A Candid Conversation with LuAnn
By way of background, this conversation follows some pretty radical changes in thinking and policy at CCAS that are likely to be unpopular. LuAnn Pierce and Chris Brown are the directors of this nonprofit cat sanctuary in Bailey, CO. They live on 10 acres of land in the mountains with a lot of cats nobody else wants.
The changes being implemented are in part the aftermath of a tragic house fire where they lost everything, including the sanctuary and two cats. It is also in preparation for changes that will accompany the #savethemall #nokill movement which CCAS believes will change the way animal caregivers do business. LuAnn answers some tough questions about upcoming changes and ways they hope to grow in the near future.
Question: Why do you only have 10 cats at CCAS? Is that really a sanctuary?
LuAnn: The answer is complicated. I have learned that many foster homes have more cats than we do at CCAS – some have a lot more. People don't always understand the differences between a rescue, sanctuary and shelter for animals. A sanctuary is for animals that have no other options. T
he cats at CCAS are considered unadoptable, but their problems are manageable or treatable. They all have a good quality of life with no pain and require minimal to moderate assistance to have a ‘normal’ life. We don't do rescue or take short-term placements - that is not our mission.
Because the cats in our care live with us for their lifetime (except in a rare case), we must be careful to only accept those that truly have no other options. Otherwise, we will have no space for those that need us the most. We originally thought we would get older pets with only a few years to live. That is not the case. All our cats are under 5 except Izzy, the mascot and matriarch that started it all - she is now 13.
Sanctuaries will play an important role in the movement toward a no-kill society. We will be the 'forever home' for cats that are unable to find families to care for them, which is the reason for the #saveustoo movement. Caring for a cat with special needs over a lifetime, which can be up to 20 years, is a huge commitment - financially and otherwise. CCAS is making policy changes to ensure the cats at will get the care they need for the long-term.
Question: Are all your cats incontinent?
LuAnn: 90% of our cats are incontinent. We have inadvertently fallen into a niche for cats with Manx Syndrome and other spinal injuries. The shelter where we adopted Izzy required that we go there every other day for a month to learn how to care for her by manually expressing her bowel and bladder. That was a wise move. After a couple of years, we realized that we could help others cats with this unusual set of skills. We do have cats with other special needs, all from birth defects, like missing feet and fused legs, but we get more referrals for kitties with incontinence as they are often unadoptable.
Keeping the place clean with 9 incontinent cats is a big job. It requires much more time than manually expressing or caring for those that need it. This is the part of caring for special needs cats that people don’t see or understand – and it must be factored into their care. One incontinent cat is the equivalent of three ‘normal’ cats. If we paid someone to do the work that Chris and I do, it would add 2 full time staff to the budget.
Question: Are you going to increase the number of cats here after your rebuild?
LuAnn: Yes, but...CCAS has recently initiated a one-year plan in preparation for the changes to come in sanctuary care. We have a chance to grow the sanctuary when we rebuild, but want to be careful not to lose what I believe is a critical component of our unique little sanctuary – quality of care. As a 'forever home' for cats with special needs, making the environment as homelike as possible is important for them. They need to be with people as much as possible to get their needs for stimulation and enrichment met.
Question: Say more about this forever home/ sanctuary idea.
LuAnn: All the cats lived with us until the fire – in the house like any other cats – with a few spaces setup specifically for them. Since the fire, we are all in temporary housing. Some of the cats are separated from others (which has advantages and disadvantages) and most of them are away from me most of the day. It is different. For some it seems to be a non-issue. Others need more time with us – they are showing regressive behavior. We are doing the best we can under the circumstances, but it is not good enough.
It is very tempting to expand and take more cats, as the need is so great; we have turned away dozens of cats since the fire. At the same time, we want our cats to have the same quality of life they would have with a family. They are not currently getting this level of care. We certainly can't provide it and care for another 10-15 cats without hiring staff.
