Cat shelter destroyed in storm

Nearly three weeks since Storm Éowyn raged through the country, the effects are still being felt by businesses, households and community groups.

Paws and Claws is a local animal welfare charity in Cavan which rescues and rehomes cats and dogs. While its small Thomas Ashe Street shop raises funds for the care needs of the animals, it is only a portion of the work undertaken by the charity.

Behind the scenes, there are people like Jo Maher who take in animals and provide care until they find their forever home. The recent gusts tore through the cat shed and pen at her Strageliffe home, leaving 13 cats with no appropriate shelter. She reported she can have up to 30 cats at any one time.

“Unfortunately the storm basically destroyed the cat pen that we have. It’s in pieces all over the garden and the shed got quite damaged as well,” Jo explains.

Broken glass and planks blew across her garden, while the door is hanging off the shed, meaning it is “not fit for use”.

With kitten season looming, Jo has created a GoFundMe to try to raise funds to replace the shed.

“We’ll be inundated again and I want somewhere safe and warm for them to be while they get well enough to be rehomed.”

Fearing the winds would cause damage, Jo had removed the cats from the shed and brought them into her own home.

Currently the cats are back in the shed, however Joe fears that it’s “probably not warm enough” with “drafts getting in”.

She doesn’t have the funds to replace it.

“I don’t take money from the rescue, they have enough with their own vet bills and stuff for all the animals they take care of.

“I try and cover costs myself where possible.”

To date, the fundraiser is at €430 with the goal of raising €1,500.

“That will cover a new cat pen and a new shed and help me get it decked out and ready for the cats,” Jo told the Celt .

Fostering cats for two years now, Jo finds the task “very rewarding”. Cats come to her via Paws and Claws, most of which are “abandoned” or “found” with some presenting “injured” or “sick”.

She said the number of abandoned cats “always goes up again after Christmas”.

“Once they go past the cute kitten stage, people just end up dumping them. There was a box of kittens found last year just dumped on the side of the road.

“People need to get their cats spayed, any cats and kittens that we take in here are always spayed and neutered before they go for rehoming,” she said.