News from the Kauai Community Cat Program
Looking for news about our Lydgate sanctuary? Go to this page!
June Is Here and Kittens Kittens and More Kittens – How About a 1-1 Match to Help Sent Kittens to the Mainland!
Aloha!
May is more or less in the rearview mirror!
What did it look like? Very busy if you ask me.
TNR – 204 (May) and 990 (YTD)
Transfers/Adoptions – 21 (May) and 147 (YTD)
Whew……
For June we have a busy spay/neuter scheduled with most of the slots being full! Thanks for the support from Bissell Fix the Future program!
Transfers will be big for June. We are looking at lots of kittens locally and our mainland partners are seeing the same. I was able to schedule 4 transfers for June which will send about 40 cat/kittens to the mainland. If my numbers hold with who I think will be going that will be 21 crates (plus another 2 crates – trying to help a family who has to move and needs help sending their 2 senior cats to grandma on the mainland for safety).
The cost for the cargo alone is $7,475. Add on top of that the health check, health certificate, shots and flea treatment.
I have been grinding what’s left of my teeth when one of my favorite people said is that you grinding your teeth that I keep hearing? Let me help. She said let’s do a 1-1 Match up to $5,000. That should give you what you need for the transfers and the health checks.
I am speechless. This is really needed to get these guys to the mainland!!
Thank you so much my favorite person! You know when the need is there.
Update on Hero (little guy on the scale). He and his brother flew and before they got settled in at RAIN the two were adopted together and are happily in their new home!
Remember, every little bit helps. Help others like Hero get their Golden Ticket ride.
All donations are tax deductible! Every dollar donated is used on our kitties. There are multiple ways you can donate.
You may donate directly to KCCP by one of three methods:
– Via PayPal: PayPal.Me/kauaicats
– Via our website
– Send a check in the mail, made out to KCCP, and address the envelope to KCCP, PO Box 143, Kekaha, HI 96752
Use our QR code:
Or Venmo
KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!
Thanks in advance
Susan
Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!
5-30-26
Kittens Kittens and More Kittens!!
Aloha!
It’s kitten season!
We knew it was coming. It does more than once a year but spring seems to usually be worse. Same thing on mainland except for the most part they just have one big season in the spring.
I answer the email for KCCP. I think I am up to about 12,000 that I have answered in my volunteer career. What do these people all want? A large number want appointments for spay/neuter at our bus. Excellent. This is what we want!
What other type of emails do we get? The other 2 types are pretty heartbreaking and puts us in such a horrible position. The 2 types are the same even though totally different.
First type would be from people who says there is this cat/s that are bothering them and we better come and get them or they will take matters in their own hands. The second part to this category is the visitor who sees a cat or maybe 2 and wants to let me know where they are so I can come and get them. In some cases as the visitor moves around the island I will get additional emails with additional locations with finally an email saying I guess you were right there are cats everywhere. I want to help each one but feel sort of helpless.
Both of these situations are so sad to me since I have no where to put these cats. Most are not friendly but I go through my normal response, are they friendly, can you pick them up. If they are friendly maybe the humane society will take them, if not can you work with them and when they are friendly I will try to send them to the mainland to would you like to adopt the kitty? Most of the time that does not work.
The other type of email is – I have/found/heard of a litter of kittens or a friendly cat and can you pick them up. This time of year it’s non stop. I have a very small group of volunteers, most of whom can’t foster. The ones that can, typically find cat/kittens on their own. It’s even more upsetting when the person emailing says I tried but couldn’t catch their mom. What has just happened is you are now asking for someone to feed kittens with a bottle every 2 hours and then it’s every 3 hours until they can eat in their own. Big commitment and the typical person that works can not do that. We just don’t have the bandwidth. Please leave kittens with the mom if the mom is there. So much better for the kittens.
I have places to send to and I appreciate my mainland Seattle area partners The Noah Center and RAIN tremendously. We also have Renko in Illinois. Plus I appreciate individuals who say I want this cat please ship it.
Sending one cat or two kittens to the mainland costs a lot. The current cost to get a cat ready to fly and get him to his destination in Seattle is about $525. A spay/neuter, couple of vet visits, shots, flea treatment, health certificate, crate and airline costs. Add $200 if I am sending anywhere outside of Seattle. This is for one adult or two kittens! It adds up fast. This doesn’t cover the cost while we are taking care of the kittens/cats on Kauai. And let’s just hope there is no serious medical issue since our bus can only deal with minor and not major stuff like surgeries or testing.
This time of year we need extra funds to get as many of these kittens and cats sent to our mainland partners as we can to find homes. Our money supply gets really tight the more cats we send to the mainland. Help us help these guys go to their forever home in the mainland.
I am sure you are curious about what this little guy is doing? This is Hero. To fly he have to have his big boy surgery. To have your surgery you must be 2 pounds. Hero is celebrating since he made weight he was able to visit our bus last weekend and he will be on his way to Seattle to find his new home tomorrow.
Remember, every little bit helps. Help others like Hero get their Golden Ticket ride.
All donations are tax deductible! Every dollar donated is used on our kitties. There are multiple ways you can donate.