I am not saying that others are not and cannot do both quality and quantity. But, they likely have more resources, both financial and human. Living in the middle of nowhere (in the mountains) limits our access to volunteers and trained vet care.
Question: Don't you need to be licensed to be an animal sanctuary?
LuAnn: The state of Colorado requires that a sanctuary be licensed if there are over 15 animals (including personal pets) or more than 20-something transfer per year. We strive to follow the state requirements for licensed facilities, although we are not required to be licensed currently. While our temporary housing does not meet the building standards (specific material for walls, drains in the floor, etc.), the new house will have a sanctuary space that is built to code. We voluntarily follow state regulations regarding cleaning, intake and discharge records, food storage, etc. as closely as possible.
Regulations for sanctuaries are the same as for animal shelters in Colorado. CCAS is a hybrid of foster home and sanctuary. There is no distinction for the small ‘in-home sanctuary’ and there needs to be. It is a growing subset of larger shelters and we hope to see it recognized as a unique entity in the future for the safety and wellbeing of the animals who find their forever homes there.
More and more foster homes take cats (and/or dogs) that are determined to be unadoptable and find themselves in a ‘foster failure’ situation if they choose not to give them up for euthanasia. A lot of these cat lovers continue to take in rescues and soon find they are over the allowable limit for fosters. I believe that is 6 (including personal pets) in most counties in Colorado. It happens easily. At that point, they are beyond the limit for foster homes, so the next logical step is to become a small, in-home sanctuary. The laws and regulations need to catch up.
In-home sanctuaries, like in-home daycares, require different regulations, but need to be regulated. Hoarding and taking in cats without the resources to care for them is a problem that could be addressed with some specific guidelines for the little guys. In a no-kill society, we will have to be more creative in how we care for pets, including assistance to families and small sanctuaries .
Question: So, when will CCAS be accepting new admissions?
LuAnn: CCAS is at full capacity with a waiting list. We are not a rescue, so we have no access to foster homes. In reality, finding fosters to care for our cats is near impossible for the same reasons our cats are rarely be adopted. I have turned away 10 cats in the past month but helped find homes for four of them. It is so hard for me to say no to the cats with no other options, but space and time is not the only limitation.
We started out funding CCAS as a labor of love in 2015. Much has happened since then, including losing our home and the sanctuary. The additional living expenses since the fire have prohibited self-funding for the last several months. We have been successful in some small fundraisers, but they require a lot of my time to organize and operate.
Thankfully, we have a vet who donates her time. My husband, our niece and I do all the work with the cats. We have a very generous person who does deep cleaning weekly for a reduced rate and occasionally we hire someone to do maintenance.
I spend up to 40 or more hours working as the sanctuary director and caring for the cats. Chris spends about 10-15 hours caring for the cats and grounds on a good week. Did I mention that he has a full-time job? And I work for pay about 10 hours a week?
It is a choice we make every day. We are not martyrs but love and are committed to ‘our’ cats. Not everyone will understand this, but we get more from them than we give to them.
In order to care for more cats, we have to get funding.
Question: So, what will you do about funding?
LuAnn: CCAS has just started soliciting donations and sponsors for the cats. We are also working toward a self-sustaining stream of income that will cover most of the fixed costs of the sanctuary.
As an organization, we did some soul-searching and number-crunching for a recent planning session. I was shocked to realize that our current projected expenses are $185 per month PER CAT! That is $2220 per year for one cat to receive their labs, necessary medication and vaccinations, high quality food, dental care, supplements and other necessities - no salaries, minimal vet costs, no car payments or mortgage. Thankfully many of those costs are spread out over time when the cats need the care, but some are fixed costs.
With the goal of paying our very generous vet and hiring a part-time vet tech to do some of the cat care, the projected amount changes to $650 per cat per month – almost $8000 per year per cat. If the cats live with us for just 10 years, a low estimate despite their special needs, their lifetime care costs (without any additional specialized care or medication) is estimated to be about $80,000 per cat x 10 cats = $800,000. Wow - I was dumbfounded.
