- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- Want to get fit and help animals at the same time?

One feline rescue in Sarasota is offering cat yoga classes that will allow you to do just that.

Check out Cat Depot, a state of the art cat shelter that facilitates adoption through community events.

Learn more on location coming up next.

(upbeat music) Welcome to "Up Close."

I'm Cathy Unruh.

We are currently sitting in Cat Depot, an adoption and resource center specially designed for cats.

This is an 11,000 square foot facility with free roaming pods and patios, outdoor screened patio spaces for the cats in their care.

Cat Depot provides affordable cat specific veterinary care and has a feline supply store.

Cat Depot also holds community events to help facilitate adoption and raise awareness for cat rescue.

We are joined by Ellie Levine.

She is the humane educator at Cat Depot, and this is Atlas and that is Jetta, and we thank you all for having us today.

- Thank you.

- [Cathy] We wanna start off with a congratulations on the giving challenge.

- Thank you so much.

- Which is great for you guys.

So, the Sarasota County Community Foundation hosts a 24 hour online fundraising program for nonprofits, and Cat Depot came in seventh out of 669 nonprofits.

- That's correct.

We were able to raise $174,000 this year.

- And what does that mean to you here?

- That means that we'll be able to continue saving homeless pets' lives every year.

- And how many lives per year is that?

- Over a thousand cats are rescued and adopted through Cat Depot.

- And Cat Depot was founded in?

- 2003.

Next year will be our 20th anniversary.

- You've been here since last August.

- That is correct.

- And your background?

- I was a teacher for the last 10 years from Orange County to Sarasota County.

I taught fifth grade math and science and seventh grade science.

- And here, you are the humane educator.

What does that involve?

- That means that I am the one who goes into schools and teaches students about proper cat care and cat welfare.

I also work with nursing homes, having some pet therapy time, and I get to plan special events like our yoga class.

- Which we're going to talk about more.

And Cat Depot is described as the resource for rescue, adoption and education.

What does that encompass?

- So, Cat Depot is one of the several organizations in the area where we rescue cats, but we only rescue cats, and we try to help the public understand proper cat care, proper cat welfare, and wellbeing of cats so that cats can have the longest, most healthy lives that they can.

- At this moment in time, how many cats in the shelter?

- We have about 20 to 30 cats that are up for adoption and over 100 that are in our care.

- And in our care means?

- That we have many cats that are in foster care.

We're at the peak of kitten season right now.

So, we have a couple dozen kittens in foster care, and we have several cats that are on medical hold that are either recovering from surgery or about to go into surgery.

- And how many staff?

- We have about 30 people on our staff.

- How many volunteers?

- Several dozen.

- I would assume that without volunteers, it doesn't get done.

You really need volunteers.

- It would be very difficult.

- And this is not just a shelter for cats.

You also have a store up front for the humans.

- [Ellie] Correct.

- [Cathy] What can you get in there?

- [Ellie] We have all kinds of things that are for sale in our retail store, including litter boxes, pet beds, catnip toys, even DVDs of animals.

- And, as we know, shelters have come a long way, and there's all kinds of shelters across the country.

This one is lovely.

Its layout is with the pods and the catios.

It's bright cherry colors.

There's no small cages.

It smells good.

What's the thinking behind making sure that's the environment?

- Our shelter is a fear free shelter, meaning that we do everything in our power to make sure that the cats are stress free, anxiety free, so that they can be happy and healthy, which, in turn, is going to help them get adopted faster.

- [Cathy] Why?

- The fewer people that are in the pods with the cats and the happier they are, the more likely it is that they will stay healthy, and the healthier they are, the faster they can get adopted.

- And why are the catios important?

- We have catios in several of our pods so that cats can still have that experience of being in the sun, lying in a sun beam, hearing the birds and other animals without the fear of them being outside, possibly catching a disease from another animal or getting into a fight with another animal.

- And we want to say that we used to think of cats as indoor, outdoor animals.

Not anymore.

They should be indoors.

- [Ellie] Correct.

- The reasons for that, because they could get hurt, they could hurt wildlife, many reasons.

- Correct.

- So, catios can be provided in anyone's home or can have a lanai, or even a nice, sunny room.

- [Ellie] Absolutely.

- As long as they have a place to look outside, and that's perfectly okay for them.

- [Ellie] Absolutely.