You may donate directly to KCCP by one of three methods:
– Via PayPal: PayPal.Me/kauaicats
– Via our website
– Send a check in the mail, made out to KCCP, and address the envelope to KCCP, PO Box 143, Kekaha, HI 96752
Use our QR code:
Or Venmo
KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!
Thanks in advance
Susan
Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!
5-24-26
Hello May!
Aloha!
It felt we were pretty busy in April but when I look back the stats it does not reflect that in some cases.
Charity Walk. The Charity Walk was this past Saturday and KCCP represented. Thanks to Dr Maya, Jarom and Arsenia! We still have until the end of the to month add to our donation pot and we have gotten a few donations through our regular web page that said for the Charity Walk so we will total those and make one donation to cover that amount. You can still donate if you are a procrastinator and want to but have not done it yet. Thanks to everyone that did show their support to KCCP. Results will not be available until September so it’s hurry up and wait!
Da Bus – Spay/Neuters: For April we did 166 spay/neuters (786 YTD). That is low for us. I study these numbers every month what I have seen in the last several month is just a low take rate. That in addition to the typical 20-30% no show or cancel the day of makes it impossible for us to do what we really want to do – fix lots of cats. It’s hard for those of us that are always hearing from folks about so many unfixed cats everywhere and then spots go unused at the bus. May take rates for Kekaha were low but Anahola is looking pretty strong.
Transfers/Adoptions/Return to Owner
In April we had 16 (YTD 126) with 10 adults flying to the mainland to find their new homes. Several were really special situations. One of our trappers saw some cats and decided to stop and see if they were fixed. She talked to some residents and found another resident seemed to take pleasure in shooting cats with arrows. One had an arrow in in head and another had wounds consistent with an arrow. The resident had a cat that they had “adopted” and that cat had been shot too. The owners had taken a picture of their poor kitty with the arrow in the neck. They asked if we could please find kitty a new home. April went nuts, I went nuts and I got ahold of our friends at the Noah Center and sent them pictures and explained the situation. Normally we have to wait for wounds to heal before we send to Noah. Noah said not necessary to wait – send them now. Arrow and his friends flew and they were adopted before we knew it. That meant a lot to all of us that we saved these guys from the arrow man. Thankfully, Arrow, Sigma and Arrow’s brother who must be his twin survived but i worry how many did not. If you look at the picture you can see the arrow going in one side and out the other. Sigma has the arrow stuck in her neck. Yes April reported it to the police and the humane society! Yes the arrow man is alive and well….
Other Issues: A lot of you I am sure saw the recent coverage on the 150 shearwater that were killed. I am 100% confident this was not a cat but probably dogs. However, the cats are the ones taking the brunt of the conversation. Maybe just a coincidence but we have had a lot of cat poisonings in the Lihue area – over 25 in one general area area in a weeks time period. Not saying that these are in any way connected but…The owners/caregivers of the cats were just devastated and there is nothing I can say/do. Yes, I reported it to the Humane Society.
Future? We need to keep focused and keep fixing. Focus and Fix. This is the only way to control some of these negative situations. We would love 100 volunteers, land for a sanctuary and enough money to put every cat in a sanctuary but that is not something we can do today. Someday that will all be reality. For now – Focus and Fix.
All donations are tax deductible! Every dollar donated is used on our kitties. There are multiple ways you can donate.
You may donate directly to KCCP by one of three methods:
– Via PayPal: PayPal.Me/kauaicats
– Via our website
– Send a check in the mail, made out to KCCP, and address the envelope to KCCP, PO Box 143, Kekaha, HI 96752
Use our QR code:
Or Venmo
KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!
Thanks in advance
Susan
Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!
5-24-26
Charity Walk Update
Aloha!
I would like to thank all that have donated in Kauai Community Cats name for the 2026 Charity Walk. We are currently at about $8,700 with a goal of $25,000.
This year as I stated in the previous email, May 2 is the official walk date but the Visitors Bureau will be taking donations through the end of the month.
KCCP is participating and is encouraging everyone to participate by donating on our page. All donations received in KCCP’s name will come back to us along with a matching percentage. We never know that percentage until the event is over and they count the proceeds and determine the match the participating non-profits will receive.
Last year’s Kaua’i Community Cat Project was the number one nonprofit in fundraising and received a check for $30,000 from the event.
Please help us with a strong showing! Join us in-person or as a donor-only, and help us with this island-wide event as we raise funds for KCCP’s lifesaving work. Many charities benefit from this event and all monies raised stay on that island.
Register for the KCCP fund and help our kitties out!
KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!
Thanks in advance
Susan
Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!
4-22-26
March is a Wrap and on to April
Aloha!
March is in the books – here is what things looked like.
Spay/Neuter
March – 195
YTD – 620
Pretty much on target. We did struggle one day to get close to our numbers despite scheduling 50% more than we needed.
