Fancy Cats Rescue Team | 2014 Annual Report

Become an adoption fair coordinator!

Our Mission
Fancy Cats Rescue Teams mission
is to end senseless euthanasia of
healthy cats and kittens at area
shelters. We rescue and find suitable
lifetime homes wfor our cats and
kittens, promote spay/neuter and
educate the publicon responsible
pet ownership.
Since our inception, we have found
homes for approximately 18,000
cats in the National Capital area.
Fancy Cats provides a safety net for
cats that have been abandoned.The
majority of cats we rescue come
from death row at local shelters.
We acceptcats directly from owers (with up-to-date medical work:
sterilization, FeLV/FIV test, rabies
and distemper shots) and strays as
space permits.
We assist other rescue groups and
government personnel in emergency
situations.

Organizer. Cleaner. Reviewer. Contract

negotiator. File clerk. Recruiter. These are
all terms that you might use to describe Gail
Sutton who has been an adoption coordinator at Fair Lakes since early 2014. Gail can
often be found working one of the adoption
fairs each weekend and it's rare to see her sit
idle, not keeping busy doing something- not
only talking with potential adopters, reviewing applications and processing contracts,
but also helping to keep the files, work area,
and the cat center clean and organized.
Gail started as a volunteer with Fancy
Cats in June 2013 as a foster home and
a biweekly cleaning staff member. After
attending a number of adoption fairs with
her fosters, she was recruited to become
a coordinator, which she really enjoys.
Being a coordinator is a big commitment
because you are often the first to arrive at
an adoption fair to get set up and the last to
leave at the end of the event after clean up

is done. Other volunteers who are helping with the fair provide great support, but
ultimately the decision regarding who gets
to adopt and who doesn't comes down to
the coordinator's thorough review of the
application information and the interview
with the potential adopters. There is lots to
explain to potential adopters about the best
ways to acclimate a new pet to the home
so it's important for the coordinator to be
well versed in Fancy Cat's policies, practices
and advice for new owners. At times there
might be multiple applications or contracts
in process concurrently so organization and
good customer service skills are a must for
success in the coordinator position.
The original foster cat that Gail started
hosting in June 2013 is still with her, residing in her craft room (she doesn't get along
with Gail's two resident cats). Angel has
had a few prospects come to meet her but
has yet to find her forever home (she does
not do well at adoption fairs so
relies on the web site for someone
to notice her). She is a very nice
cat as long as she is the only cat in
the house- someday soon the right
person will come along to take her
home. In addition to the fosters
she currently has- Angel, Cobe,
Frankie and CoCo- 30 other foster
cats have come and gone through
Gail's home since her volunteer
Gail tells interested adopters about our kitten policy
work began with Fancy Cats.
during an adoption fair.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear friends and supporters of Fancy Cats Rescue Team:

Annual Report 2014

Fancy Cats Rescue Team
P.O. Box 182
Herndon, VA 20172-0182
info@fancycats.org
The Annual Report is issued by
Fancy Cats Rescue Team to
reflect news highlights and prior
years income and expenses.
Fancy Cats Rescue Team is a
501(c)(3) non-profit organization
founded in August 1997 by
Catherine McCullough Awad,
incorporated in February 1999
in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The Annual Report has been
generously sponsored by
We Stage Virginia.

Fancy Cats Rescue Team

Board of Directors, 2014
Cathy Awad
President
Bonnie Paul
Vice President, Secretary
Jennifer Johnson
Treasurer
Anita Austinson
Member at Large
Cori Lovas
Member at Large
Kathy Uhrich
Member at Large
Raymond Paul
Member at Large