- And then the pods, the cats are grouped how?

How do you decide what pod they're going to?

- Our pods are mostly grouped by age.

So, we have a kitten pod for our young kittens.

We have a senior pod.

For the most part, if cats are grouped by their age, they're gonna have a similar amount of energy, so they'll be happier with one another.

- And you were saying how many cats you have right now.

Is that about average, or does it go up and down, up and down?

Kitten season certainly has to go up.

- It definitely goes up and down, depending on what season we're in.

We've had as few as a dozen cats when we've had many, many adoptions going on, and we've had a couple dozen cats when we're in the peak seasons.

- And what are the benefits of the cats only shelter?

- When you have a cat only shelter where there are no dogs present, it helps keep the cats a lot calmer, which, in turn, is gonna help them get adopted faster, 'cause you don't have the barking of the dogs, them running down the hallways.

So, that keeps the cats in a lot calmer state of mind.

- And you are a no kill shelter, which means only true euthanasia is practice here.

Nobody is killed because of space or - - Correct, only if it's for the betterment of the cat.

- And having the veterinary services on site is great for the cats in your care, but you also help people from the community.

- That's right.

We have our public cat care clinic here where anyone from the community, whether they adopted from us or from elsewhere, is able to come and bring their cat in for their annual checkups and for a variety of other veterinary needs, as well.

- Now, as to how the cats get here, many are surrendered by their owners.

- [Ellie] Correct.

- Why?

- Unfortunately, with what's going on with the housing market right now, a lot of people either are no longer able to afford pet care or they're moving into apartments or condos where they're not allowed to have pets at all.

- So, it just becomes unaffordable.

- Correct.

- And that's the number one reason right now for surrenders?

- It has been one of our most common reasons for surrenders.

- And what are some of the other ways that cats arrive here?

- Sometimes good Samaritans will find cats and bring them to Cat Depot as strays.

Occasionally, we will help with hoarding situations in the area.

And we've also helped with natural disasters like hurricanes.

- So, when we say, you know, 1000 cats a year, that's 1000 different personalities.

What does it take to get every cat his or her own appropriate, loving forever home?

- It takes a lot of work.

Our adoption counselors have to vet every adoption application and make sure that each adopter's personality and lifestyle will match the personality and lifestyle of the cat that they're looking into adopting.

- So, we took a look around, and here's a little bit more about how staff and volunteers are caring for the cats here at Cat Depot.

(playful music) - As the adoptions manager, mostly my job is to make sure that the system's running really smoothly, so we set up scheduled appointments.

People can come in at a particular time, spend an hour with the cats and hopefully find their perfect match.

(playful music) - Working at Cat Depot is wonderful.

I get to help all the animals that come in, help the public and educate people that may not know what resources are out there.

(playful music) - Some of our cats fall into what you might call the harder to adopt category, and we use a lot of strategies, mostly from Petfinder and Shelters United on how to promote the positive qualities of those cat, that category of cats.

This might be a senior cat or a cat that had an amputation, so it looks a bit different, might only have three legs.

It might also be a cat that requires specific medical care.

So, they need to be on a particular diet that might be a little more expensive than regular cat food.

(playful music) - I've been volunteering for eight years and have done a lot of different positions at Cat Depot.

I've been an ambassador.

Most of all, I enjoy the behavioral training we do for the cats that are a little bit shy and afraid.

But, honestly, the best thing at Cat Depot is giving tours, showing other people how special Cat Depot is.

- Cat Depot is a special place because we do use a fear-free approach, and that relates inter departmentally, as well.

So, there's a lot of inter departmental collaboration to make sure that we are encompassing the entire fear free approach in everything we do.

- Behavioral training involves opening up the cats to be more social and friendly.

The cats here tend to be afraid of a hand reaching toward 'em and stuff, so, you learn different techniques to get the cats to be more comfortable with being petted, touched, picked up.

- Community is always in need of help in different ways, so, I like figuring out how we can better help them.

That way, one day, maybe we don't have to exist.

If everyone could live with their pets forever, that would be wonderful.

- Working with cats all day is amazing.

Are you kidding me?

I get to hang out with cats and hopefully make the perfect match and get them adopted to the perfect adopter.

It's brilliant.

- If you wanna volunteer somewhere and you want to get back more than you put in, the cats give you so much love when you come and you spend time with them.

