DIXFIELD – If Dixfield’s “cat woman” could purr, she’d have done it loudly Thursday afternoon.
That’s when Town Clerk Vickie Carrier and treasurer Charlotte Collins drove into her cat house yard with a pickup truck load of donated kitty food, litter, toys for cats and money.
“This really is the first help we’ve ever gotten in 20 years. What a good Christmas present!” Brenda Jarvis said inside the 12- by 56-foot trailer that is home to 14 abandoned adult cats which she and sister Caddy Smith feed and care for. The trailer is just for the cats, though.
It is their third such home just for stray cats, to which the two retirees have devoted themselves, working part-time jobs to keep the felines fed.
Smith and Jarvis keep the locations secret for fear of people dumping off more kitties, something that began happening last month.
Right now, daily, they’re taking care of 39 castoff cats.
Last Friday and on Monday, Collins and Carrier ran an ad in the Sun Journal, titled, “Donations Needed Dixfield Cats.”
They asked for kitty litter, cat food, and donations to help Jarvis and Smith with their efforts to care for Dixfield’s stray felines.
“It was Noreen Clarke’s idea,” Collins said of a Dixfield businesswoman and longtime municipal official.
“We thought the town office would be a good drop-off place, so we volunteered to run with it. Donations started coming in immediately after the ad hit the paper,” she said.
Thursday’s delivery to Jarvis included 185 pounds of dry food, 23 cans of food, 95 pounds of litter, Christmas stocking toys for kitties, and $181 donated by 22 people.
“There were also gifts for Brenda and Caddy. It was a great response,” Collins said.
“Judy,” a skittish gray tawny, the smallest of five kittens which the two sisters found in the woods behind Greenwood Cemetery, shyly poked her head out of a hallway to see what was going on. She was dwarfed by the mound of donations stacked in the living room.
“Sponge,” a 22-pound 10-year-old gray and white cat, lounged atop some bags of food, while “Gram,” a 17-year-old black cat sat in Jarvis’ lap. “Baby,” a white affectionate cat poked her head out from under a cabinet atop the refrigerator behind Jarvis.
“Bobo,” Judy’s large sister, also popped out from behind the couch that Carrier and Collins were sitting on, to greet them. Most of the cats, though, are still quite shy and afraid of people.
“I’m grateful for all of this and all the people who helped and the girls in town. These cats go through 48 cans every two days,” Jarvis said.
She and her sister have also made insulated cat boxes for strays outside and have regularly set out warm food mixed with milk to feed the ones that won’t stay indoors.
Last month, they shelled out almost $400 for veterinarian visits for a few of the cats, as well.
“We do need a shelter here so bad,” Jarvis said.
“Caddy and I love animals, so it’s really heartbreaking to see what people do to animals. But, if God keeps us healthy, we’ll keep doing what we’re doing,” she added.
Comments are no longer available on this story