch of bologna!

A couple weeks ago, Wendy and John came home to a sick cat. Bologna is a hearty eater and has the girth to prove it. But when they got home that day, Bologna was vomiting and wouldn't eat. Not normal!

A trip to the emergency vet confirmed that he had thread wrapped around the back of his tongue and more continuing down his throat. (*NOTE: Vets can easily miss thread thread wrapped around the base of the tongue. It is easy to focus on the potential obstruction and miss this. Cat's tongues have little barbs that push food down, so they can't get the thread off themself.) The vet did radiographs and was able to remove this thread. They sent him home with advice to observe him closely.

Still feeling punky, Bologna ended up throwing up 6 inches of thread, so back to the vet he went. They performed exploritory surgery to see if they could locate any more thread. They found a piece that had essentially sliced his intestines. After removing 9 inches of his itestines, he was stiched up again. When Bologna got to go home again, he became very lethargic and wouldn't eat. So he went back to the vet again.

On this third visit, they discovered a massive infection in his intestines. Poor cat had to have another surgery to remove the pus and infected regions. They weren't sure he was going to make it, but he finally got to go home again. Two weeks after his multiple surgeries and trips to the vet, Bologna is on the mend now and his only complaint is having to wear a onesie to protect his surgery site.

Bologna is one lucky cat! He had observant owners who cared enough to take him in for what was obviously a VERY large vet bill.

Sharing this story may save another cat's life. Most houses have thread, yarn or string in them and it is easy to become nonchalent if your cat doesn't appear interested in it. But it just takes a few licks to get that string traveling downward where it can wrap around the base of the tongue, strangle the blood supply to the intestines or even slice right through it.

It is easy to become complacent when it comes to cat safety.

"Oh, my cat isn't interest in thread."

"He's older and doesn't play anymore."

Bologna shared a home with a seamstress for over 8 years and showed zero interest in thread—until a bit of yellow and white thread nearly took his life.

09/29/2026

It's That Time of the Year - Cold and Rainy - Time to Think About Winter Houses

The internet abounds with wonderful tips on how to winterize your feral feeding/sleeping areas – take advantage of all this info! Not only will your cats benefit, but you’ll have fun! Truly, when you get into the creative part of designing and perfecting your free roaming cat habitat, you’ll be hooked 🙂 And seeing what others are doing will inspire you – take a look at this site, you’ll see what we mean. (and we think it is cute how the man implies he is doing this for his “wife’s cats” – right, you can tell he doesn’t care one bit…:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSwLZTp9mf8

Have fun – and share what you do! We’d love to have a picture and a bit of your story to share with all! That’s what being part of a community is all about 🙂

We built cat shelters for our neighborhood cats and made the plans ...