Cat Depot is the place to volunteer or to work.

- I want to delve in a little bit more to the economics of today and how they're affecting your work here, as well as the pandemic.

So, first, to the economics.

Owner surrenders have gone up.

- Quite a bit.

Last year, owner surrenders accounted for about 42% of the cats that came to Cat Depot.

Whereas this year, and we're only in May, is up to 56% of our cats coming in as owner surrenders.

- [Cathy] Just quite a jump.

- Yes.

- Thankfully, though, adoptions are on pace, meaning that money is not stopping people from still adopting.

- Correct.

- And cats are relatively inexpensive to care for a cat.

- They sure are.

- The pandemic.

As we all know, the adoptions went up during the pandemic.

Then the returns started a little bit after the pandemic.

What have you seen?

- We been able, thankfully, to keep a pretty stable number of cats being adopted.

And we are pretty much on track for where we have been over the last few years with our adoptions.

- Great.

That's wonderful.

And when I say after the pandemic, we don't know where we are in that, so.

- Correct.

- But we're having a feeling of getting a little bit more back to normal.

- Yes.

- And returns after people adopt cats are fairly rare, right?

- Yes.

It does happen on occasion, unfortunately, but for the most part, our cats stay in their forever homes.

- So, how can Cat Depot help people who really want to keep their cats, but are struggling?

- For folks that are really struggling in being able to afford food, we do have a monthly community food bank where people can register to get free food and litter on the last Saturday of each month.

- Let's talk about community cats since we're on community.

So, your definition of community cats is?

- Cats that are outdoor cats that do not have an owner.

- And so, they can be free roaming.

They can be feral.

They can be stray.

They could have been cats that were put back on the street.

and you do trap, neuter, vaccinate, return.

- We sure do.

We rent out our traps for $5 a week for community members to go out, put the traps down, bring the cats here.

And we will do the spays or neuters, vaccinate the cats, clip their ears, and then return them back to their colonies.

- And their colonies, if they're in a colony, that means they're living somewhere where they're getting fed.

They have somebody who's taking care of them.

So they're not just fending for themselves.

- [Ellie] Correct.

- In all cases, definitely not.

And then, out of the ones that you bring in from the field, some will turn out to be adoptable.

- Absolutely.

- So, if that's the case, they're going to get adopted.

Share a little bit about your public education, how you get out there and how you educate people.

- So I, in particular, being the humane educator, I have contacted every principal in the Sarasota and Manatee County Public School Systems, as well as several private schools and homeschool groups.

And I offer our services of going in, teaching science lessons that are standards based, that are all cat feed.

So students get to learn a little bit about science and a little bit about proper cat care.

- [Cathy] And then, in the fun activities that you put together?

- [Ellie] We do our yoga class a couple times a month.

We also have several art classes that we offer.

We also have a monthly lecture series called Cats & Coffee.

- And age range of folks who participate in these programs?

- We offer something for almost every age range.

We have things for our kids, where the kids can come to our Saturday yoga classes.

The adults can come to our Cats & Coffee lecture series, and all ages are welcome to our various art classes.

- So, I love the name of your yoga class, Namastray.

Namastray, and tell us what's special about Namastray yoga.

- So, Namastray yoga is different than a regular yoga class because we have some of our wonderful adoptable kitties that are there to enjoy the yoga class with you.

- And so, you're doing your poses, and the cats are rubbing against you, and they're purring and they're getting in the way, and everybody just loves it.

It's fuzzy, furry.

- It is a lot of fun.

- Naturally, we attended a Namastray class.

Here's a peak at how it goes.

(playful music) - We adopted our cat, Jacob, from the Cat Depot over the summer.

And then, coincidentally, Cat Depot reached out to me.

I own a yoga studio here in town.

They reached out and they were looking for a yoga teacher to teach classes there.

And I was so excited to come back to our cat's home, to be able to teach classes here.

(playful music) The classes here are different from a traditional yoga class.

First of all, there's cats.

And then, second of all, it's a much more lighthearted class, a little more playful.

You can take breaks to pet the kitties.

So, a fun, lighthearted, all levels class.

(playful music) It is so sweet to see how the cats' presence affects the Yogis' practice.

Yoga in and of itself is a stress reducing practice, but when you have a cat come up with you during it, it just adds that so much more.

