Life & Work with Melissa Smith of Traverse City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Smith

Hi Melissa, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

TC Paw Cat Rescue was formed in April 2023. We are a non-profit, no-kill cat rescue covering the five-county greater Traverse City area. Our staff is 100% volunteers. A group of women, each with different backgrounds and careers came together to start TC Paw Cat Rescue. We all agreed a rescue for cats and kittens was necessary for the northern Michigan region. Within our first year, we accepted 400 cats in our care. We adopted out 265 cats, and many feral cats were trapped, neutered and released (TNR) under our supervision.

Experienced volunteers who have worked in cat rescue for years assist in rescue, rehab, and adoption. We provide a second chance to cats that have been abandoned, found as strays, or surrendered by their owners. TC Paw partners with specific northern Michigan veterinarians to ensure cats and kittens receive age-appropriate vaccinations, sterilization, Feline Leukemia, and Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) testing, a microchip, and treatment for fleas and deworming. This all happens before adoption. Additional care is given as necessary (dental surgery, wound care, or urgent health issues).

Since we do not have a shelter facility, TC Paw solely relies on our team of foster volunteers to house the cats and kittens until we find their forever homes. Our dedicated team works to create the best outcome for all animals and nurture the human-animal bond through careful placements, assessing and thoughtfully addressing the animals’ needs.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

When it comes to animal rescue, especially in a world where we see countless cats living outside in need of medical care, or cats that are not spayed or neutered, it can feel like an endless battle. You want to help every cat and kitten, and it can be emotionally challenging. At times it feels overwhelming and almost impossible. The silver lining is that we have an extensive team committed to helping cats and kittens needing veterinarian care and a forever home.

We are coming up on the first anniversary of our biggest rescue mission. In September 2023, over Labor Day weekend, TC Paw volunteers rescued close to 40 cats, a woman had abandoned outside of a rental home in Kalkaska. The cats were crammed into cat carriers, some two to three cats inside together. The woman was evicted and was trying to hide the cats from the landlord. Sadly, the woman left the cats, inside the carriers covered in tarps in 90-degree heat. The malnourished cats had no food, water or cat litter. They were sitting in their feces for a few days in extreme heat.

TC Paw didn’t have enough foster homes at the time. However, we moved all of those cats into a safe space where they were cleaned, fed, and ultimately received veterinary care. Some of the cats were extremely sick, some emaciated, and some had serious infections. With the help of local veterinarians, we were able to rehabilitate most of the cats and get them adopted into safe, loving homes. Cherryland Humane Society in Traverse City stepped in and took a few of the cats into their care.  Community Cats of Benzie County also stepped in and helped with the cats.  We are grateful for their support.  Once in our care, three of the rescued cats did pass away due to their health conditions.  The good news: most of the Kalkaska cats have been adopted over the last year into forever homes, and the overall situation showed the dire need for a cat rescue like TC Paw.

One of our greatest needs is for loving foster homes. We are always in need of experienced foster families or individuals who can open up a small space in their homes. TC Paw supplies the funds for vet care and supplies, but we are constantly looking for people to step up as fosters to help socialize and care for the cats and kittens before they are adopted into a forever home.

Providing care for kittens is always a major challenge, especially when we provide the kitten formula for them. Most of our kittens are rescued without a mom cat being present, and that means TC Paw becomes their main nutrition source. Since spring 2023, TC Paw has rescued close to 200 kittens!  It is a tremendous responsibility that TC Paw director and president, Lisa Chimner focuses on when it comes to bottle-feeding kittens still in need of formula. It is an extremely delicate situation to make sure kittens are gaining the proper weight without the support of their biological mom. It is one of the biggest challenges our rescue faces since kittens are extremely delicate with specific nutrition needs during the first weeks of their life. That is why TC Paw stresses the utmost importance of spaying and neutering to help with an overwhelming population of kittens– as well as the health of both female and male cats.

One issue that we continue to face is taking in cats from people who have lost their homes or need to surrender their cats for various reasons. There is an emotional toll involved with this type of rescue. Once you save one cat, another call comes in for another feline in need of immediate rescue. It most definitely is not for the faint of heart, but in doing the best we can, we are making a massive difference in the lives of hundreds of cats across the region.

A silver lining and a beautiful moment is rescuing a female cat and her kittens living outside. Most of the time this involves using a humane trap to get the animals into our care, which can take several days.  Once you have mom and her babies, you see the look on their faces and how the mom cat has been a survivor for both herself and her kittens. No one talks about the survival mode an outdoor female cat faces.  She is a true survivor. This mom cat faces everything from severe weather, a lack of food, and outdoor predators, both animal and humans. When we can intercede and take over to keep these little beings safe, it is a beautiful moment.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?

We have a TC Paw board as well as experienced cat rescue volunteers who are actively working on everything from adoption coordination, fostering needs, fundraising, public relations, and the financial logistics of keeping a non-profit successful and up to date with the medical needs of the cats and kittens.

Our mission is to help cats and kittens in the greater Traverse City region through rescue, spay/neuter, fostering, adoption, education, and community collaboration. We want to be an educational resource for the public on how to care for, socialize, and give a cat or kitten the most fulfilling life. Cats are not property.  They are emotionally intelligent beings and we want people to see and understand this.

When we work with people to adopt TC Paw cats and kittens, we know it is a two-way connection. The human needs to understand the personality and responsibility of the kitty and the kitty also needs to approve of the human. Our adoption process is strict and detailed because our focus is the well-being of the cats and kittens. Their well-being always comes first.

We do not adopt out to reach a quota or to make money for those involved. The entire rescue is volunteer and every single person is solely involved because they want to help felines and make this world a safer, welcoming place for cats and kittens. We want to be an educational and informational resource for the northern Michigan community when it comes to felines and what is best for them.

TC Paw is also involved with actively trapping stray kitties living outdoors, to get them safely indoors. We have a team who is trained in cat trapping and understands how to safely utilize the traps. Once trapped and safely inside, each cat and kitten receives medical care including vaccines, is microchipped, and spayed/neutered before going into a foster home.

TC Paw is also experienced in looking for and finding missing cats. We stress the utmost importance of keeping cats inside at all times, but should a cat go missing, we have a team of volunteers who will actively help in the search and rescue that involves specific guidelines and steps to follow. This includes everything from the initial marketing of the missing cat, raising social media awareness for the missing cat, setting outdoor cameras with feeding stations– and ultimately setting traps once the cat is sighted within the community.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?

Growing up, my parents were the ones who instilled the love of animals into my life.  They showed me that our cats and dogs were family and vet care and emotional care for the animals were always priorities.  I took those lessons with me throughout my life and now as an adult, my cats are my kids. They are the reason I want to help other cats and enable cats in need to experience the love that humans can give them.

More than that, I want humans to experience the unconditional love a cat can provide for them. Cats are highly intelligent beings and they teach us patience, mindfulness, and how to be a survivor.  Adoption and respect for cats save lives. TC Paw is doing that every single day with the cats and kittens we are bringing into our foster system.  There is a severe need for cat rescue across this country and TC Paw Cat Rescue with our dedicated team of experienced volunteers and veterinary partners, is taking on this challenge with respect and compassion for these animals.

TC Paw Cat Rescue contact information:

• Website: https://www.tcpaw.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tcpawcatrescue/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tcpawcatrescue
• Main rescue line: (231) 714-4711