I have loved animals all my life and in April I will celebrate 20 years in animal rescue. Ive
had many jobs from retail management to early childhood education and daycare. Ive
always loved working with animals and my family has always had them. In my home we
have cats, dogs and 3 bunnies. They are part of the family and we could never imagine
our lives without them.
It makes me very sad to see so many animals lose their homes when children come
into the picture. I know firsthand that kids and animals are a great combination. Kids
that grow up around animals learn compassion and how to be caregivers. Through my
years of doing daycare I worked with like-minded families and saw the special relationships that develop.
Last year once again brought us many returned cats. Most of them were adopted
to young couples as kittens years ago. The biggest cause of this unfortunate situation
is kittens not being socialized with kids, people and other animals. Its not fair to cats
that were raised as someones children to lose their home once human children come
along. We plan to look for a solution to this problem and will take a harder look at applicants in the meantime.
Rescues face many hardships finding homes for these returned senior cats. They take
much longer to place in homes, take longer to adjust to temporary homes, and most are
very upset to just be around the other rescue cats, making them less attractive. Of 124
returns last year, 70% of them were adopted out by us as kittens and 40% of them were
past seven years old. Though seven isnt old to us (cats live 15-20 years) we have lowered our adoption fees to $60 for cats for cats over seven years old. Though we struggle
to find homes for these cats, I can attest to the fact that cats over seven years are the
best catsthey are usually low maintenance and very affectionate.
Our highlights
We adopted out 939 cats and transferred
8 to other Virginia rescues. Though adoptions were down 10% from 2013, adult
adoptions increased more than 8%. We
are successfully branching out to other
venues and adopting out adult cats quicker
by having more places to show them.
These facilities are supported by dedicated
and hardworking volunteers who are willing to take on more responsibility.
Fancy Cats has made history on behalf
of the rights of citizens to speak on behalf
of cats. After Fancy Cats was banned from
rescuing cats in Baltimore County, which
operates a high kill - high illness shelter,
our First Amendment retaliation case was
filed by a Rockville civil rights lawyer and
financial contributor to our cause, Howard B. Hoffman, Esq. The case survived a
motion to dismiss, with a written decision
garnering publicity around the Country.
We look forward to advancing the matter
and achieving justice in this case.
Last year, we hired a dedicated person
to manage website inquiries and applications. As a result, more are being adopted
out of the foster homes without having
to come to adoption fairs. Our website
helped place 65% of our cats last year.

Our beloved Bonnie Paul has now taken

over volunteer coordination that has been
neglected previous years. We now have
a volunteer working solely on fundraising and have invested in a widely-used
fundraising database to help our efforts
become more successful.
We are undergoing branding changes
including a revamped website with multiple sponsorship opportunities, foster cat
galleries and an industry-leading blog. Our
new path also includes increased social
media efforts with a new Pinterest profile
(follow us!) and a primary focus on finding
our adoptable cats forever homes.
In 20 years of rescue and working with
many different rescues I can say that I
am extremely proud of Fancy Cats volunteers. Their hard work, dedication and the
immense love they have to give our cats
inspire me every day. I could not be more
happy with the group of people I call my
team. They are the best. They are lifesavers!
Sincerely,
Catherine M Awad
President, Fancy Cats Rescue Team

FANCY CATS RESCUE TEAM | ANNUAL REPORT | 2

OPERATIONS & FINANCIAL REPORT

Cost-of-living increases affect everyoneincluding animal rescue groups. The price of cat food, supplies and medication continues to
rise steadily. Veterinarian expenses also rose approximately 70%. Fancy Cats utilizes what we call medical quarantine foster homes.
We lost one of our most active medical fosters last year, Christine Mackey, when she moved out of state. Sadly, some great foster
homes cannot take in cats because they have permanent foster cats that need ongoing medical care. We made room for only 1% more
cats than last year; however, our total outcome was 1018 cats, a decrease of 2%. This may be because we support a number of special
needs cats that require ongoing monthly medicine.
Our veterinarians provide us with an invaluable service. Without their knowledge and willingness to go the extra mile, we would not be
able to assist our many special needs cats. Fancy Cats is known as a leader in the rescue community because we are not afraid to accept
cats with special age, behavioral or health challenges. Unfortunately, one of the issues we face taking in unwanted cats is that we rely on
the shelters to provide the cats health information, which is frequently inaccurate.

