101 Lakemore Cats

You probably don't remember these photos, but these are a few of the Lakemore Cats in Akron, Ohio.

We have done a few posts on the Lakemore Cats -- cats that were left behind in a home that was foreclosed. There turned out to be 101 cats. Today, we received some good news. But these cats still need your help.

These cats did not belong to Eric. If we remember correctly, he is into feeding and trapping feral cats for spay/neuter, not rescuing them. Yet took on the daunting task of rescuing the cats someone else left behind, never imagining how much work and funding it would take to complete the job. He has had some help but not nearly enough. He's raised all the funds and done almost all the work himself. We're going to let him tell you the current status. This is from an email received today, but the names and amounts of the donors have been deleted.

************************

Hello all, It's Eric the cat Man again.

It took me 4 months but the last Lakemore Cat at the abandoned house was rescued this morning! 101 Cats rescued from the lakemore house. I had one left hiding. She has been hiding for three days inside the arm of an old day bed. I had searched the house and set traps for 3 days without any luck. I cut the arm open and found her inside this morning. She is at OOAK clinic already. IT IS OVER. The house is empty of 101 cats today :o} :o} :o}

I have had some angels, they have been a real blessing for the cats, some as far away as Europe. Spay & Neuter, vetting, shots, food, care,supplies, etc alone has cost me over $6000 so far.We were using at one point, early in this rescue, 35 cans of wet cat food plus much dry food a DAY.

Most lakemore cats, about 60+ are in new forever homes with love & sunny windows. Others are safe with the "Few" wonderful rescue groups that have helped me. I still have 16 friendly cats left to find homes for in my garage.

Sadly we have 18 that will not socialize. Mostly older males. We had to make a very hard decision with the 18. I will not have them in cages for the rest of their lives. I WILL NOT PUT DOWN A CAT either. These cats were very feral in nature and have been VERY frightened, hard to socialize.

I found a cat friendly family that will maintain this new colony in a large Barn Shed we bought and moved to their large property in the country. The cats are all vetted and spayed & neutered and will have a large heated shed with outside windows. We put in many cat boxes and shelves, cat walks and hiding places. They will have a cat door open in a month to go outside or back in. They will be fed wet canned and dry food daily. I want to thank Toby Franks & Veronica for all the help fixing up the barn.

We are adding outside cat shelters by Feral Villa for any cats deciding not to stay in the shed. Also we have a garage on the property we are adding Feral shelters to the back of the inside of the garage. PLEASE ~~~~ I need funds to buy these shelters.These Cat houses are fantastic.

http://www.feralvilla.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1

911~~~ I am still in need of donations and canned, dry food, litter, etc. We want to buy a supply of flea & wormer meds. We are still in desperate need of money. We are over $1200 in the RED for vetting & supplies, before any new purchases. PLEASE, ANY DONATION WILL HELP!

Information for donations can be found on Eric's site. Or donations can be mailed to:
Eric Schickendantz
Lakemore Cat Fund
P.O.Box 13227
Fairlawn Ohio 44334
330-864-2879

***********************

We think Eric has done an outstanding job with these cats, but he's not done yet. If you can spare a dollar or two, perhaps you can donate to Eric's cat rescue to help pay the rest of the vet bill and finish the job he began 4 months ago.

PS -- Oh, dear, we forgot to remind you to vote for Merci as Cutest Dog. Her voting page is: http://www.cutestdogcompetition.com/vote.cfm?h=194291465301F78C17ECD3F5BA4AB250