That is why we only have 10 cats at our in-home sanctuary.
Question: Man! That is a lot of money for one cat every month. I guess adding additional expenses for a vet and vet tech would up the ante a lot. What are you going to do to pay for that increase?
LuAnn: We find ourselves in the unpleasant and controversial position of requiring at least one year of funding for new admissions. I know - I hate it. The reality is, we can no longer support cats with special needs for their lifetime without financial assistance. We share our home, resources, time, energy, hearts and souls with the cats, but we do not have the money to do this alone.
Grants are not usually provided to small organizations that serve only a few cats - they are looking at how to get the most out of their money - I understand that. Cats that are accepted for admission will require an upfront contribution to establish a medical savings plan and monthly payments to cover their general expenses.
Question: So, we got off track. When will begin taking new cats?
LuAnn: For now, there is a moratorium on taking new cats at CCAS. That will change when our home is rebuilt, and we begin to generate more income. But, we have no idea when that will be. Between now and then, we will be working toward a self-sustaining sanctuary. If we can generate enough income to cover basic fixed expenses, and expand our network of donors and sponsors, we may be able to help more cats - and first we will add PT and other on-site services for our kitties.
We are taking applications for the waiting list and our new Legacy Program. Cats that have a safe place for the short-term (and financial support) may be considered at any time and added to the waiting list (if accepted).
The Legacy Program is for special needs cats whose owners want to secure a place for their cat at CCAS in the event of their death or inability to care for the cat. It requires a donation of $5,000 or more per cat depending on their medical needs to establish a medical savings plan and monthly contributions for their lifetime care expenses. The details are often worked out in pet trusts, wills or life insurance policies. These cats are guaranteed admission if the application is accepted; their space is secured in advance, Please email to request details.
The current estimate for available space at CCAS is Summer 2019.
Question: Is it worth it? All the work you do and sacrifices you make - no vacations - cleaning up cat poop - dealing with the tons of laundry?
LuAnn: You have kids - it is worth it?
July 2018
The changes being implemented are in part the aftermath of a tragic house fire where they lost everything, including the sanctuary and two cats. It is also in preparation for changes that will accompany the #savethemall #nokill movement which CCAS believes will change the way animal caregivers do business. LuAnn answers some tough questions about upcoming changes and ways they hope to grow in the near future.
Question: Why do you only have 10 cats at CCAS? Is that really a sanctuary?
LuAnn: The answer is complicated. I have learned that many foster homes have more cats than we do at CCAS – some have a lot more. People don't always understand the differences between a rescue, sanctuary and shelter for animals. A sanctuary is for animals that have no other options. T
he cats at CCAS are considered unadoptable, but their problems are manageable or treatable. They all have a good quality of life with no pain and require minimal to moderate assistance to have a ‘normal’ life. We don't do rescue or take short-term placements - that is not our mission.
Because the cats in our care live with us for their lifetime (except in a rare case), we must be careful to only accept those that truly have no other options. Otherwise, we will have no space for those that need us the most. We originally thought we would get older pets with only a few years to live. That is not the case. All our cats are under 5 except Izzy, the mascot and matriarch that started it all - she is now 13.
Sanctuaries will play an important role in the movement toward a no-kill society. We will be the 'forever home' for cats that are unable to find families to care for them, which is the reason for the #saveustoo movement. Caring for a cat with special needs over a lifetime, which can be up to 20 years, is a huge commitment - financially and otherwise. CCAS is making policy changes to ensure the cats at will get the care they need for the long-term.
Question: Are all your cats incontinent?
