Imagine... it's winter, and you're just a stray cat trying to survive. You find yourself trapped, then transported to a trailer and put into a small cage. The days and months pass. Now it's summer. Your caretaker has become unreliable, and you rarely see a bowl of food or a bowl of water. He stopped scooping cat litter in May, so there are overflowing litter boxes in the living room and in a couple of back rooms. The piles are full of flies, cockroaches, and numerous other bugs. The air is nearly unbreathable. You see the other cats in the trailer getting thinner and less well. The temperature in the trailer is nearly unbearable in July. The ammonia, the cockroaches, the fleas... it's just all too much. You watch as several animals die of starvation. You have given up any hope that you'll be saved.

Then, one day in the fall, a lady comes to the trailer and loads up all of the cats. You're transferred into a carrier and are transported to another house where you're placed in a large cage with a bed, food, and a litter box with fresh litter. The air is actually breathable! There are even toys to play with!

THIS. This is the story of 21 cats that were recently rescued from a dilapidated trailer in Frazee, MN. At least six of them are emaciated, the others are very thin, ribs and backbone showing. Interestingly enough, there are four cats that appear to be in relatively good condition and were either being fed, or they are recent captures. The man who has been responsible for these cats is a schizophrenic elderly veteran. He hurt his back in May, and since then has been unable to scoop cat litter. His mental health has deteriorated to the point where he doesn't remember if he did or didn't feed/water the cats. I worked with the Frazee police, Becker County, and Minnesota Federated, in hopes they could help. Frazee police helped us to remove 4 cats. But at that point, the caretaker became unwilling, and they gave up. I continued to contact him, desperately trying to get the cats out of that trailer. Finally, in September, he called me again - he had fallen and hurt his back again, and he needed to go to the VA. He asked me if I could take all of his cats. And so, in the coming week, I gathered up all of the cats in his trailer and brought them to my house. I wasn't set up for this many cats, and so I ended up borrowing and purchasing kennels to keep them in while we sorted them out. I've had them for two weeks now and have taken several to the vet for various issues. There was one kitty, a tortoiseshell little dear, that was not doing well at all. I brought her to the vet where it was determined her kidneys were shutting down, and so we helped her cross the Rainbow Bridge.

Going forward, it is my hope to schedule each cat for a wellness visit at MinnKota Paaws, where they will receive a general wellness check and a rabies vaccine for $50.00. While there, I want each of them tested for FIV/FELV because two years ago one of the cats I took from him was diagnosed with FELV. This will cost $30.00 each. They all have ear mites, and so they'll each get treated with Revolution for $10.00 each. I have 10 cats set up with MinnKota Paaws for 10/23. I know that several have really bad teeth that will need treatment, and dental care is expensive.

What I need more than anything is some financial support for this project. No donation is too small, and every penny will be appreciated. These poor cats have lived in hell, and they are more than deserving of a second chance. Can you help by donating to my cause?