We will celebrate our 40th anniversary year with a benefit on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at the Orchard Hills Party Center, 11414 Caves Rd., Chesterland. (Parking will be available behind the Patterson Fruit Farm Market, a short walk from the party center.) The event will be held from 5 to 8 p.m., with registration beginning at 4:30. The ticket price of $40 per person covers (in addition to access to silent and Chinese auctions and a 50-50 raffle): wood-fired pizza baked on-site, salad, side dishes, snacks, dessert, soft drinks, and bottled water. Wine and beer will be available at a cash bar.
Checks or money orders can be mailed to: Happy Tails Cat Sanctuary, P.O. Box 581, Chesterland, OH 44026. Event ticket payments and/or donations can also be transmitted with PayPal via our website (www.HappyTailsCatSanctuary.org.) And remember: There is no “r” in Tails! For more information, call or text Doreen at 440.759-0076, or send an email message to HappyTailsCatSanctuary@gmail.com.
In 1982, the sanctuary’s founder, Jeanne Bones, took some abandoned cats into her home in Chesterland. She eventually took in many more “cats in need,” and she and some volunteers constructed or retro-fitted “cat friendly” buildings on several acres of her property. Their efforts resulted in the Happy Tails Cat Sanctuary, officially named as a non-profit charitable organization in 2005.
Our sanctuary has overcome some challenges over the years, including a fire in 2010 that resulted in a lot of damage, including the destruction of Jeanne’s home. She was determined that the sanctuary – with the assistance of many determined volunteers – would continue to provide good care for the cats in the buildings undamaged by the fire. She stayed in a trailer on her property for many months until her house was rebuilt. Jeanne passed away in 2015, but Happy Tails survived that crisis as well. Now the sanctuary is located inside Cats’ Inn in Newbury, and has remained a no-kill, mostly cage-less facility. There are also a number of Happy Tails cats in foster homes.
Among the sanctuary’s furry residents are elderly and “special needs” cats, some who are adoptable if people are patient with them. The “special needs” include diabetes, limited eyesight, and FIV, an immune deficiency virus. In some animal shelters, cats who test “positive” for FIV are euthanized, but at Happy Tails they are kept in a separate room – and often FIV-positive cats live normal life spans with good care and proper nutrition (which our sanctuary provides). Some of the other cats are adoptable and others aren’t. We have feline residents with personalities ranging from very shy to extremely friendly. Cats who aren’t adopted can stay at the sanctuary for their entire lives. (At this time we can’t take in any new feline residents.)
Veterinary care and the sanctuary’s daily maintenance are expensive, and donations would be greatly appreciated. Inflation has significantly increased the prices of cat food, kitty litter, cleaning supplies, etc., but the cats’ needs continue, of course. If people can attend our April 9th fund raiser, that would be great, but if not, we hope they will still be willing to donate to help our sanctuary’s cats.