LuAnn: 90% of our cats are incontinent. We have inadvertently fallen into a niche for cats with Manx Syndrome and other spinal injuries. The shelter where we adopted Izzy required that we go there every other day for a month to learn how to care for her by manually expressing her bowel and bladder. That was a wise move. After a couple of years, we realized that we could help others cats with this unusual set of skills. We do have cats with other special needs, all from birth defects, like missing feet and fused legs, but we get more referrals for kitties with incontinence as they are often unadoptable.
Keeping the place clean with 9 incontinent cats is a big job. It requires much more time than manually expressing or caring for those that need it. This is the part of caring for special needs cats that people don’t see or understand – and it must be factored into their care. One incontinent cat is the equivalent of three ‘normal’ cats. If we paid someone to do the work that Chris and I do, it would add 2 full time staff to the budget.
Question: Are you going to increase the number of cats here after your rebuild?
LuAnn: Yes, but...CCAS has recently initiated a one-year plan in preparation for the changes to come in sanctuary care. We have a chance to grow the sanctuary when we rebuild, but want to be careful not to lose what I believe is a critical component of our unique little sanctuary – quality of care. As a 'forever home' for cats with special needs, making the environment as homelike as possible is important for them. They need to be with people as much as possible to get their needs for stimulation and enrichment met.
Question: Say more about this forever home/ sanctuary idea.
LuAnn: All the cats lived with us until the fire – in the house like any other cats – with a few spaces setup specifically for them. Since the fire, we are all in temporary housing. Some of the cats are separated from others (which has advantages and disadvantages) and most of them are away from me most of the day. It is different. For some it seems to be a non-issue. Others need more time with us – they are showing regressive behavior. We are doing the best we can under the circumstances, but it is not good enough.
It is very tempting to expand and take more cats, as the need is so great; we have turned away dozens of cats since the fire. At the same time, we want our cats to have the same quality of life they would have with a family. They are not currently getting this level of care. We certainly can't provide it and care for another 10-15 cats without hiring staff.
I am not saying that others are not and cannot do both quality and quantity. But, they likely have more resources, both financial and human. Living in the middle of nowhere (in the mountains) limits our access to volunteers and trained vet care.
Question: Don't you need to be licensed to be an animal sanctuary?
LuAnn: The state of Colorado requires that a sanctuary be licensed if there are over 15 animals (including personal pets) or more than 20-something transfer per year. We strive to follow the state requirements for licensed facilities, although we are not required to be licensed currently. While our temporary housing does not meet the building standards (specific material for walls, drains in the floor, etc.), the new house will have a sanctuary space that is built to code. We voluntarily follow state regulations regarding cleaning, intake and discharge records, food storage, etc. as closely as possible.
Regulations for sanctuaries are the same as for animal shelters in Colorado. CCAS is a hybrid of foster home and sanctuary. There is no distinction for the small ‘in-home sanctuary’ and there needs to be. It is a growing subset of larger shelters and we hope to see it recognized as a unique entity in the future for the safety and wellbeing of the animals who find their forever homes there.
More and more foster homes take cats (and/or dogs) that are determined to be unadoptable and find themselves in a ‘foster failure’ situation if they choose not to give them up for euthanasia. A lot of these cat lovers continue to take in rescues and soon find they are over the allowable limit for fosters. I believe that is 6 (including personal pets) in most counties in Colorado. It happens easily. At that point, they are beyond the limit for foster homes, so the next logical step is to become a small, in-home sanctuary. The laws and regulations need to catch up.
In-home sanctuaries, like in-home daycares, require different regulations, but need to be regulated. Hoarding and taking in cats without the resources to care for them is a problem that could be addressed with some specific guidelines for the little guys. In a no-kill society, we will have to be more creative in how we care for pets, including assistance to families and small sanctuaries .
Question: So, when will CCAS be accepting new admissions?
LuAnn: CCAS is at full capacity with a waiting list. We are not a rescue, so we have no access to foster homes. In reality, finding fosters to care for our cats is near impossible for the same reasons our cats are rarely be adopted. I have turned away 10 cats in the past month but helped find homes for four of them. It is so hard for me to say no to the cats with no other options, but space and time is not the only limitation.
