Feel Good Friday - Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary

It’s Feel Good Friday and time to take a summer road trip to Saint Pauls, North Carolina to visit the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary (BCR).

North Carolina law allows for animals who are sick, injured or blind to be killed immediately in animal control facilities. When a 6-week old blind cat named Louie was not accepted in the shelter where the BCR founders were volunteering, they decided to take him home and soon after registered Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary as a non-profit in North Carolina.

The first BCR building was built in 2005 as a lifetime care sanctuary for blind cats who were deemed not adoptable by regular shelters. In 2011, they built a second shelter to provide a safe place for Leukemia positive (FELV+) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV+) cats who otherwise would be killed because they tested positive for these viruses.

In addition to providing homes for these cats, BCR’s website has helpful information for owners. For example, blind cats can do almost everything that sighted cats can do and will use their whiskers to navigate around objects. One way you can help them is by staying consistent with where you place their litter box and food bowls.

Cats that are FIV+ can live for years before becoming sick. Since FIV is primarily transmitted through a deep, penetrating bite, positive and negative cats can live together with no problems. While cats that are FELV+ typically have 3-5 years of healthy life, several of the FELV+ cats at BCR are nine years old.

If you’re curious to meet and support the cats at BCR you can click on their names on this page to see photos and read their individual stories. For example, Houdini is an FELV+ cat who came to BCR earlier this year after being hit by a car in Miami, and Popcorn is a cat with no eyes who has been living at BCR since she was found on a country road in 2011. Check out the live streaming cameras to see what the cats are up to. When I looked everyone was asleep but hey, cats are gonna cat.

If you’d like to support the cats at Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary, there are several ways to do so. Go to the open house on Saturday, August 12 and visit the cats in person, volunteer your time, donate your money and spread the word on social media. Follow BCR on Facebook and Instagram @blindcatrescue.