Financial Summary: Income

Adoption income
Our adoption promotions continue to bring
success. Each month, we reduce adoption
fees for various hard-to-adopt cats, such as
seniors, black cats and bonded pairs. Our
black cat promotion was the most success
so far, totaling 118 adoptions. Our senior
cat promotion also garnered much success
as 27 seniors went to forever homes in
December. We will continue these promotions as they were very successful in finding
forever homes for many of our special cats.
Returned cats continued to increase last
year. Many cats were returned because of
housing issues, job loss or the arrival of a
new child or spouse. We have seen a large
number of returns that were kittens when
adopted and returned as senior cats because
of children being born and the cats not being
able to adjust. This is very heartbreaking for
the cats and everyone involved. We repeatedly tell adopters that kittens need to be
exposed to different situations including kids
and other animals.
Grant income
This figure decreased by 41% but we are
putting together a team of writers to work
on this very important task.
Outreach Campaign Contributions
Funds totaled $19,600, a slight drop
over 2013's $22,900. Combined Federal
Campaign comprised 30% of this income.
Fundraiser goals typically focus on medical issues as they arise. Our Ron Burns art
raffle last year was a huge success bringing

in another much needed $4,000. We would

love to repeat this raffle this again this year.
Adoption fees rarely cover the cost to prep
typical cats for adoption, so the support of
the public is vital to the cats.
Special events
We had our first ever gala event thanks to
our own Danielle Areco. It was a fun night
of music, dancing, exhibits and raffles. This
event featured Gwen Cooper, author of
"Homers Odyssey" and included speakers
Dr. Karen Diviney, former Director of Fairfax
County Animal Shelter as well as current Director Tawny Hammond. Some of our much
loved doctors also attended, including Dr.
Andrew Voell of Pender Veterinary Clinic
and Dr. Scott Kastner of Sunshine Animal
Hospital. We had many wonderful sponsors
such as We Stage Va., Chico's Pet Depot,
Kool Kitty Toys and National Events LLC.
Marianne Cherry and husband from Sydney
& MAC Creative Designs were on hand to
capture the event with photos. We are
grateful for all our supporters and friends
for making this a very special evening that
brought our cats over $15,000.
We were at the National Capital Area
Cat Show last year but are undecided if we
will participate in the future. Teri Guerette
organizes this two-day event for Fancy
cats. McLean Day event, also hosted by
Teri, brought about $900 through donations for Anne Lawrence's face painting
(Happy Faces). Everyone loved Anne's
beautiful art.

FANCY CATS RESCUE TEAM | ANNUAL REPORT | 3

Campaign Income

65.75%

Grants

0.42%

Adoption Fee

26.54%

Fundraisers

6.56%

Special Events

0.72%

Total

$268,496.81

Comparison of Financial Reports

Income

2014

2013

Adoption fees

71267

75208

Campaign income 67745

61463

Grants

1131

1930

Cont unrestricted

108803

8132

Spec event/fund.

19650

22932

Total Income:

