We can’t save all the cats. Yet.

We’re Meagan and Kyle Daigle, and we run Best Cat, a cat-only pet store and adoption centre in Burlington, Ontario. Last year we had to start turning cats in need away, so we took over the unit next door, doubled our rescue space, and added a quarantine room for new, pregnant and recovering cats. Four months later we’re at our limit again, and every week someone asks us to take a cat we have no room for.

Then this summer someone broke into our rescue shed behind the store and took the metal cages that housed our overflow cats. We’re not buying enclosures back. We’re replacing them with custom cat rooms to further increase our capacity.

Best Cat was built on a simple idea: a cat store pays the rent, and the cats bring cat lovers together. Four years on, we find homes for about 200 cats a year (1000+ since we opened our doors in 2022), and the store currently pays over $30,000 a year in rent, taxes and utilities just for the space to foster our rescue cats. That remains our contribution for as long as we’re in business. Donations never touch rent.

Meagan puts 40+ hours a week into rescue on top of running the store with Kyle: vet runs, foster coordination, the calls nobody else takes. We’re launching a non-profit so she can do what she’s best at, rescuing cats and finding them homes, full time. It won’t be just another rescue. There are hundreds of great ones across Canada and nearly all of them are full. Ours exists to build their capacity by creating more space to house cats in need and providing supplies and admin support to the recues who need it.

We’re starting with a $4,500 goal, which builds room #1 and registers our non-profit as we prepare to apply for charity status. Our stretch goal is $20,000, and here’s where 200 founding donors gets us:

Custom cat rooms, starting with room #1, built so our community can safely go inside and spend real time with our fosters.

An emergency fund for the unexpected medical cases a partner rescue can’t cover on its own.

Our non-profit registered, with the charity application next.

Every donation before December 31, 2026 makes you a founding donor of the Burlington adoption centre.

Our goal is 200 founding donors, but there’s no cap: every donor past 200 adds more capacity for cats and cat rescue. After December 31 the founding window closes for good, and we’ll open new ways to donate and get involved. Donors giving $100 or more will be named on our founding donor plaque, laser cut as a donation from our friends and will live in our newly renovated adoption centre.

Healthy cats are being euthanized in Ontario and across Canada because there’s nowhere to house them. A $100 donation builds the foundation to change that.

You’ll get updates here, progress on our social media, or come into the store and see it for yourself. Can’t give? Sharing this, or continuing to shop at Best Cat, is critical in helping us get closer to our vision.

We truly could not have gotten this far without all of you. Every cat that has come through our doors, and every cat still to come, could not ask for a more supportive community to help them find their forever homes.

See you inside the adoption centre!

Meagan & Kyle

This fundraiser supports Best Cat’s rescue operations and the launch of our forthcoming registered charity. Donation receipts cannot be issued for this campaign. Future donations to the registered charity will be receiptable.