For most rescue organizations, one of the primary factors for helping a cat is “length of stay.” The longer an animal is in your care, the more costly it is to save them. Helping animals quickly is one approach to supporting an overcrowded shelter, but if that’s the only tool in the toolbox, cats like Trevor become a sad statistic. There are many cats like him out there, so we use a different approach.
Trevor needed time and we were happy to give it to him.
Cat Town focuses on helping cats, like Trevor, who have no other options. Because yes, some cats are easy — you take them out of a cage and there’s an immediate spring in their step, like they know they just got a lucky break. But Trevor was not one of those cats.
Don't touch! Trevor made sure to keep humans away.
Trevor came to Cat Town afraid to let anyone touch him. Our most experienced volunteers did their best to build his confidence, but his progress was glacial. Baby food, treats, toys — we couldn’t convince him to let us near him, much less touch him.
But we didn’t give up. As cat after cat got adopted around Trevor, our volunteers became ever more determined to get him to open up. In his eyes, we could see a glimmer of a cat wanting to feel safe, and knew we could help him if only we could crack the code to his heart.
Then we introduced Trevor to Oliver, another fearful cat who was just beginning to trust us. Oliver was just a little more susceptible to the charms of our incredible volunteers, and would let them scratch under his chin. Seeing his new friend get VIP treatment did the trick, and Trevor started to get the hint… People can be awesome!
In our transition space, Trevor started to learn how to be around people from Oliver.
Having Oliver around helped Trevor get over his fears. Once he started to make this progress, we got both boys into one of our foster homes for one-on-one attention. It worked. After a few months with his patient foster mom, Emily, Trevor learned the joy of belly rubs, and became a professional biscuit maker. Even after his friend Oliver succumbed to terminal illness, which broke our hearts, Trevor continued to grow by leaps and bounds. It was like he had realized — with the help of his sweet friend and many, many people rooting for him — that there was more to life than fear.
Which is why, 883 days later, after watching more than 800 other Cat Town cats find homes, we are so overjoyed that Trevor finally found his perfect match.
With patience, time, and love, Trevor became affectionate and companionable.
We give every cat the gift of time — sometimes lots of it. Time is the game-changing resource that lets these cats show us who they are and what they need from us. We provide food, litter, toys, shelter, and support for the days, months, or sometimes years it takes for a cat like Trevor to find his person. Thank you for making Cat Town’s work possible by sharing our mission and donating to save cats who just need a little more time.
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