In the beginning …….. The idea for Kitty Keepers originated from several different avenues. One important factor was that I personally have so many cats that I wondered what would happen to them if something should happen to me. No one would take my many animals. Like so many others, I didn’t just decide I wanted to have an overabundance of cats, it just happened one cat at a time. When another cat or sad cat story would cross my path, many times I just couldn’t say no. There was no place or alternative for these unwanted creatures. So if I said no most times I knew they would be abandoned on the street or killed. So I just kept saying yes.

People who do what they can to rescue and help animals tend to know of each other and share and compare experiences. So there was a small network of us, who did what we could individually but never felt we were doing enough.

Havre has a huge feral colony problem and periodically when a trailer court or particular neighborhood gets overrun, the local residents call the city to “take care of the problem”. They are but public servants and must go in and clean up the mess when they are told. So we would hear horrible stories about how all animals in an area were trapped and destroyed because of overpopulation of feral cats.

Then several of us decided to get together and try to make a difference. We could no longer turn our backs and let this keep happening. Hence Kitty Keepers was formed. The original Board of Directors was Sue Markley, Penney Bergren, Brenda Neiffer, Joanna Kurtz and Elaine Stokes. None of us had ever served on a Board of Directors and certainly none of us had ever founded an organization before. We were just learning and didn’t have (or even know we should have) parliamentary and business training. We were just trying to establish a sanctuary and the rights of the cats.

None of this was taken lightly or decided on the spur of the moment. A great deal of thought and research went into every detail. We did not have regular board meetings in those days. Once a week we had general meetings open to the public and everything was discussed and decided on by the group. We did not take votes, we just discussed and came to an agreement and then went forward.

Our mission statement alone took months to perfect so it stated what we truly wanted to be and accomplish. The reason we are called a sanctuary and not a shelter is that a shelter is a temporary refuse – just a bandage. A sanctuary is a lifetime commitment to protect each animal we take into our care. The original intent was to take in the animals and give them lifetime sanctuary. We were supposed to say “no” when we were full and our first commitment was to the animals already entrusted to us. We wanted and worked hard to achieve a different image than to hurry up and get them through the doors to make room for more. Yes, it’s a sad thing for the ones condemned to death because we don’t have room, but it’s the commitment we chose to make. It’s the foundation on which Kitty Keepers was born. It was never to be about “numbers”, whether you euthanize or just adopt to anyone who asks or push them out to farms, it is still just pushing the numbers to make room for the unending stream of those with no place to go. Most no-kill shelters carefully select which animals they accept according to adoptability. The elderly, sick and feral cannot be taken in because they are harder to place and may require true lifetime care. This does not increase numbers so they are not admitted. This is not a commitment to animals but a commitment to numbers. We took pride in being something different and innovative.

Our logo also took a great deal of thought and discussion. We discussed and compared many different ideas. We settled on the one that showed what we were trying to do. There is a dignified cat in the center of a circle of life because we believe each animal has a right to the safety and protection of a loving home and to live it’s life in dignity. This cat is then off the streets and placed inside for protection because we do not believe the solution to unwanted pets is abandonment. And “Death is Not the Solution” because we believe there are other ways to fight pet overpopulation than to continue killing animals.

We founded Kitty Keepers to give sanctuary to a manageable number of animals and if good adopters came forward who would offer them a better life than we could that was a bonus for us, the resident cats and the next one wanting in, but it was not the purpose. Lifetime sanctuary was the purpose. That is why we insist if an animal does not work out it is brought back to us – again a lifetime commitment to each animal is what makes us different.

We struggled for months to come up with our adoption packet. This includes the adoption contract and application. We considered that to be our adoption policy. We did not realize we should vote and have a “policy” in a book. If the adoption packet was read and followed, it would meet our specifications for adoption.

We did not take this task lightly either. We spent many hours on the Internet and telephone with other shelters. We consulted Best Friends, North Shore Animal League, San Francisco Animal Shelter and a lovely little cat sanctuary in a suburb of Denver. We spent many hours on the phone with these organizations trying to learn from their mistakes. We didn’t feel we could afford to make mistakes that had already been made by others. The lady from Denver spent many hours and many days giving us all the advice that she could. They all sent copies of their policies, applications contracts, follow up procedures, shared why certain seemingly silly “rules” were in place and encouraged us to take from theirs what we needed. We did just that. We heard horrible horror stories from these well established organizations and did not want these things to happen to our animals so we learned from them and tried to establish reasonable but safe procedures. Our purpose was to protect the animals.

We would talk to these organizations then report back to the board and general membership. We would discuss what we had learned and what we wanted to use from each organization. The whole process took a long time, but it was not something that just one or two people decided and implemented. It was well thought out and discussed.

The foundation and purpose of Kitty Keepers is solid and well researched. Each individual step was brought to the board of directors and the general membership for input and approval. We were very unsure of ourselves and needed all the input we could get. If it’s in the application and contract it is there for a reason, even if we learned the reason from someone else and did not make each mistake ourselves.

The numbers soon got out of hand because it was so difficult to say “no” because we knew what the end would be. We tended to give preference to feral and otherwise unadoptable animals because there simply is no other option for them except death. When we took in these animals we made a commitment to them to keep them safe and provide sanctuary to them for life.

