About Us
Kitty Crusaders of Athens has partnered with Cat Zip Alliance to support and develop their "Community Cats" program now renamed "Kitty Crusaders". Abby Griner founded the Kitty Crusaders non-profit organization to help the feral cats of Athens-Clarke County.
We estimate that there are close to 20,000 feral cats and kittens in Clarke County alone. Kitty Crusaders hopes to use education and mobilize community involvement to tackle this "growing" situation of homeless felines. It is important to realize that we are NOT an organization with a shelter to house large numbers of homeless cats.
Since we have very limited resources at this time, the primary thing we are able to do for the feral community cats is to offer advice to individuals who want to help a particular cat, or colony of cats, by providing information about the most humane and effective strategies to help the cats. We are currently developing a tip sheet for trapping ferals but there is a list of local resources and other animal assistance organizations in the Links section.
If an individual wants to help a particular kitten or kittens, we can also give special advice about trapping kittens and evaluating them for possible socializing and adopting. Age, health factors and personality are some of the things that will need to be considered. Usually, the longer a kitten or cat has been "in the wild", the longer it will take to socialize him/her, and so in many cases, returning the animal to its territory after it has been spayed/neutered and vaccinated may be the best choice, as long as there is a dedicated caregiver for the feline once he/she has been returned.
Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to trap, foster, and keep large numbers of feral kittens for adoption. In the future we hope to have a barn cat referral program where some feral cats and kittens may be able to eventually (with help) adapt to new homes in barnyards and/or on farms. However, that program is only part of the solution, not the solution for all 20,000 cats in the Athens Area!
If you need advice about a situation involving one or more of our "community cats", please first review the local resources listed on our website and then if you need further help, contact us at 706-742-5760 feralcatcaregivers@yahoo.com or kittycrusadersofathens.org.
If you don't need help but simply want to OFFER your help, we would totally welcome it---whether you can help just a little or want to help a lot. And there are lots of different ways to help - just contact us at kittycrusadersofathens@gmail.com.