Montclair Animal Hospital Half-Way to Goal for Cat Rescue Fund

When Lauren Boonstra brought a frail kitten into Dr. George Cameron’s animal hospital in Montclair last year, she didn’t realize she would become immersed in an effort to save the lives of dozens of so-called unadoptable cats.

Boonstra, now a part-time employee at the animal hospital, helped start the Cameron Animal Hospital Cat Rescue fund. With a $10,000 goal, the fund will help send more than 20 feral cats to a sanctuary in Delmar, Md.

Cats are “dumped” at the Bloomfield Avenue veterinarian’s office on a regular basis, Boonstra said.

While most cats will be adopted, the feral ones, who aren’t domesticated, will live out their lives at the animal hospital.

“It’s no life,” Boonstra said, which is why she is hoping to raise the $450 per cat needed to send them to the Maryland sanctuary.

“It’s an outdoor place where they are safe from wildlife, cars, and get medical attention,” she said. The sanctuary asks for $350 per cat, the other $100 will be used to offset the costs of transporting them.

The animal hospital also plans to donate medical supplies and food to the sanctuary.

“If Dr. Cameron isn’t helping these cats, the cats will be euthanized somewhere else,” she said.

Boonstra said seeing the cat room opened her eyes to the plight of feral cats.

“Half of them are up for adoption, but the other half you can’t even touch,” she said. “The walls are lined with cages and they just all look at you like, ‘Help me get me out of here.’”

She herself rescued a three-week old kitten and was referred to Dr. Cameron when it ran a fever. The doctor said the cat needed insulin and didn’t know how it had survived. When Boonstra told him she had been giving it sugar water, the doctor saw something special in her connection with animals and offered her a job.

“I just knew that I owed it to him to be the very best on the job,” Boonstra said.

The latest fundraising effort is a Dining to Donate. Bring the attached flyer to the Applebee’s on Rt. 46 in Totowa on Friday, June 25, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the restaurant will donate 10% of the check to the Cameron Hospital Cat Rescue.

Can’t make it to Applebee’s? Donations are accepted on an ongoing basis on GoFundMe.