We started out funding CCAS as a labor of love in 2015. Much has happened since then, including losing our home and the sanctuary. The additional living expenses since the fire have prohibited self-funding for the last several months. We have been successful in some small fundraisers, but they require a lot of my time to organize and operate.
Thankfully, we have a vet who donates her time. My husband, our niece and I do all the work with the cats. We have a very generous person who does deep cleaning weekly for a reduced rate and occasionally we hire someone to do maintenance.
I spend up to 40 or more hours working as the sanctuary director and caring for the cats. Chris spends about 10-15 hours caring for the cats and grounds on a good week. Did I mention that he has a full-time job? And I work for pay about 10 hours a week?
It is a choice we make every day. We are not martyrs but love and are committed to ‘our’ cats. Not everyone will understand this, but we get more from them than we give to them.
In order to care for more cats, we have to get funding.
Question: So, what will you do about funding?
LuAnn: CCAS has just started soliciting donations and sponsors for the cats. We are also working toward a self-sustaining stream of income that will cover most of the fixed costs of the sanctuary.
As an organization, we did some soul-searching and number-crunching for a recent planning session. I was shocked to realize that our current projected expenses are $185 per month PER CAT! That is $2220 per year for one cat to receive their labs, necessary medication and vaccinations, high quality food, dental care, supplements and other necessities - no salaries, minimal vet costs, no car payments or mortgage. Thankfully many of those costs are spread out over time when the cats need the care, but some are fixed costs.
With the goal of paying our very generous vet and hiring a part-time vet tech to do some of the cat care, the projected amount changes to $650 per cat per month – almost $8000 per year per cat. If the cats live with us for just 10 years, a low estimate despite their special needs, their lifetime care costs (without any additional specialized care or medication) is estimated to be about $80,000 per cat x 10 cats = $800,000. Wow - I was dumbfounded.
That is why we only have 10 cats at our in-home sanctuary.
Question: Man! That is a lot of money for one cat every month. I guess adding additional expenses for a vet and vet tech would up the ante a lot. What are you going to do to pay for that increase?
LuAnn: We find ourselves in the unpleasant and controversial position of requiring at least one year of funding for new admissions. I know - I hate it. The reality is, we can no longer support cats with special needs for their lifetime without financial assistance. We share our home, resources, time, energy, hearts and souls with the cats, but we do not have the money to do this alone.
Grants are not usually provided to small organizations that serve only a few cats - they are looking at how to get the most out of their money - I understand that. Cats that are accepted for admission will require an upfront contribution to establish a medical savings plan and monthly payments to cover their general expenses.
Question: So, we got off track. When will begin taking new cats?
LuAnn: For now, there is a moratorium on taking new cats at CCAS. That will change when our home is rebuilt, and we begin to generate more income. But, we have no idea when that will be. Between now and then, we will be working toward a self-sustaining sanctuary. If we can generate enough income to cover basic fixed expenses, and expand our network of donors and sponsors, we may be able to help more cats - and first we will add PT and other on-site services for our kitties.
We are taking applications for the waiting list and our new Legacy Program. Cats that have a safe place for the short-term (and financial support) may be considered at any time and added to the waiting list (if accepted).
The Legacy Program is for special needs cats whose owners want to secure a place for their cat at CCAS in the event of their death or inability to care for the cat. It requires a donation of $5,000 or more per cat depending on their medical needs to establish a medical savings plan and monthly contributions for their lifetime care expenses. The details are often worked out in pet trusts, wills or life insurance policies. These cats are guaranteed admission if the application is accepted; their space is secured in advance, Please email to request details.
The current estimate for available space at CCAS is Summer 2019.
Question: Is it worth it? All the work you do and sacrifices you make - no vacations - cleaning up cat poop - dealing with the tons of laundry?
LuAnn: You have kids - it is worth it?
July 2018