DEXTER, Maine — A new adoption program that aims to improve the well-being of seniors who live alone matches them with cats in need of homes.
Furever Friends, a project created by the Dexter Age Friendly Community, received a $5,000 grant from the Maine Community Foundation this summer and launched in October. The program has matched seven local seniors with cats and plans to make more matches.
The felines come from Spirits Place, a cat sanctuary that opened in 2016 that cares for feral and community cats on its 15-acre property in St. Albans.
The program is a unique response to the influx of animals into Maine shelters, especially as temporary eviction halts have ended and housing costs continue to soar, the Spirits founder said. Square, Lee Palmer. Some people can no longer afford to care for their pets and are forced to abandon them, she said.
“Shelters around the state are at capacity,” she said. “People are put on hold or on a waiting list, they get frustrated and leave their cats on the side of the road or dump them on farms or elsewhere. We see a lot of sick and hungry cats.
The Furever Friends program, created to provide a companion for both the participating senior and a cat, has several purposes. It is intended to improve the couple’s physical and mental health, as research suggests that a cat’s purr calms people down and may have healing properties. The program also alleviates a concern that prevents some seniors from adopting – that the cat will be abandoned if the owner becomes unable to care for it.
“They worry about leaving an animal behind,” said Liz Breault, director of the Abbott Memorial Library and leader of the Dexter Age Friendly group. “It’s such a relief to know that someone will take care of your cat if something happens to her.”
This is where Spirits Place would come in. Not only does it provide the senior with a vetted cat that matches their personality or preferences, but they will bring the animal back if they become disabled or need to move to a nursing home, for example, Breault said.
Adoption is free, and grant funds are used to cover basic expenses for pet owners who need help getting started, such as a cat carrier or litter supplies. It can also be used for seniors who want a feline friend but whose housing complexes require a pet deposit, said Breault, who also volunteers at Spirits Place.
Funds will be set aside to provide an annual check-up with vaccinations for the cat, although organizers are still working on logistics.
Spirits Place – home to approximately 200 free-roaming cats, including cats that are unadoptable due to health or socialization issues – also aims to educate the community about the bond between animals and humans, the well- being animals and other related topics. It hosts a number of youth programs and works with the library to offer affordable neutering and neutering clinics several times a year.
Breault and Palmer have high hopes for the program because they have seen the joy the cats and their new owners have brought to each other, they said. Seniors have time to spend with pets which tend to be less maintenance friendly than dogs.
A 96-year-old man chose to adopt because he recently lost his pet and knew he would miss having a cat by his side in the garden, Palmer said. Sometimes seniors come for a cat with certain qualities and come away with the opposite, she says.
“They choose each other,” she said. “We have a cat in mind that would be a good fit, but we let it happen organically.”
Joan Shapleigh, who resides in an assisted living complex in Dover-Foxcroft, lost her cairn terrier after 15 and a half years together and wanted a more manageable pet. It took Shapleigh, 85, several visits before she met her new companion with orange fur and light green eyes, whom she calls Marmalade or Miss Marmalade.
“They’re watching her,” Shapleigh said. “They want to make sure it’s going to work. She sleeps on my bed and jumps on my lap, and she’s just a sweetie.
Elizabeth Peltier of Greenville was hoping to find a cat no one else would adopt, preferably an older female, but ended up adopting a male positive for feline leukemia after he curled up on his knees at the shelter. Peltier, 79, tried to change the black cat’s name to Midnight, but that’s all he responds to, so she decided to honor that.
“He’s a good companion and I can take care of him,” she said, noting that he was around 4 years old. “He meets me at the door when I come home. He is very gentle with things and with me. I went a few months without a cat, and it was really empty.
The Dexter Age Friendly group and Spirits Place are trying to create a food pantry specifically to help seniors who have a good home but a limited income that makes feeding a pet difficult, Palmer said. Ideally, a third party would manage the pantry and deliver the food, she said.
Furever Friends will direct participants in need of financial support to the Furry Friends Food Bank, an Eastern Region Agency on Aging project that helps low-income seniors feed their pets . The food bank has distribution points throughout Maine, including Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.
Those interested in the adoption program can reach Breault at 207-924-7292 or [email protected]