Cat Crusaders Saves Lives, Starts Families

When she walked into on Saturday, Lisa Mullen had no intention of adopting a kitten. She paused by an adoption display to coo over Emma, a brown tabby kitten with a puma’s face, and then she took a walk.

“I just like to come look at them, but I’m easily swayed,” she said.

Half an hour later, she came back with a litter box and a package of neon cat toys, ready to adopt Emma. Mullen’s is one of countless success stories that start with Cat Crusaders, a local cat rescue and adoption agency.

Gretchyn Melde and Jeanine Cohen founded Cat Crusaders in September. Now co-directors of the nonprofit organization, they oversee adoption and foster home placement for rescued cats and kittens. More than 400 have been adopted since Labor Day, with roughly 75 now available for adoption.

“It’s all volunteer and all foster,” Melde said. “All cats are in with fosters, and we are a no-kill facility — we won’t kill for space."

Cats come to Cat Crusaders from all over Tampa. Rescuers find them abandoned in apartments or roaming the streets and bring them in to be kept with foster owners until they’re adopted. All cats are spayed or neutered, tested for feline AIDS and leukemia, vaccinated and implanted with a microchip before they’re adopted.

Adopting a kitten costs $75 (or $100 for two), and a cat costs $50, less expensive than the typical cost of a spaying or neutering. Fostering a cat costs nothing but time and love; Cat Crusaders provides food, litter and medical treatments.

Cat Crusaders does all of its adoptions from New Tampa’s PetSmart, at 6248 Commerce Palms Blvd. As a PetSmart Charity, Cat Crusaders uses PetSmart store space for adoption events and receives litter and other resources from the store. Cohen said store employees “bend over backwards” to help out.

“We don’t sell cats and dogs, so we do adoptions to try to do our part,” said Mike Carpenter, PetSmart store manager. “Cat Crusaders is our seven-days-a-week group, and they do a great job.”

Melde said Cat Crusaders doesn’t plan to move into its own facility because the veterinary routines for keeping so many cats in one location are too demanding. She and Cohen work with a local veterinarian to take care of the cats, and they agreed the cats benefit more from the current setup of individual foster homes.

“The way you would treat a large number of animals is different,” Melde said. “We’re not educated in that, it’s not what we do.”

When potential owners come looking to adopt, they go through a brief screening process to ensure they can support and care for a cat. Cohen says she’ll turn away one out of every seven or eight potential adopters, usually when someone realizes they don’t have the time or money to commit to a cat.

“Most adoptions are spur of the moment, so it’s a matter of talking to people and making sure their decision is a good one,” Cohen said. “I’d rather we do it right the first time than do it in a rush and have them bring a cat back.”

About 10 to 12 cats are adopted through Cat Crusaders every week, with a noticeable slowdown in the summer months. According to Cohen, adult cats are “10 times harder to place” than kittens, but adoption events at PetSmart help people on the fence make a decision.

“When people walk in and see cats, it makes a big difference in adoptions,” she said.

Cecilia Aponte has been volunteering with Cat Crusaders for two years as a foster and rescuer. She’s rescued cats found near her office over the years and regularly fosters kittens that need homes.

“Fostering is a good way to get that kitten fix,” she said. “My son’s getting tired of the cats chewing up his stuff, but it’s rewarding.”

About 60 fosters and volunteers make up the Cat Crusaders family, offering their time to help with weekend adoptions, fundraisers and cleaning litter boxes.

“There’s a core group that’s been around for a while that will continue to be around,” said Melde of the volunteers.

Whether they bring a cat home or not, the customers huddled around the Cat Crusaders display can’t help but gush over the kittens sleeping in their cages. A few look at Mullen with a tinge of jealousy as she places her new kitten into a carrier.

“You can say that she’s my baby,” Mullen said. “My daughter’s going to be so happy.”