268497

245106

OPERATIONS & FINANCIAL REPORT

Financial Summary: Expenditures

Veterinary expenses
FCRTs biggest expense has been spay/
neuter surgeries. 50% of cats we received in 2013 were unfixed strays from
shelters and from outside. We spent approximately $55,000 to spay/neuter 493
animals last year.
Every cat is given shots, is tested for
feline leukemia (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and dewormed.
Our small quarantine area hosted about
half of these incoming cats - a total of just
under 700. We had to put off our planned
renovations due to the increase in our vet
bills, but we hope for a mini renovation
in Spring. We can only do a little at a time
because something always comes up. Look
for a sponsorship link on our website to
support this activity.
Medical Supplies
Our supplies expense decreased 32.7 %
as we had to use vets offices to hospitalize
sick cats. We are greatly in need of more
fosters willing to administer medications
and support to sick cats and kittens.
Payroll
A second part-time position to help with
administrative duties (primarily adoption
inquiries and meetings) was added to the
existing part-time position and permanent
salaried staffer who takes care of over 50
cats in our quarantine area. Our group remains predominantly volunteer and we get
more done than the majority of the shelters
that have that have an entire paid staff. Our
payroll costs were down 1.2 % over 2013.
Supplies
Cat food and litter expenses were down
9% from 2013 as we have been getting
steady donations from Petsmart and Petvalu. (Thank you!) We do not receive any
discounts on food or litter and pay what
consumers pay. In-store adoption centers food and litter is usually supplied by
the store. At Chico's Pet Depot, Danielle

Veterinarian

46.29%

Utilities

2.72%

Supplies

3.07%

Microchips

1.67%

Insurance

1.11%

Proffesional Fees

1.50%

Payroll

22.65%

Operations

1.46%

Cat food/Supplies

7.71%

Insurance

1.11%

Medicine & Supplies

5.93%

Other

5.89%

Total

is working to have the grain free food

supplied by Natural Balance. Our regular
supply costs, which includes things like
beds, paper towels, trash bags, food trays
and gloves, has decreased 25% thanks to
donations from the public. Last year, Norm
Murray donated four new nebulizers and
warming discs for cats that are ill.
Microchips and Registration
This expense remained the same with only
a 1% increase. We are looking for a corporate sponsor to pay for this program for us.
Operational expenses
This is a small amount and includes everything
additional like grooming, postage, laundry.
This cost increased about 1.4 % over 2013.
Utilities
Costs decreased 1.9 % as we changed
some of our services. We also had a sponsor for our web hosting costs.

$270,576.45

Bank Charges & Finance Fees

These fees are bank services, vet billing
charges and credit finance fees. This cost is
up 1.2% over 2013.

Program Count Snapshot

Intake

1,025

Returns

124

Clinic In

Owner surrender

59

Service In

Strays

85

Transfer In

752

Outcome

1,018

Adopted

927

Transfer Out

13

Return

10

Died

63

Service Out

43

Clinic Out

Insurance
Our insurance costs reflect the addition of
new adoption centers and has risen 1.9%.
FANCY CATS RESCUE TEAM | ANNUAL REPORT | 4

CATS IN THE FANCY CATS PROGRAM

Introducing three of our most adoptable cats

Gracie was originally adopted from

Fancy Cats in 2010 as a kitten. She was
left behind when her owners moved away
three years later. She came back to us very
scared of everything around her. Gracie was
the sad result of under socializing a kitten
with other animals and even people. After
time, she now enjoys being petted and will
meow to get your attention. She also loves
being brushed. We think she looks like a big
koala bear. We call her pretty girl and she
answers with her little meow. She needs an
experienced cat person who will give her
the time she needs to be comfortable in a
new home. She promises to be a very affectionate companion once she trusts you.

Beautiful Merrilee was surrendered to

a shelter when her human parents split
up. Unfortunately, she was adopted from
a store in Maryland as a kitten and never
exposed to other cats. Going to a shelter
with other cats is often a fatal situation for
unsocialized cats like Merrilee. Thankfully,
someone there asked that she go to a rescue instead of being euthanizedand she
came to us. She was very overweight, testy
and generally hated everyone. It has been
a very long road, but she has come to like
people. Merrilee these days has a new
svelte figure. She adores being brushed
and loves head rubs. She is a very good
girl with perfect kitty manners. If you are
looking for a one and only princess, please
consider Merrilee.

Cappy came to Fancy Cats from a shelter. He had been living outside most of his
life and showed us how happy he was to
finally have a place indoors. He has since
gained some weight and is feeling good.
Hes a quiet guy who likes warm, cozy
places to sleep. His favorite thing is rolling
around in catnip! He likes children and will
follow you around to get you to pet him.
Although other cats dont bother him,
adoption fairs do. Thats why its taken him
so long to find a loving home. Cappy would
be perfect for a busy family that needs a
low maintenance kitty.

