Cat sanctuary seeks help with renovations

Three-legged Maxine seemed wary of news reporters but stared long enough for a picture before disappearing.

“Maxine runs like the wind… sideways,” Linda Buchanan, founder, president and director of Catmandu, said during a tour on June 20.

The cat sanctuary and adoption center in east Carson City is nearing a decade of operation. From June 19 to July 27, the facility will be closed to the public as staff members — and hopefully more volunteers — fix uneven patches of concrete flooring, install vinyl flooring and spruce up the interior. The roof will also be replaced.

“Most of this is going to be done by volunteer labor, we hope,” said Catmandu board member Karen Crandall.

With the same can-do spirit she used to open the sanctuary, Buchanan hopes the community pitches in. She already has donors for a new roof as the old roof started leaking last winter during record storms. She hopes to raise upward of $10,000 for needed renovations as well as attract volunteers who have experience with construction.

“Fortunately, none of it is structural or hazardous or anything like that,” she said.

But after purchasing the nearly 4,000-square-foot former day care center, the nonprofit wants to invest in the property and prepare it for another decade of “helping cats in Carson City,” Buchanan said.

Those interested in donating or volunteering can find contact information online: https://www.catmanducc.org/.

From left, Catmandu staff member Lori Merritt, Executive Director Linda Buchanan, staff member C.J. Neumann, board member Karen Crandall and volunteer Trudie Martin at the Catmandu facility on June 20. (Scott Neuffer photo) 

Buchanan started the nonprofit in 2014, two years after her husband, Kurt, died. The small business they had run together died with him, she said. At some point in the aftermath, she found herself taking care of a stray cat.

“I started looking for someone to help him and discovered there just really wasn’t much of any resources for cats in Carson City,” she said. “Dogs were more so, but cats, there just wasn’t much at all. I just kept saying, ‘Somebody should do something. Somebody should do something.’ And you know, I just woke up one morning and went, ‘You know what? I’m somebody, and I’m going to do something.’ And so I did.

“You know, no experience running a shelter or formal animal rescue, but my plan was just to provide some beds and a safe place for them to go. So I cashed out Kurt’s pension, and I sold pretty much everything I had. I found this place, and we got started.”

Catmandu has cared for up to 150 cats at a time, but Buchanan tries to keep the number below 80. With only a handful of employees, and a weekly visit from a veterinarian, the sanctuary has a small staff and limited resources, she said.

“The vast majority of the cats we take in now are either from people dying or people can’t find housing,” Buchanan said.

She said the nonprofit would like to facilitate more home-to-home adoptions in the future as sanctuary space is limited. She also pointed to a lack of pet-friendly housing in Carson City.

“The rental market is horrible, and that has hugely increased the number of surrenders because people lose their housing for whatever reason, and they can’t find a place to rent that will let them have pets.”

She described the challenge of giving up an animal.

“Some people come in, and they are just completely devastated. They’re crying. It’s like giving your kid away,” she said. “For a lot of people, it’s really, really hard, but they have no options.”

Catmandu houses three categories of cats, Buchanan said. The first category is made up of friendly cats that are “the most adoptable.” The second category is made up of cats that are friendly once they get to know a person. The last category is for those cats that staff is still trying to connect with. Buchanan said not all cats that come to Catmandu are adoptable.

“They end up here for years and years, some of them for life,” she said.

Buchanan added, “People don’t realize how emotional cats really are. Everyone thinks they’re very aloof and cold, but they are not. They are very emotional, sensitive little creatures.”

Crandall said people in the community might not know about Catmandu but will find the nonprofit in a time of need.

“Linda has driven all over to pick up cats,” she said.

One program staff is particularly proud of is a senior foster program.

“It matches senior citizens with senior cats age 10 and up,” Buchanan said. “For all intents and purposes, it’s their cat, but if the cat needs medical help, they see our vet and we help with that cost. It really takes a group of cats that have a really hard time finding homes — which is senior cats — and places them with people who could really use the companionship and friendship.”

Catmandu does screen all prospective adopters, Buchanan explained.

“It’s really important to us that we do long-term adoptions,” she said. “We try really hard to match the person with the right cat.”

Renovations the next month will focus on one room at a time, so cats can be moved to other areas of the facility accordingly. Buchanan hopes people contribute to the project but also in the future, for what she said is an “ongoing need.”

“We’re always trying to find ways we can help, given our resources,” she said.