Community Cats looks to open permanent location

Posted by Colin Merry in the Benzie County Record Patriot on October 30th, 2018

FRANKFORT — Community Cats of Benzie County has been working to reduce the number of feral cats in Benzie County for almost three years, and now the organization has plans to renovate a building in Frankfort to serve as operating room and adoption center.

Carol McKee, veterinarian and founder of the program, said she’d been working out of a building she purchased, 801 Main Street (next to Birdland Indian Art, formerly the old Firestone building) since late December of 2017.

“We want to remodel the building this winter,” she said. “Right now, we’re going through the permit process. Hopefully, by next spring, we’ll have an operation room and cat adoption room specifically made for feral kittens, where people can play with them.”

McKee said the room would be built for cats, with cat friendly furniture, toys and stimulating features for cats to explore. She also said there could be a “catio” outside, where there would be more cat-friendly features, and people will be able to play with the kittens outdoors.

“Hopefully that draws attention,” she said. “Somebody will be out there with the cats.”

The facility also will have a room dedicated to neutering feral cats.

“We’ll be able to do surgery at any time, as long as veterinarians are available,” she said. “There also will be an intake room for feral cats, and a quiet place for them to recover from surgery.”

She also said she was thankful for being able to use the facilities at Platte River Veterinary Clinic.

“We had a key to the place and were able to use the facility, but we had to work around the clinic’s schedule,” McKee said. “Feral cat’s don’t always work around schedules well.”

McKee started Community Cats of Benzie County in 2016 with fellow veterinarian Mary Rupley. The goal of the organization is to trap feral cats in areas where there is a large population, and spay and neuter them. They are then returned to where they were captured, and marked as being sterile. When they can, the organization works with property owners who often feed and act as caretakers for the cats. Cat caretakers are taught how to take care of the animals, and alert Community Cats if a new cat appears.

Community Cats also captures feral kittens, who, when caught young enough, can acclimate to living with humans. The program takes the kittens to a variety of community events and businesses, where they are adopted out.

The program is run completely by donations and volunteers, though McKee and Rupley provided seed money. McKee purchased the building on her own, but the rest of the money comes from donations.

In the first year, the program sterilized over 200 cats and adopted out “many” kittens. In 2017, 334 cats were sterilized, and 80 kittens were placed in homes.

“We neuter both male and female cats,” she said. “The ear is tipped to show we’ve already worked on a cat. Right now we’re working on a big colony in Thompsonville and a few in Elberta and Lake Ann. It is a win-win situation. Ideally, there will be no more homeless cats.”

McKee said there would be a grand opening once the center was completed.