Because we realized we couldn’t possibly take them all in, we couldn’t say no and the cycle would never cease we began the low cost spay/neuter program. It is the only answer. Stop the births and you stop the deaths. That wasn’t our original purpose but became a necessity. It did not change the purpose or original intent of the organization merely added a new aspect. We had neither the time nor the resources for another major project, but it seemed the best way to cut the number of animals being brought into the sanctuary, killed on the streets and euthanized at the city shelter. Stop it at the source, in time it will make a big difference. So we began our spay/neuter program.

Our next major project was education. We never really intended to go to the schools and become “public speakers”, but it became part of the education process. It was all too evident you have to start someplace and children are easier to change than adults. No one can change if they don’t know what they are doing isn’t right. Not all people will change, but many will if they can be shown why they should and what is not right with the way it has been done in the past. If they are doing things the way they were taught, that is, the old theory that “cats are perfectly fine on the streets and can take care of themselves”, they don’t know they need to change. Start with the children and they will help educate the adults.

Early in our development we were asked to bring cats and visit the long-term care facility. Although, again we really didn’t have the time and resources we felt we should try to accommodate the request. This has turned out to be a very worthwhile outreach program. The residents are delighted to see us when we come and most of them love to see the animals. Their faces light up when they tell stories of the pets they had when they were younger or had to leave behind. We have become a bright spot in their lives. It is good for the cats to get out and socialize and they become more adoptable because of the trips. But as a side benefit the Kitty Keepers participants always come away with a good feeling. It seems we get more than we give. For our efforts we were nominated volunteer organization of the year at the state level of the Association of Nursing Homes. We were selected as honorable mention group from all the volunteer groups in the state.

Our stand against declawing was well researched and discussed prior to deciding we did not want our animals to go to home where they would be declawed. We gathered information, went on the Internet and talked to organizations that have been in existence much longer than we have. We obtained documented material regarding the cruelty and after effects of this operation. In most European countries it is illegal to declaw an animal and has been for decades. We discussed the issue extensively with the Board members and the general membership before we came to a “policy”. Again we did not vote and have a policy book, we made the decision and included it in our adoption packet. We included articles and documentation in our adoption packets so that the public would become aware of this archaic and inhumane practice. To some extent our observations and experience in taking care of abandoned animals plays a role in some of our decisions. There are many declawing surgeries that appear to be successful. They don’t develop personality problems or litter box problems and these are the ones the veterinarians see the repeat customers who remain in the same home. They are the ones that are used as criteria for recommending the surgery. However the ones who develop personality problems and litter box problems and are discarded are the ones we get and see. It is heartbreaking to know these poor animals did nothing to deserve this and now they have no where to go and they usually have a very hard time adjusting to sanctuary life.

The same scenario is true for our stand on keeping pets indoors. Yes we all know many responsible pet owners who let their pets out with no ill effects. However, we probably get at least one phone call per week from someone who has lost a cat and just can’t figure out why because “Fluffy never leaves our yard, I just don’t know what could have happened.” Our decision was that we have already rescued these animals from the streets once and should not have to rescue them again, if they are lucky enough to be rescued the second time.

We decided as a group in the early stages that these issues were important and we wanted to be a true sanctuary. Although we did not always follow parliamentary procedure it is important to understand that we were not just implementing policies without research and discussion.

We did this research, made these decisions and set about to form a viable sanctuary and at the same time we had to do all the legal work involved in becoming a non-profit organization. It took uncountable hours to accomplish all the things required. We were fortunate enough to be guided by Jim Kase, Attorney at Law, and Betty Villet, but we did the actual work ourselves.

At the same time we had to physically take care of the cats and the sanctuary. By the end of the first month we had over 50 animals. The original facility was the two front downstairs rooms of an old dairy barn. There was no heat, no running water and no linoleum. We had to carry buckets of water to do all the cleaning and provide the animals with drinking water. We scrubbed the wood and cement floors by hand daily to make sure we kept it sanitary. There was no heat, we had to keep them warm in the winter with heating mats and space heaters. For over a year we met the physical needs of the animals under these conditions. We eventually got cold running water and an old ceiling heater, but still had to haul hot water for cleaning and take all the laundry out to another location to wash and dry.

Toward the end of the second year we had so many animals we knew we needed more room for them. There was a hayloft upstairs that was only accessible by a ladder in the barn. Some students from MSU-Northern volunteered to design and build a stairway to the loft. Then we got together and began to clean out the loft. There was over 75 years of mouse and raccoon dropping accumulated on the floor. It took months to get it all scraped off and thoroughly cleaned.

We just continued with each project until it was completed. We finally got hot water available to both the first and second levels. What a wonderful day that was! Then came linoleum so the floors would be easier to clean and more sanitary; a washer and dryer followed and an outside pen so they could safely go outdoors or inside at will using their own small animal door.

Our progress has continued until we now have seven rooms and two pens and an enthusiastic, active Board of Directors. We’ve come a long way in five years. Each step of the way was researched and agreed upon by the group. Through the years we’ve had to put personalities aside and remember what we do is for the cats. We’ve worked hard to adhere to our principals and goals and we need to remember these principals and goals in the future in order to keep the integrity of the sanctuary intact.