Shelter seeks homes for cats rescued from hoarder's home in Durham
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A local no-kill shelter is trying to find homes for cats rescued from a hoarding situation outside a home in Durham.
Safe Haven for Cats in Raleigh is putting out the word to animal lovers to help adopt cats and kittens rescued from deplorable conditions in Durham.
"This is Vavara, and she's one of the young kitties that we found at the hoarder's," said founder Pam Miller as she strokes a shy but sweet calico.
Sadly, Vavara was one of the lucky ones. In all, there were 61 cats being hoarded at the Durham home. Of those, 51 had to be put down because they were too sick, injured, or malnourished to be saved. Miller was there when the cats were rescued and saw their suffering firsthand.
"As you might imagine, the conditions that we found were completely unsanitary, a lack of water to drink, a lack of food to eat," she said.
So far no charges have been filed, but the case is on-going. Meanwhile, Miller and her staff at Safe Haven for Cats are focused on rehabilitating the animals they were able to save. They've already found homes for four of the ten they saved, and they're hoping to place the remaining six soon. It's all part of what they've been doing in the Triangle for the past 21 years.
"We take in abandoned, injured, orphaned cats and kittens and make sure they get them the medical care they need," Miller explained.
Over the years they've had great success, finding homes for more than 7,500 cats, and they hope to do the same not only for the cats rescued from the hoarder in Durham, but also for the rest of the animals they have currently up for adoption - animals they say make for the perfect pet.
"Well, shelter cats are amazingly grateful for what they get when they go to a home and they show it, too!" Miller exclaimed.
Miller does add that hoarding situations often escalate because the animals are not spayed or neutered and then breed, which appears to have happened in this latest case.
Save Haven for Cats does have a program to help people who otherwise might not be able to afford to spay or neuter their pets. For more on this and the cats currently up for adoption, click HERE.