A Rewarding Experience
by Deb Unger

Fostering kittens is one of the most rewarding things I have done in my 57 years
on this earth. Some come in healthy with
their Mom and just need a safe place to
hang out until they are adopted, but others come in sick and scared and all alone,
or without their mom and too young to
be weaned.To see them all blossom into
beautiful healthy, playful, affectionate
kittens and go off to their forever home
with families who will love and cherish

them is more than worth all the work and

dedication fostering these kittens require.
Yes, it is hard to see them go, especially
the ones who have formed strong bonds
with you! But all of my foster families
have been wonderful about sending me
periodic updates and photos and inviting me to visit the kittens any time. My
husband and I can't wait for kitten season
to start again.

FANCY CATS RESCUE TEAM | ANNUAL REPORT | 5

Deb Unger snuggling with some of her

adorable foster kittens

FANCY CATS MEDICAL RECOVERIES

These fancy cats have big hearts and big bills

Back in November, FCRT and first time foster mom, Courtney made a plea for medical care
for a kitten named Dixie, who came to us from a Virginia shelter. Dixie, who had been experiencing convulsions since her arrival, was being treated with anti-convulsants but continued having multiple grand mal seizures each week. Thanks to your overwhelming support,
FCRT was able to raise the money for Dixie to see a specialist. Its been three months since
Dixie began her new treatment plan and she has remained seizure free since. Her foster
mom says that she is doing better each day. In addition to being much calmer and less anxious (which her foster mom attributes to the natural remedies) Dixie is also far steadier and
more confident. The vets now hope her required dosage of the anti-convulsant medication
will level out, especially with the help of alternative remedies, and she will be able to live a
long, seizure-free life.

Trixie came from a Maryland shelter with her four kittens, who
like most of the kittens we take in, were suffering with bacterial
and viral infections. Trixie was so run down from feeding her babies that she had to be hospitalized. Meanwhile the foster home
was doing the same with all four kittens. Through lots of hard
work and TLC, mom and all four kittens survived and were adopted into loving home. The total for this rescue came to $4000.

Hugo came from a Maryland Shelter with a break in his front leg
that was challenging to fix. Although the vet advised amputation
would be easier but we had his surgery done anyway. Today he is
very happy, healthy and extremely handsome. He was a big cuddly cat from day one always looking for attention. He likes cats,
dogs and kids and is a wonderful family cat.

Marmalade is one of the numerous cats that are put outside

when their owners die and ultimately end up at a kill shelter.
Fancy Cats learned about her on her last day and stepped in.
Besides being a little old lady, Marmalade also had a very bad
mouth and needed dental work. She was very skinny due to the
shelter feeding only hard and she needed wet and had a lesion
by her ear that needed to be removed and biopsied. Although
she was uncomfortable she was a very sweet cat and everyone
who met her fell in love with her. After all her surgeries were
done she was adopted by the mom of one of our volunteers.
She is a very loved kitty.

FANCY CATS RESCUE TEAM | ANNUAL REPORT | 6

FANCY CATS SPONSORS

Thank you

Mike McCoullough & Lori Hardee

for your support!

FANCY CATS RESCUE TEAM | ANNUAL REPORT | 7

PO box 182, Herndon, VA 20172

You could
win thousands
in the Fancy Cats 2015 Raffle!

50\50
Fancy Cats 2015 Raffle!
Help support FCRTs mission, provide for the care of our many adoptable cats,
AND get the chance to win thousands!
Tickets are only $10 each and the winner will be chosen at our fundraising night at
Port City Brewing Company (Alexandra, VA) on June 3. You do not have to be present to win. Fill out, tear off and mail in the entry form on page 7 to enter.
For more information, see our website or email fancycatsraffle@gmail.com.