Transfer/Adoptions
March – 33
Year To Date – 110
We think those are solid numbers. Again the question – why not more? As with most things, costs are increasing. One that might not seem significant is cargo charges. We just received notification that costs were being simplified. In the past, they figured the size of the crate we used, weight of crate and cat and then added fees and tax. What it appears to me is they now don’t care about the size of the crate just the total weight. One typical crate with one cat or two kittens look like we will pay about $25 more. Again it may not sound a lot but last week we sent 15 crates to one place or another. At the new charges that would have been $375 more. It adds up!
Going forward – April and beyond? Kitten season on the mainland may create a little issue. We are hoping with our current level of friendlies that need to fly that we should be fine. We hope to fix another 200 cats in April.
What’s new?
2026 Charity Walk – Will be rolling out next week. This is one of our big event each year so hopefully everyone will support us!
I always say none of this is possible without our supporters and we appreciate each and every person.
All donations are tax deductible! Every dollar donated is used on our kitties. There are multiple ways you can donate.
You may donate directly to KCCP by one of three methods:
– Via PayPal: PayPal.Me/kauaicats
– Via our website
– Send a check in the mail, made out to KCCP, and address the envelope to KCCP, PO Box 143, Kekaha, HI 96752
Use our QR code:
Or Venmo
KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!
Thanks in advance
Susan
Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!
4-7-26
What Happened in February?
Aloha!
Yes, another month has passed. I have lots to talk about so let’s get started!
Looking back fondly at February 2026 –
Spay/Neuter
February – 215
YTD – 425
Right on target for us. People say why are we not open more days. When we make our schedule we have to look at availability of not only our vet, and our backup vet but all of the extra help we need to get through a bus day. In addition, there are always extra costs associated with everything such as more medication, microchips and other medical supplies. Most of of volunteers either have jobs or do volunteer for multiple groups so the 4 days is a comfortable and manageable schedule.
Transfer/Adoptions
February – 39
Year To Date – 77
We think those are solid numbers. Again the question – why not more? One transfer is a tremendous amount of work. You have running the cats in to get health certificates and getting everyone to cargo in addition to cargo charges, crates and potentially over night at the kitty hotel is expensive. As much as we love to do it we do have to try to control expenses. Additionally as we know, a lot of times mainland shelters are not able to help due to their levels. The lesson learned is also not every shelter/rescue is a good partner for us. We need to make sure we sent to the right places who will take care of our Kauai cats no matter what. We feel very comfortable with who we send to now and appreciate every “yes” they give me.
Recently we joined partnership with our local cat cafe TropiCats. We have KCCP cats at their facility and we assist with all the out of state adoptions. We have sent to Nevada, Michigan, New York, Oklahoma. This week we did a unique one. Due to the cold weather this time of year it is difficult at best to fly cats to certain areas. We had cancelled several times due to weather and the adopter decided it was time for a new plan. Kitty flew to Seattle and stayed at the kitty hotel. The adopter flew from Chicago and met Paw’s N Pals our kitty hotel people at his hotel. They put kitty in a soft side and handed him to his new dad. Dad went back to airport and got through all the check in and TSA and shed no blood. When I talked to him he said the best thing was just holding kitty the few minutes at TSA made the trip worthwhile and kitty was currently chomping on kitty treat in his new soft side carrier ready to board the plane for his first in cabin experience. When I checked later, all was good and kitty was checking out his new area. So happy for everyone involved.
Going forward – March and beyond? It looks to be pretty status quo for the next couple months. We hope to fix another 200 cats in March, maybe get a couple TropiCats adopted and fly them to their new home and send at least one or two transfers to the mainland.
What’s new.
A lot of you have heard about HB 1736 in addition to multiple other bills that could possible negatively impact the cats we are trying to help. My ask is that each of you investigate and make your decision on this and other bills that come out as to what to support by reviewing facts and not what someone has written up in an attempt to confuse you.
HB 1736 sounds OK, (I just heard it passed its reading yesterday). It’s funding to help spay neuter. Well there are several things that are a little concerning. The biggest is there is only funding if you on do the TN (trap neuter) and not the “R” (return) part. That means all cats would need to go into a sanctuary or in someone’s home. Unfortunately there is no funding for that part. Is that just short sighted or planned with other things hidden in the bill. KCCP is following the lead of Hawaii Humane and are opposed to this bill unless amended so it would not exclude TNR.
2026 Charity Walk – Coming soon. I just got paperwork yesterday and we will start advertising dates. This is one of our big event each year so hopefully everyone will support us!
I always say none of this is possible without our supporters and we appreciate each and every person.
All donations are tax deductible! Every dollar donated is used on our kitties. There are multiple ways you can donate.
You may donate directly to KCCP by one of three methods:
– Via PayPal: PayPal.Me/kauaicats
– Via our website
– Send a check in the mail, made out to KCCP, and address the envelope to KCCP, PO Box 143, Kekaha, HI 96752
Use our QR code:
Or Venmo
KCCP is a registered non-profit, 501(c)3. Thanks in advance for your continued support of Kauai’s cats!
Thanks in advance
Susan
Mahalo for your kokua of Kauai’s community cats!
3-5-26
P.O. Box 143 Kekaha, HI, 96752
Mahalo nui loa to our mainland partners
Contributions to KCCP are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. KCCP’s tax identification number is EIN 26-4305704