Salem's Sanctuary

09/30/2026

Skip the TNR waitlist—October appointments are available!

Our TNR waitlist is long, but friendly cats and cats you can easily and safely catch can be booked directly through our low-cost cat spay/neuter program—even if they’re already on the waitlist.

We have many October slots available! Visit salemssanctuary.org/friendly to book today.

Please share to help more cats get fixed before the next litter arrives!

Low-Cost Cat Spay/Neuter(For pets, strays, and outdoor cats you can easily catch.)Our Cat Spay/Neuter Program provides low-cost spay/neuter for cats you can easily and reliably catch and bring to your appointment.With every spay/neuter, your cat will receive a pre-sedation physical examination, rabi...

09/29/2026

During this weeks , we're dropping off 26 cats at the ASPCA for spay/neuter!

This guy was trapped from a huge colony with too many cats and not enough food. He's friendly, old as the hills, and struggling to stay alive.

We wanted to send him for TNR, but he's too sick to go this week, so we're holding on to him a little longer to help him get well.

I have a special place in my heart for beat up, ear-less, sad tom cats, so this guy may have found a forever home with me by walking into that trap yesterday. 🧡

Need help with community cats in your area? Request help at www.salemssanctuary.org/community

09/28/2026

This week’s story: Mr. Miller

Mr. Miller was a community cat who showed up with a badly injured leg. People tried for weeks to catch him, which, as anyone who has ever tried to trap a cat who does NOT want to be trapped knows, is easier said than done.

Eventually, they got lucky.

Mr. Miller was finally trapped and surrendered to us, and once we got a good look at his leg, we realized just how serious it was. The tissue had become necrotic, and there was no saving it. His leg needed to be amputated.

Unfortunately, removing the leg wasn't the end of it. Mr. Miller was fighting a horrible infection that took a long time—and a lot of treatment—to finally get under control. With help from South Asheville Veterinary Emergency & Specialty, we kept working at it, and eventually our stubborn little patient turned the corner.

And then Mr. Miller got the ending we wanted for him.

The community cat everyone spent weeks trying to catch, with a dying leg and a terrible infection, recovered and was adopted into a fantastic family.

He may have left one leg behind with us, but he left with something much better: a family and a home of his own. 💜

09/27/2026

Thank you to everyone who came out to support us at the Adopt Joy adoption event yesterday!

8 kitties found homes yesterday and we couldn't be more thrilled! 🎉😺

09/24/2026

Looking to add a new cat—or maybe two—to your family?

Come meet some of ours this Saturday! 💜

We’ll be at both the Waynesville and Hendersonville PetSmart every Saturday from 1–4 PM with cats and kittens looking for homes.

Stop by, spend some time with them, and see if one decides you’re their person.

📍 Waynesville PetSmart
321 Town Center Loop
Waynesville, NC 28786

📍 Hendersonville PetSmart
213 Greenville Hwy
Hendersonville, NC 28792

We’d love to see you there! 🐈‍⬛

09/23/2026

This week’s story: Tully & Lulu

Tully and Lulu originally came to us as kittens rescued during TNR. They were exactly the kind of kittens you hope will have an easy time finding their forever home—adorable, gentle, affectionate and just genuinely good cats.

And for a while, we thought they had.

Tully and Lulu were adopted together by a wonderful family who loved them very much. Unfortunately, their daughter has a heart condition, and the family became concerned about whether having cats in the home could pose a risk to her health. Faced with that uncertainty, they made the incredibly difficult decision to return them.

So Tully and Lulu are back with us through absolutely no fault of their own. And honestly, they're still two of the best cats.

They're sweet, gentle, loving and affectionate, and they already know how to live in a home and be part of a family. They didn't develop behavior problems. They didn't stop using the litter box. They weren't returned because they did anything wrong. Sometimes circumstances change in ways nobody planned for, and unfortunately, the animals don't get much say in it.

The good thing is that they still have each other.

Now these two are looking for another family, and this time we're hoping it's the one they get to grow old with. Whoever adopts them isn't getting two cats who need to learn how to be loved.

