PAWS Animal Welfare Society, Inc. Fort Kent, Maine

Paws Animal Welfare Society, Inc. (PAWS) of Fort Kent is a nonprofit organization that rescues homeless cats in the St. John Valley, Aroostook County, Maine. We provide shelter for cats until we have found suitable homes for them. Most of the cats were house cats that have been abandoned. They are very friendly and the majority of the cats only need to be given basic medical care in addition to being spayed/neutered before going into a permanent and loving home. However, about 25% of the cats need more extensive medical treatments, such as dentistry, blood tests, x-rays, minor surgeries, etc. which we provide before they are offered for adoption. Some of the cats need to be socialized before placement because they were born outside and had lived outside for a long time. All cats remain with us either at the shelter or in a foster home until a suitable home can be found for them; only seriously ill or injured cats with little hope of recovery are euthanized. This rarely happens. Unfortunately, we must focus on homeless cats; we do not have the space or resources to take surrenders into our shelter. Our mission is to spay and/or neuter as many cats as possible in order to reduce the population of unwanted cats and kittens and to give all cats a better chance at a good quality life. PAWS neuters and vaccinates cats four months or older before they are placed in homes. We also provide financial assistance to cat owners who need help getting their cats spayed/neutered through spay/neuter clinics, voucher programs and direct assistance.