Hi, my name is Adrienne. I have been a resident of Carroll County my whole life; and I own a hair salon in Westminster MD. I have been a stylist in CC for over 17 years. Honestly, from the time I can remember, I have ALWAYS loved cats. I have always had a close bond with them. I have been doing this work from a young age, and love every minute of it.
In the last few years I have had urge to do something more and I finally got my nonprofit, December 3, 2019! I am so happy I now have support from my community to be able to continue helping more cats. I am grateful for my friends, clients, family, The Community Foundation of Carroll County and the Salon (my full-time job) for making all of this possible.
MY MISSION
Adrienne's Mission for A's Cat Rescue is to provide local and surrounding communities of cat populations with services, including, but not limited to, hospice care, and TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) fostering, adoption, and an array of cat knowledge and behaviors. Please keep in mind, A's Cat Rescue is very small. It is only Adrienne (me) and one foster. I get very little donations and help because I am so small. I want to help as much as I can, if I am unable to, I will help provide other resources. I am always looking for reliable fosters.
HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED...
When I was about 4 years old, I received a kitten as a present! She wasn't old enough to be spayed yet, and unfortunately she got out for a few days. She returned home pregnant, and 10 weeks later she had kittens! Right then, my love for cats was established. Thankfully she only had two, cause my parents knew that there was NO WAY I could get rid of any of them.
Fast forward 9 years, my parents got divorced. My dad moved to an old farm which was LOADED with farm cats. Eventually we got the population down by re-homing every cat I could, and spaying and neutering the rest. I took one home to my mom for Mother’s Day, and we named her Mittens, she was the coolest cat! I raised Mittens from 8 weeks old, bringing my count up to 4 cats at this point. By the time I turned 19, 3 of those cats had passed away. Upon turning 20, I was in a relationship and he brought 5 cats home to our one bedroom apartment. Bringing my cat count up to 6! Now everyone assumed I was collecting cats, and I became the crazy cat lady! Time went on and unfortunately we got divorced. My Dad ended up adopting one of the cats, so I was now divorced with 5 cats.
I was told SOOOO many times no one will ever date me with so many cats. That hurt my feelings, but my response was simply, “Well, if they don't want to be with me because of my cats, I don't want to be with them.” It wasn’t long until I met my husband, Steven. He was not a cat person but LOVES animals. (But, don’t let him fool you, even though he trys to get everyone to take a cat home with them when leaving our house, he loves, hugs, and cuddles with ALL of them!) When we first married, we lived at his grandparents for a short time. During this time a cat was abandoned on their property. I took the cat to the vet to check his microchip and found the previous owner was the person responsible for dropping him off. We then decided Gus would be my next rescue. My mom later adopted him.
A year later I started volunteering at the humane society because I knew I didn't have the space to do what I wanted with fostering. My husband and I, of course, fell in love with a big man cat named Bo, so we adopted him, only to find out later he would become diabetic. He is finally mediated and his diabetes is under control thanks to my awesome Veterinarian , Laura.
In 2016, my husband and I moved to our house that we currently live in, where we finally have space for me to foster! Shortly after, I was informed about a couple having issues with their 8 year old adopted cat, peeing inside and wanted to transition him to an outdoor cat - mind you he has never lived outside and it was November! He had no survival skills as an outdoor cat, would not have survived outside. I immediately took him in, and set up a nice little area for him in my garage in order to assess his personality and peeing situation. After figuring out his condition, he now has his own apartment in our basement. If you are counting, our cat count is now up to 7!
In 2018, a fluffy gray kitten, later to be named Pebbles, showed up at our house along side her brother, Shadow. I soon realized this young 4 month old kitten was also pregnant. I eventually trapped her brother, sterilized him, and tipped his ear, in plans to keep him as my outdoor cat along with his sister, once she raised her babies. Once Pebbles was far enough along in her pregnancy, I brought her inside to deliver and raise her babies safely.
Since Pebbles, Shadow and her 3 babies, I have now rescued and fostered 20 cats in the past year. My passion is fostering and adoptions and would love to one day focus more on older cats, and maintain a cat hospice. I want to continue helping cats in the area. I want to help more feral cats get food, water, shelter and neutered. I want to continue to raise and socialize cats, and give them the best chance at a great home. Providing medical to feral cats is especially needed, someone needs to watch out for these homeless kitties. SOOOOOO this is how my rescue really started.
A’s Cat Rescue is small and brand new at the moment, but I am excited for it to grow.