Saturday Calistoga event will help feral cats
By Dave Stoneberg
CALISTOGA, Calif. — Calistogan Connie Schellinger has a love for cats. Not your run-of-the-mill house cats, who will sit on your lap and purr, but those who are wild, feral and don’t trust humans.
In five months, from last August to December, the Calistoga Cat Action Team of Napa and Sonoma Counties spent $7,000 in veterinary bills for spay/neuter services and taking care of sick feral cats, not from Calistoga but from the City of Clearlake, in Lake County. There’s a reason for that. The local Calistoga cat colonies have closed because the cats have all “aged out” or died.
“I actually adopted two of them,” Schellinger said. “One has passed away; the other is still with me.”
To raise much-needed funds, CCAT will host its third annual Cat Bingo from 4-8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 16, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1504 Myrtle St. in Calistoga. The event includes bingo games, of course, as well as wine, dinner, refreshments, prizes and a live auction. Calistoga’s Cheese and Crust will cater the dinner, which includes spaghetti and meatballs, pesto spaghetti, salads, hors d’oeuvres, dessert and red and white wine. Tickets are $49 per person, available online here or at the door. Calling the bingo numbers will be Cathy Keag and Dotty Schenk.
Two women take care of the feral cat colonies in Clearlake, each with 20 or more ferals. In addition to paying for spay/neuter, vaccination and microchip services, which can range from $200 to $400 per cat, CCAT provides food to help feed the colonies. Schellinger’s justification: “People just don’t have a lot of money up there; it’s tough for them to go to a veterinarian.”
Many people are concerned about feral cats’ impact on wildlife populations, especially mammals and bird populations. Additionally, ferals can spread diseases that affect humans, livestock and wildlife. For some people, the dislike has turned to hatred, and Schellinger said she’s even heard of people shooting feral cats.
“Can you believe that?” she asked.
$7,000 spent on feral cats
The women in Clearlake trap the feral cats and then take them to the veterinarian of their choice, who will then call Schellinger for approval.
“It’s costly, but we need to get it done,” she said.
Thirty-five people attended last year’s Cat Bingo event, which raised $5,500. So how was the organization able to spend $7,000?
“CCAT had some money in its account, so we used it,” Schellinger said. “I try not to use it all and save it for a real emergency, then I just tell people they have to wait. I think I’ve got 15 cats on the hook that are waiting for the fundraiser to be over so I can help them.”
Besides veterinarian bills, the funds raised will help relocate feral cats to rural estates and wineries from Knights Valley to Mount Veeder and pay for food to feed the ferals in Calistoga, Knights Valley, Clearlake and St. Helena.
Local veterinarians Dr. David Gold of St. Helena Veterinary Hospital and Dr. Joe Stelbasky of St. Helena’s Upper Valley Animal Clinic have been especially helpful to CCAT and its ferals. Gold donated $1,500 in vet services to CCAT, and Stelbasky gives CCAT “a very generous discount.”
“Those two have been very helpful and have stepped up to help us,” Schellinger said.
Activist founded CCAT in 1995
Calistoga activist and attorney Kristin Casey founded CCAT in 1995 but passed away on July 23, 2015, from injuries sustained in a car crash two days earlier. Schellinger has been president of CCAT since 2016, and shortly after she became president, she added to the organization’s focus. CCAT had always been about spaying and neutering feral cats, but Schellinger added barn relocations of ferals to CCAT. Additionally, the organization is nonprofit, so donations may be tax deductible.
Sometimes ferals live in colonies that are not safe, or no one is available to feed them. Trapping the ferals, giving them vaccinations and spay/neuter services is the start for a better life for the ferals, especially if they end up at a permanent home, either a large rural estate or at a winery.
“Most people who reach out to CCAT to adopt a feral cat, it is for rodent or vole control,” Schellinger said. “The ferals live outside, but there has to be a shelter outside for them.”
In the winter the covered shelter should have a heating pad for when it is too cold, and in the summer Schellinger suggests ice packs or misting fans to keep them cool.
CCAT currently has two volunteers, and more are needed.
“We need more people to step up for barn relocations; we need more permanent homes for feral cats,” Schellinger said.
The two volunteers currently are feeding a feral cat, Hank, who lives on Highway 29 across from Old Lawley Toll Road. Hank’s owner is in a hospital in San Francisco, and her husband is with her, so there’s no one to feed him other than Schellinger and the two volunteers.
“We must have volunteers to help with cleaning of cages and transportation,” Schellinger said. “It is not a glamorous job; you’ve got to get down and dirty.”
She partners with Janet Williams of Marin Friends of Ferals and takes feral cats trapped in Marin, Solano and other Bay Area counties for the barn relocation program. The two meet in a shopping center halfway between Calistoga and San Rafael, where Marin Friends of Ferals is based. Although it is tough to find the time to get the feral cats, Schellinger said it is necessary.
Why does Schellinger call her work at CCAT a calling and a special ministry?
“Ferals have always been the second-class citizens, more or less, and everybody wants to adopt a lap cat or a house cat,” she said. “Ferals are not necessarily human-friendly or want to be inside your house, but they need a place to live.”
Without the donors, there would be no CCAT, Schellinger said.
“Donors are so important for this program,” she said. “So far our fabulous donors have kept us afloat, even during COVID. We want to help, especially in Lake County.”
Dave Stoneberg is an editor and journalist who has worked for newspapers in both Lake and Napa counties.