Canouan Cats and Canines

Hi! My name is Sophia Simmons and I am in 10th grade at the Nightingale Bamford School in NYC. I am trying to raise $35,000 to open a permanent Vet Clinic and Pet Store on Canouan Island and help keep the first Cat Café Rescue and adoption center in St. Vincent from closing.

I’ve always had a love for animals and have been surrounded by them my entire life. I have family members who deeply value animal welfare and their passion has become instilled in me. My aunt is on the board of the New York Humane Society and has adopted several rescues over her lifetime. Toast, whose story I’ve detailed below, is my first rescue and he inspired me to advocate on behalf of the neglected animals in Canouan and St. Vincent.

I rescued Toast (photo above) while on vacation in Canouan over winter break (December 2022) and, in the process, learned that the majority of the 32 islands in the Grenadines lack vet facilities and basic healthcare for animals. Luckily for me and Toast, I met a lot of wonderful people along the way who helped save his life and nurse him back to health until he was well enough to make the journey to NYC.

This story is not only about Toast but about the greater community, kindness, and what we can do to help the stray cats and dogs or the “voiceless” of Canouan and St. Vincent. We can make a difference for stray animals and people in the community one island at a time by providing veterinary services for those who can’t afford them and a shelter for stray cats like Toast so they can be adopted.

Please help us in our efforts to do the following:

The cost to maintain the cat café and adoption center in St. Vincent is $1,868 monthly:

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This is Toast’s story……..

Over winter break, my parents and I traveled to Canouan which is a small island in the Caribbean with a vibrant culture, people, and a large animal population. Five days into our trip, a white cat arrived at the doorstep of our hotel room. He was severely malnourished and filthy but still very affectionate and eagerly entered our hotel room. We were traveling with cat treats because the hotel has a local cat named Grenadine that we love. When we placed some of these treats on the floor for the stray cat we noticed that he was unable to eat. We were not sure if he had been hit by a car, poisoned, or was just sick but we knew that he needed immediate medical care. We called the hotel receptionist that evening to inquire about the local vet or urgent care services available so we could book the earliest appointment possible. That was when our journey to save Toast’s life began. We learned that there was no clinic or nearby vet on Canouan and that all island residents, including the hotel business manager who has two pet cats, must travel 6 hours round trip by ferry to St. Vincent to see the nearest vet!

We were not sure if the cat could survive a 3-hour ferry ride in the heat so that evening, my mom started emailing animal rescue organizations looking for a vet clinic on islands that were closer to Canouan. After hours worth of emails and calls with government officials, vets, animal rescue, airlines, and ferry companies, we learned that none of the nearby islands other than St. Vincent had veterinary service, and only two vets on that island were equipped to treat emergencies like this cat. VSPCA (Vincentian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) kindly provided us with the cell phone number for Dr. Eric Audain, who was highly recommended to us by all of the animal rescues we came in contact with because he volunteers his services for free at day clinics as needed.

After finally reaching Dr. Audain, he told us he could treat Toast if we could get him to his clinic that evening. We had to scramble if we wanted to get Toast emergency medical treatment by the end of the day and we were lucky enough to encounter many generous people who went out of their way in the next several hours to help us. The regional manager at SVG Air, the local airline, agreed to fly Toast for free to St. Vincent in cargo on the next plane if we could get to the airport and make sure Toast was secure in a carrier. The vet clinic was a 2-hour drive from the St. Vincent airport and another animal rescue group called SGAK ( Southern Grenadines Animal Kindness) put us in touch with a driver who volunteered his time at the last minute to transport Toast from baggage claim to Dr. Audain.

After lots of tears, both happy and sad, and using an old Amazon box as a carrier, Toast made it to the vet! Dr. Audain stayed up until 2:00 am taking care of Toast and updating us on his condition. He was diagnosed with a severe bacterial infection that would have killed him had he remained on Canouan. Toast spent over two weeks in Dr. Audain’s care at the Cat Café and Rescue adjacent to his vet clinic until he was ready to be taken home with us to New York.

Over MLK weekend, my mom and I traveled to St. Vincent to pick Toast up. While we were there, we had a meeting with Dr. Audain to learn more about his practice, the cat café, and his volunteer spay clinics on other islands to see what we could do to help other animals like Toast. Dr. Audain had recently opened the Cat Café Rescue in December 2022 and was concerned about expenses and how he was going to manage because the cat café was already at capacity. He founded the café so he could promote adoptions for local cats and dogs and afford persons on the island who don’t have pets an opportunity to interact with and learn more about cats. His hopes are over time to promote a change in the culture towards pets in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He also explained that he has been wanting to open a permanent clinic and pet store in Canouan for a long time because many people on the island have pets and can’t get to a vet or buy pet supplies as preventative care.

Several wonderful volunteer organizations are working to address the rampant dog and cat populations on islands like Canouan by hosting one-day spay/neuter/wellness clinics, but these clinics depend on donations and are often temporary setups (see photo), and lack sufficient resources to create a sustainable program. By setting up a permanent clinic and pet supply on Canouan Island, we will not only help decrease the stray population on the island but, additionally, help the community at large by providing medical attention, resources for pet owners, humane education programs for the primary and secondary school, and ultimately jobs at the clinic and store. Most importantly, community outreach is a big part of this program and I hope we can make a difference one island at a time starting with Canouan.

Unfortunately, we learned from Dr Audain in March 2023 that he has had to close the cat café rescue for now due to funding although he still takes in strays and volunteers his services at no cost to those in need. Dr. Audain is one of the only veterinary clinics in St. Vincent and the Grenadines that service animals on an emergency basis; he is very giving of his time and now more than ever requires our help! We would like to keep the café operational and continue promoting cat adoptions in St. Vincent. Toast spent two weeks at the café and were it not for Dr Audain’s adoption center, we may have had to find Toast other accommodations that may not have been as safe. We always knew that we were coming back for him but, in the future, for other strays that are rescued, it would be a relief to know that the cat café is an option until a forever home can be located.

Please help us in our efforts to

The monthly cost to maintain the cat café and adoption center in St. Vincent is $1,868 monthly:

You can see recent videos and photos from the Cat café on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook (account usernames & links below)

Tiktok: @ericaudain2 /@ericaudain2?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc)

Instagram: @catcafesvg (https://www.instagram.com/catcafesvg/)

Facebook: @eric.audain1 (*some graphic content* https://www.facebook.com/groups/843338416213693)

In addition, you can read about the recent free veterinary clinic in Canouan on Feb 26, 2023, where Dr. Audain successfully neutered 11, and spayed 9 dogs and cats as well as treated/examined a further 17 sick animals in collaboration with the organization Vincent’s Animal Welfare Fund. (https://www.stvincenttimes.com/vincents-animal-fund-holds-first-free-veterinary-clinic-on-canouan/)

Thank you for reading my story and my goals. I hope you can find it in your hearts to support the cat and canine communities of Canouan and St. Vincent. Dr. Audain has devoted his life to saving animals and now, more than ever needs our help.

Any donation, even something very small, would be deeply appreciated.