Today in class during Shavasana, the final rest, one of the cats just came up to somebody resting there and they cuddled together, and you could just see them both just really relaxed.

And it was so sweet to see.

(playful music) - So, besides the yoga, and these guys would be eligible to participate in the yoga.

- They sure can.

- Besides the yoga and the events that you mentioned, you do a lot of fun things like kids camps, and tell me some of the really fun stuff that - - Absolutely.

We just started re offering our birthday party package, where folks can rent out our community center for two hours at a time and have 30 minutes of cat socialization during their birthday party.

And we also are re offering our summer critter camp program, which we haven't been able to offer in person for the last few years.

So, we're very excited to reopen that up.

- Would you say that all those events in that community outreach, does that have a huge impact on getting cats adopted?

- Absolutely.

The more that people learn about what we do and how we help the cats, the more that people are open to coming and visiting and seeing the amazing facility and then taking home one of our wonderful kitties.

- Yeah, the better they get to know cats.

- [Ellie] Absolutely.

- A nonprofit organization is always dependent on donations.

- Absolutely.

- How are you doing?

What would you like to say to people about donations?

- We could absolutely use more donations, for sure.

It is very expensive to run a cat shelter on a daily basis.

We are fortunate to have several wonderful donors, but, of course, we could always use more.

The more donations that come in, the more cats that we're able to take in, and therefore be able to adopt out to their forever homes.

- And those are financial donations.

What about material supplies?

Are they welcome?

- Absolutely.

We are always happy to take in dry food, wet food, litter, toys.

Just about anything you could think of that a cat would need, we can take in, and the dry food donations can even be open bags.

A lot of times people will buy a new type of food for their cat.

Their cat decides they don't like it.

Well, instead of throwing it away, you can bring it to us, and we'll be able to use that.

- And on the volunteer front, what do you need?

- You need to be 18 years or older.

We prefer folks that have some experience working with animals.

And, of course, being a very responsible, trustworthy person would be a plus.

- Do you have enough fosters?

When kitten season goes crazy, it's like, we need fosters.

We need fosters.

- We certainly need more fosters.

We are at the point where we are running low on our fosters because we have so many cats that are coming in needing that extra care from a foster family.

- And kitten season is always a good time to talk about how very, very important spay neuter is.

- Absolutely.

It is extremely important to get, especially our community cats, spayed or neutered.

The population of outdoor cats is so, so high.

So, we need to make sure that that population is staying stagnant, if not lowering, and we do that by making sure that those cats are spayed or neutered so that they don't keep reproducing.

- And then, are you finding that persons who are pet parents are really aware of the value of spay and neuter more than they were in the past?

- I find that that is becoming a more prevalent understanding in the community, that they're understanding the importance.

- Let's talk about cats.

You know, there are different attitudes about cats.

- [Ellie] Oh, yes.

- I'm holding a black cat.

Bad reps sometimes, although they're very outgoing personalities, and they're lovely.

Tell us why cats make fantastic companion animals.

- So, cats, of course, like these guys, are absolutely loving.

Some folks, unfortunately, don't see how cats can be incredibly affectionate and very sweet natured.

So, they definitely are.

It all depends on how you treat those cats.

So, cats, they just love to be with you, around you.

They're social creatures, just like people are.

It's very common for cats to be adopted with a friend so that they have somebody to be social with.

And of course, they wanna be near you.

My cats in particular are Velcro cats, and they will follow me from one room to another.

- So, the friend in that context is another cat.

- Correct.

- Two kittens are always better than one.

- [Ellie] Yes.

- And that's the absolute truth, because they keep each other company and so forth.

And I'm gonna just put a point on the way they're raised.

A lot of people think, oh, cats are these standoffish creatures, so they just kind of, the humans standoff, but they're not.

- [Ellie] That's right.

- If they're raised like a dog, they're gonna act like a dog.

- Absolutely.

- What is your vision for the future for Cat Depot?

For the feline world in general?

- I personally would love if we had enough donors that we were able to open up a second location.

That would mean that we would be able to help even more community cats.

- You serve only Sarasota County.

Is that correct?

- At this time, yes.

- Do you ever dream of going to another county, or it would be another location in Sarasota County?

- That would be amazing.

Either way would be amazing.

If we can help more cats, the more, the better.

- And the community cats, I would guess that your population of community cats is probably in the six digits estimated here.

- Absolutely.