Tully and Lulu already know that part pretty well. They just need somewhere they can stay. 💜

They are currently staying in our Waynesville PetSmart adoption center - schedule a meet and greet or come see them during our Saturday adoption event from 1-4pm!

www.salemssanctuary.org/adopt

09/21/2026

This week’s story: Lara and her little boys

Lara's leg was badly injured when she was just a kitten, most likely from someone stepping on her, and it was never treated. The injury healed terribly, leaving her with a leg that only slowed her down.

But Lara was left outside anyway.

Living on someone's front porch, struggling to fend for herself and having litter after litter of kittens. She was literally right there—so close to help, and somehow ignored for years.

Eventually, we were called to the property for TNR. Once we saw Lara and the condition of her leg, we knew there was no way we were putting her back outside. What we didn't know was that Lara had one more surprise for us.

A neighbor mentioned that they had found two little kittens nearby and didn't know what to do with them. Well...we did. 😂

We brought the babies in and reunited them with Lara, and suddenly our one injured TNR cat became a family of three. Lara had her damaged leg amputated and was spayed at the same time, finally ending both years of living with an injury that should have been treated and the cycle of having litter after litter outside.

And through surgery, recovery and losing a leg, Lara hasn't missed a beat with her boys. She's raising them like an absolute pro.

Soon, all three of them are going to need homes.

Her boys will get something Lara never had as a kitten—the chance to grow up safe, indoors and loved from the very beginning. And we're especially hoping someone sees Lara and realizes that after spending so much of her life sitting right outside someone's door waiting for help, she deserves a home of her own too.

If you can foster Lara or her boys, please reach out. If you're thinking about adopting, start thinking about this little family. And if you can't do either, share them. Somewhere out there are the people who will make sure Lara never has to live on somebody's front porch again. 💜

09/16/2026

This week’s story: Lumi & Elowen

Lumi and Elowen were two of 16 adult cats we removed from a hoarding situation inside a mobile home, and it's hard to really describe how bad the conditions were.

There was f***s everywhere—not just dirty litter boxes, but piles of it throughout the home. There were dead cats under the bed. The cats who were still alive were covered in fleas, full of worms, extremely skinny and clearly hadn't had enough to eat in a long time.

Lumi and Elowen were in terrible shape. But the thing that got us was how incredibly sweet they were. These weren't kittens who had only spent a few weeks or months living this way. They were adults. This had been their life, and somehow they still wanted nothing more than affection. They wanted to be held, loved on and close to people.

You'd think after being failed that badly by humans, they'd want absolutely nothing to do with us. Instead, they couldn't get enough of us.

We treated the fleas and worms, got good food into them, and gave them clean beds and a safe place to recover. Slowly they started gaining weight and looking like completely different cats—but their personalities never needed fixing. They were sweet from day one.

That's probably the part of this case I'll never completely understand. Lumi and Elowen came out of a home filled with filth, starvation and cats who hadn't survived it, and somehow they walked out still trusting people.

We had to help their bodies recover. Their hearts were apparently doing just fine. 💜

Both are available as a bonded pair in the Hendersonville PetSmart Adoption Center. Schedule a meet and greet or come visit them during our Saturday adoption event from 1-4PM!

www.salemssanctuary.org/adopt

09/15/2026

During this weeks , we're dropping off 20 cats at the ASPCA for spay/neuter!

This weeks run includes this special girl, Roman. We spent over an hour trying to lure Roman into a trap so we could treat her horrific URI before sending her off for spay. Two other kittens from her colony had already passed due to the illness, and Roman looked like she may have been next.

Amazingly, we were able to sn**ch her up bare handed and plop her into a carrier when I was visiting the site returning another cat. She went through a week of treatment, is doing much better now, and can be included in this weeks TNR run and then returned to her colony later this week!

Need help with community cats in your area? Request help at www.salemssanctuary.org/community

09/14/2026

www.salemssanctuary.org/friendly