Friend to Felines

Local organization works to help homeless cats

BY TRACY BELL PHOTOS BY TAVAN SMITH

For 22 years, cat rescuer Cari Bartz has been a guardian angel for local homeless felines. It all started two decades ago when she spotted a group of white kittens frolicking behind Burger King near Spotsylvania Mall. That led to her penchant for rescuing cats.

In 2005, Bartz and her then-husband, Vern, founded the nonprofit Shadow Cat Advocates to help feral cats. The longtime Stafford residents focused on Stafford, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, although Cari Bartz later moved to Spotsylvania and kept the nonprofit going.

Shadow Cat Advocates’ goal is to trap feral cats, neuter or spay them and then find them homes.

The organization often showcases its adoptable cats at Petco on Route 610 in North Stafford.

Bartz said she recently contemplated retiring from cat rescuing, but decided against it.

“I’ve got to scale down, but it’s hard to quit totally,” she said about helping cats. “Once I see them it’s hard to walk away. You don’t get them off your mind.”

It’s not that Bartz has stopped loving cats, but her mission as of late has been a struggle.

Citing health and financial challenges, Bartz said she’s short on the help and resources needed to address the overwhelming and heartbreaking conditions she finds when rescuing cats. Shadow Cat Advocates has no paid staff and relies on donations and occasional grants.

Over the years, the nonprofit has been a community resource, rescuing cats, loaning traps, educating and providing guidance about feral and stray cats and cat colonies.

Trap-neuter-release, or TNR, the heart of Bartz’s work, helps prevent feral colonies of cats from continuing to populate. It’s also sometimes known as trap-neuter, rehabilitate, release (TNRR).

Property at her home, which she calls “the sanctuary,” includes a barn and multiple outdoor enclosures for rescued cats – though they come in at night to avoid being prey for local wildlife. She is trying to raise money for another enclosure, which will cost $600.

Bartz’s own cats are 15 to 20 years old, and there isn’t a big line between those and her rescue cats.

“They’re all mine really,” she said. “I go through 16 pounds of cat food a day,” though years back, it was four times more.

Not all of the rescued cats live with her. Many shelter temporarily with volunteer foster families, where they are socialized and cared for until some can be found permanent homes.

Bartz said that sometimes she wishes she didn’t care so much.

On a recent mission to rescue a kitten in south Stafford, she found 100 more cats living in a colony. Just recently and locally, Bartz has witnessed sick kittens left in the woods; a cat colony near a convenience store, with rat poison scattered on the ground; and a homeless man living with a feral cat in a drainage sewer.

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How To Help

VOLUNTEER to help, foster a cat or sponsor a medically-needy cat: Email info@shadowcatadvocates.org.

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DONATE MONEY by mailing checks to Shadow Cat Advocates, P.O. Box 514, Garrisonville, VA 22463, or online through PayPal using info@ShadowCatAdvocates.org.

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DONATE CAT FOOD OR LITTER by shipping it through Chewy or Walmart to Shadow Cat Advocates, 9901 Hidden Creek Lane, Spotsylvania, VA 22551, or purchase and leave at Petco in North Stafford for the group to pick up.

ADOPT A CAT by searching PetFinder. com for Shadow Cat Advocate pets or visiting shadowcatadvocates. org or Facebook. com/Shadow Cat Advocates.

Bartz works on both small and large cat-trapping projects, targeting one local area and moving onto another. She recently worked off U.S. 17 in south Stafford, discovering rampant cat colonies.

People aren’t always cooperative either, Bartz said, explaining the trouble she had at one apartment complex riddled with feral cats. In that case, she wasn’t particularly welcome and neither were the cats.

“We need volunteers and donations desperately,” Bartz said. “If we could get monetary donations or cat food, that would be wonderful.”

Shadow Cat Advocates volunteers are needed to foster cats, transport cats to and from veterinarian appointments, care for displayed cats at Petco in North Stafford, feed feral colonies, help run adoption events and fundraisers and assist in trapping cats.

Cats are trapped, spayed or neutered and eartipped to show that they’ve been through the process. So, if rescuers see a cat with one ear tipping downward, it’s typically a sign that it has been spayed or neutered.

Bartz has male cats neutered for $40 and females for $50, so finding a lot of cats at once can add up, and the funding isn’t always there. Cat food to feed the cat colonies during spay-neuter projects also puts a big dent in the nonprofit’s budget, along with building shelters near feral colonies or where needed, and insulating them from the cold.

Injured or unhealthy cats receive further veterinarian care as needed; for instance, some may have infections or need surgeries, Bartz said. If deemed adoptable, some cats head to foster homes for care and socialization after a veterinarian sees them, provides necessary shots and a microchip.

The cats also receive other care for fleas or any other conditions before they’re ready to be adopted. Anyone interested in adopting a cat from the organization can browse photos online, apply to adopt and, if approved, set up a cat meet-and-greet. But not all cats are so lucky. Homeless cats face an uphill battle due to overpopulation and a lack of spaying and neutering, with breeders playing a part.

One unspayed female cat and her litter can lead to 370,000 kittens in seven years, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Only a small fraction of homeless animals make it to animal shelters, and instead live outdoors. Some end up at shelters, avoid euthanasia and are luckily adopted.

But millions of others live stray or feral, and often succumb to the elements – freezing, starving, suffering health problems they receive no treatment for, attacked by other animals or hit by cars. Bartz said that other cat rescues in the area address the problem, too, like Purrs & Whiskers and Meow Stories. Each group has its own niche, but the problem remains widespread.

About 73 million cats are feral or unowned in the United States alone, according to the ASPCA. A Shadow Cat Advocates social media post summed up the issue. It pictured a cat next to the following words: “The answer is not to pretend we are not here. The answer is to educate, feed, shelter, trap, neuter, return and manage. The answer is simple really. It’s called compassion.”

Tracy Bell is a freelancer who lives in Stafford County.