- So, that's a lot of work to be done.

- [Ellie] It sure is.

- What can people do to help?

If they can't adopt, they wanna help.

We've talked about volunteering.

We've talked about donating.

Any other opportunities?

- People can make sure that when they see a stray cat, that they take the proper precautions, that they don't approach a stray cat, that they can also call and have somebody help them out, such as Animal Services, to rescue those cats, trap them and bring them in, so that they can be spayed or neutered and vaccinated.

- Can you hear Atlas meowing in my microphone?

He's like, he wants to come over here so badly, but he can't get on the microphone.

So, these little guys, look at how chill Jetta is.

Tell us their story just quickly, how they were found.

- So, sweet Jetta here was actually found by a good Samaritan who was driving down University, and cars were swerving out of the road, trying not to hit him.

So, he stopped his car, picked up Jetta, put him in his car, brought him to Cat Depot, but then, when he got here, Jetta got stuck in his steering column.

We had to call a mechanic.

So, thankfully, a wonderful mechanic from Sam's Auto Body Shop opened up the fellow's car, got Jetta out, and we were able to rescue him, and now he's up for adoption.

- And Atlas.

- Atlas was found by a retention pond here in Sarasota County as a stray cat.

- So, these two are not family.

- Correct.

- But they've been living together, and they've become bonded.

- They have been very good friends since they have been here.

They curl up together all the time and just love to snuggle on one another.

- And I would suppose you see that throughout the facility.

- Absolutely.

We have several bonded pairs of cats that when they get adopted, they will go home together.

- What would you share with anybody who didn't know anything about cats, and they're watching this and they're learning, and they don't have to be from Sarasota County.

I mean, this is going on in every county, not this particular sort of shelter, perhaps, but everywhere you look, there's animal shelters and cats in need.

What would you say to them?

- I would say, definitely do some research.

Find out what shelter is available in your area, how you can help, if you're able to adopt, if there are special programs that they do, like we do.

The more knowledge the better.

- And so, since you are the humane educator, how would you like to expand your sharing of knowledge through the community?

- I would love to continue coming into schools, teaching lessons, letting students know about the proper care of cats, so that they can be more knowledgeable and continue reaching more of our community members.

- And for those people who might have never considered a cat, but now they're saying, hmm, maybe, what's it take to take a cat home and raise a cat?

- You have to understand that having a cat is a lifetime commitment.

Cats live anywhere from 12 to 18 years, sometimes even longer.

Our adoption fees for kittens is $100, and $75 for adults one year or older, but that includes the cost of the spay or neuter, the vaccines, everything that we do for them, which can potentially cost four to $600.

So, you're really getting a deal by adopting a cat.

- And you need litter box.

- [Ellie] Oh, yes.

- You need food, you need toys, and you need to expect to go to the vet at least annually.

- Yes, absolutely.

So, having those costs in mind, that will help you prepare for taking home a little bundle of love.

- Do you have people sign contracts that they will keep the cats in their care forever?

- We sure do.

They have to agree that they're not going to declaw their cats, because that is an inhumane practice.

They have to promise that they're going to keep their cat indoor, and if anything were to happen, and they're no longer able to care for their cat, that they'll either find a home or return the cat to Cat Depot.

- Many people still don't understand that declawing is inhumane.

Tell us why.

Tell us why it is inhumane.

- Removing the claw from cats is a very big procedure.

It is essentially very similar to removing your knuckle.

So, cats have lots of scent glands in their, in and around their claws, so, they're marking their territory when they scratch.

And it's just a natural instinct for them to want to scratch things.

- And we can provide them with things to scratch and we can clip their nails and so on.

- Absolutely.

- Any final thoughts?

- We have so many wonderful kitties here that are looking for adoption, and we have lots of videos of our cats on our social media pages like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok.

So, I would love for people to check them out and learn a little bit more about our wonderful cats.

- So, thank you very much, Ellie.

Thank you, Jetta.

You've really enjoyed the show, and I don't know if you can hear, but this little guy is purring away.

Can you hear it on the microphone?

He's vibrating.

Thank you so much for having us here at Cat Depot.

It's been great.

And to learn more about Cat Depot, their programs and services, or if you are interested in adopting a cat, visit catdepot.org to learn more.

Thanks for watching.

I'm Cathy Unruh, and I'll see you next time on "Up Close."

(funky music)