Thursday, October 15, 2009

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.


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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


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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

19 comments:

  1. eric is a real cat man! we donts havs much to give rights now but tt is good at "borrowing" funds that are left out. we is gonna tell tt to go to werk so we cans sends sumthin to mr. eric the cat man.

    y2kt

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  2. What an absolutely amazing story! We'll post about this story and get the word out that he needs help with donations.

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  3. WE thinks Eric is an angel is disguise.

    The Feral shelters look really nice. ~S,S,C & F

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  4. 154 votes!
    Eric is an angel!
    I hope he can get all the donations he needs!
    Kisses and hugs
    Lorenza

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  5. Amazing story and yes, we remember the photos from before. How could we forget?

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  6. All too sadly, we remember them...

    He surely is evFURRY khytty's furiend -

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra

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  7. Wow, Eric is awesome. We donated what we could right now.

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  8. We think that is a wonderful story and we are so glad he was able to succeed!

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  9. Eric is a wonderful person for doing what he's doing!

    We've voted for Merci today.

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  10. Eric is a wonderful man for doing all this for abandoned cats. I will make a donation.

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  11. Such a beautiful thing you're doing Eric, thank you for your kindness.

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  12. Eric is an amazing man. We can't thank him enough for doing what he did for all those cats. As soon as mom can spare a few papers we will tell her to donate them to his priject. We hope he has a paypal button up.
    We vote Merci!

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  13. Not only is Eric a cat rescuer. He is a warrior for these & all cats. He is tireless, determined & unwavering. And he’s is unquestionably an expert in what he does.

    But he’s not invincible; this experience has knocked him off his feet more than once; emotionally, physically & financially. But Eric got back up, dusted himself off & got back to the important task of saving these innocent lives.

    He saved 101 cats. How many “shelters” or “rescues” do you know that have taken on a case like this? Not many. Yet this man did it single-handedly.

    Im am proud to call Eric a friend & mentor. The world needs more people like him.

    These cats now have a second chance. They are beginning their new lives. Please help Eric to help these cats find their way.

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  14. Now thats what I call a cat man, he realy is a hero.. Hugs GJ x

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  15. To my friend Eric and those that have helped him in saving these orphans, much paw appause. What it must have felt like as he took that last little girl (now named Houdini) from the house. Each one of those orphans now has a chance to a happy life thanks to you, Eric...your heart and love has touched each kitty as you shed tears in their fur and said, "You're going to be OK now. You are loved."

    There are so many animals needing homes and help across our country right now, and we hope everyone reading the story of the Lakemore cats will share it and donate what they can to help Eric with the needs these babies still have.

    God bless all of you who rescue. Thanks, Jan for sharing this story.

    Purrs...Bari and all at Cat Happy
    www.cathappy.net


    Eric, thanks to you and

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  16. Hello to Jan and all my wonderful animal friends, This is Eric of the Lakemore rescue. I want to thank all of the great readers for their loving support and kind words for my 101 cats. You have all been a blessing. Much love and hope to all of you ~ Eric Schickendantz
    "We won't always know whose lives we touched and made better for our having cared, because actions can sometimes have unforeseen ramifications. What's important is that you do care and you act" -- Charlotte Lunsford

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  17. Hey Gang,
    Mr. Eric has done a great thing. We will try to help him out adn maybe some of our friends can help him too.
    - TBH&K

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  18. Eric is a wonderful man who dearly loves all living creatures and he has sacrified much to help out 101 cats that everyone else would have allowed to be euthanized! Eric has accomplished the seemly impossible for most of us mere mortals. Eric's deep compassion and fierce determination has stood him well over the many years he has been saving cats. Eric has done it all without any fanfare and has merely tolerated the press because 101 precious lives were at stake.

    Eric still needs our help so he can continue to help out the cats. He needs catfood, particularly canned; cat litter and especially the specially designed cat houses from www.feralvillas.com. Monetary donations are always welcomed. Doing the rescuing there are always unexpected expenses. Of course you can still foster and/or adopt one of the beautiful felines.

    We are all so fortunate, those of us who can call Eric our friend. Happy Birthday (his birthday was just a few days ago) my dear friend, I respect and so admire you!

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