North Toronto Cat Rescue: A Sanctuary

North Toronto Cat Rescue: A Sanctuary

North Toronto Cat Rescue is a volunteer run, non-profit, registered charity, genuinely concerned with the welfare of all cats and kittens. NTCR cats live in an enclosed, luxurious sanctuary facility with lots of room to roam, but no risks from predators or other outdoor dangers. The cats live in compatible groupings, each group having its own room in the shelter.

Over the nearly 30 years of operation, NTCR has rescued almost 3,000 cats. The vast majority of those cats didn’t come in ‘adoptable’ condition, but through the hard work, saintly patience, and the love of a squad of compassionate volunteers, all but two have been rehabilitated and placed into forever homes.

Many feral / stray cat-care organizations find that a substantial portion of the cats are truly feral, and can’t adapt to being pets. One of the reasons the NTCR has such a great rate of adoptions is that the shelter environment lets them take a slow and steady approach to acclimatizing the cats to human attention.

Most of the cats at NTCR — about 200 currently — have either been evicted from their homes or are children of “evictees”. They arrive after having experienced varying degrees of hardship, sometimes at the hands of uncaring and abusive owners, and sometimes while trying to cope on their own out in the hostile street environment, where they suffer hunger, diseases, frostbite, injuries – often fatal, and even poisoning – by humans who view them as mere pests.

In addition to providing a home for the cats, the shelter is also a community project, where school children come to experience hands-on caring for the animals.

But there is a sad part of this happy tale – the shelter is struggling financially. Without any government support they rely solely on the generosity of others to continue the only no-kill, no-cage shelter in the GTA. Due to redevelopment in the area, the shelter is being forced to move by end of year but without funding, they are unable to

find a suitable location to house their 200 charges. Please help them continue the journey. There is a line up of cats outside waiting for some comfort.

Visit TNCR to donate or find out what else you can do to help!