We're Open!
There were times when we thought the renovation work would never end.  What started as a simple remodeling of an existing farmhouse became a major renovation project.  Since our adoptable elderly cats were comfortable in their foster home, we wanted to be sure we had all the needed rework done prior to moving them.

With trades working virtually non-stop from March through July, we received our Certificate of Occupancy in early August.  Furnishings were quickly put in place and the cats moved in shortly after.  Settling in took little time.  New cat trees proved a big hit and each cat found a perch to call their own.  The biggest plus is the fenced-in outdoor deck and yard -- with a cat door allowing frequent daytime access.  Life has never been so good!  Basking in the sun is their number one daytime activity.

Now that the elderly cats are comfortable, we're getting the barn ready for a colony of adoptable feral cats.  Although we promote neutering and managing them in their original habitat, this is not always possible.  By year-end we hope to have a barn cat adoption program to provide farmers with sterilized cats for rodent control and outdoor companionship.  Once the barn is opened, we'd like to invite everyone out to see it.  In the meantime, if you'd like to see what's already in place, give us a call and we'll arrange a sneak preview.

Help Wanted
Join us as a Cat Care Volunteer!  Our cage-free colony of elderly cats needs volunteers to give them extra attention and help keep their home clean.  Petting, combing, and playing with the cats, as well as sweeping, litter box-scooping and the like are typical duties.  At this time we are seeking cat-loving individuals with morning availability who can make a

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... More a "Base Camp", Than a Shelter
Our farm will serve more as a "base camp" than a shelter -- a resource center to assist the community with the skills and support they need to protect and care for the cats they encounter.  Our community, as most others, has focused primarily on sheltering homeless cats.  This model works only when the number of available cats is in line with the number of available homes for them.  With an estimated 60,000 homeless cats in Washtenaw County and several hundred relinquished pet cats each year, the system breaks down as the shelters soon overflow and are forced into euthanising or warehousing the surplus.  Being knee-deep in cats, the shelters can barely handle the ones that come to them and have no time left over to address the root problems that cause this situation.

We believe that breaking this cycle is paramount.  It takes increasing the cat adoption rate while decreasing the cat birth rate   Only then will all companion cats have a loving home, and all feral cats belong to a managed outdoor colony.  Adding another shelter to the ones already in the community will not solve the problem.  So, instead, we've chosen to supplement the valuable services of the existing local shelters with aggressive community outreach programs to minimize their intake.  We have divided our programs into two areas:  those that increase the number of available homes and those that reduce the birth rate.  Here's a brief summary of what we are working on:

To increase available homes we will work with landlords to allow cats in more apartments, the elderly to retain their pet cats longer, and existing cat owners to work through potential problems that unresolved may result in relinquishment of their cat.  Each cat that stays in its home is one less that goes to a shelter.  Our marquis farm program houses one small colony each of adoptable barn cats and elderly cats -- two groups that are routinely euthanized as unadoptable by traditional shelters.  We provide a homey cage-free setting

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About TLC TLC/for The Love of Cats is a program of the Zimmer Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation founded in 1980.  Our mission is to provide humane alternatives to euthanasia for the community management of companion and feral cats in Washtenaw County.  Financial or service contributions to our spay/neuter programs will help extend the number of spay/neuters we can accomplish.  For more information visit our web site at TLConline.org.