08/30/2026
Sharing on behalf of Tender Loving Cats.
I need to be honest with you. We are overwhelmed. 💔
I have rewritten this post more times than I can count because I honestly don’t know how to put into words how seriously overwhelmed I am right now.
Tender Loving Cats is bleeding money.
Adoptions have slowed considerably, and I haven’t had even a moment to myself this summer—let alone the time needed to fundraise.
For years, I have poured everything I have into TLC. I have answered the phone, responded to messages, coordinated trapping and transportation, found fosters, dealt with medical emergencies, worried about cats through the night, and somehow gotten up the next morning and done it all over again.
And I haven’t done it alone.
Our incredibly loving, caring and dedicated volunteers continue to show up day after day. They are out there trapping in the heat, transporting cats, fostering, bottle-feeding kittens, cleaning litter boxes, taking cats to appointments and opening their homes and hearts over and over again.
I am so incredibly grateful for every single one of them.
But the truth is…
I can’t keep up anymore.
When we opened Tender Loving Veterinary Clinic, I knew Long Island desperately needed an affordable, high-volume clinic for cats. I knew there were families struggling to afford veterinary care and thousands of feral cats who desperately needed to be spayed and neutered.
What I didn’t know was just how quickly TLVC would grow or how many cats and families we would ultimately be able to help.
Since opening our doors, TLVC has spayed and neutered approximately 1,500 owned and feral cats and kittens.
And TLC has personally trapped and spayed/neutered approximately 700 feral cats living on the streets of Long Island.
That represents approximately $70,000 in veterinary expenses for those 700 cats alone.
Seventy thousand dollars.
We did it because these cats needed us.
We didn’t wait for someone else to step in.
We just kept saying, “We’ll figure it out.”
But this year, we haven’t received a single grant.
Zero grant funding.
And we haven’t put out pleas begging for money.
I’ve barely had time to breathe, let alone sit down and fundraise.
I’ve been too busy trying to keep the cats cared for and keep everything moving forward.
And now we’ve reached the point where there is simply nothing left to stretch.
We are out of funding.
I hate admitting that.
It feels like I’m letting people down.
But I also know what we’ve accomplished.
We have helped thousands of cats.
We have prevented thousands of unwanted kittens from being born.
We have given people a place to turn when they had nowhere else to go.
We have helped make affordable veterinary care available to so many people who desperately needed it.
And we’ve done it with a small army of volunteers who give everything they have.
But even love has limits when the bank account is empty.
So today, I have to make some incredibly painful decisions.
We are closing our Prevent-A-Litter (PAL) Program.
This program has operated without interruption for more than a year and has helped countless cats and families.
We are closing intake.
And this is perhaps the hardest thing for me to say.
We currently have approximately 200 cats and kittens in our program.
They still need food.
They still need medical care.
They still need foster homes.
They still need adoption.
And they still need us.
At the same time, we receive approximately 20 calls a day asking for help, along with countless messages, tags and pleas on social media.
I see them.
I read them.
And I carry them with me.
Sometimes I don’t respond because I simply don’t know what to say.
How do you tell someone who has found a cat that you can’t help when helping cats is the reason you started doing this in the first place?
How do you say no when your entire heart is screaming yes?
But I cannot take more cats when I don’t know how I’m going to pay for the ones already depending on us.
This isn’t because we don’t care.
It’s because we care too much to pretend that we can continue operating this way.
I have spent years trying to save everyone.
Right now, I need to save TLC.
So I’m asking for something I don’t ask for easily.
Please help us.
We desperately need donations.
We desperately need adopters.
We desperately need fosters.
And we desperately need people to share this post.
If TLC has ever helped you…
If we’ve ever helped your cat…
If you’ve ever watched one of our rescue stories and thought, “Thank God someone helped that cat”…
Please be that someone for us now.
$10 matters.
$25 matters.
$50 matters.
Every single dollar matters.
Those dollars mean food in a bowl.
A medical bill getting paid.
A cat getting the care it needs.
A kitten getting a chance.
A foster being able to say yes.
And hopefully, the ability for TLC to get back on solid financial ground.
I don’t want this to be the end of Tender Loving Cats.
I don’t want the phone to stop ringing because we’ve disappeared.
I don’t want the cats on the streets to have nowhere to turn.
I just need us to survive.
For years, I have asked people to help me save cats.
Today, I’m asking you to help me save the organization that has dedicated itself to saving them.
To our volunteers, fosters, adopters, donors, veterinarians, supporters and friends—
thank you.
You have helped me save more cats than I ever could have imagined when I started this journey.
I am still here.
TLC is still here.
But we need you now.
Please help me keep Tender Loving Cats alive.
Donate if you can. https://www.tenderlovingcats.org/donate-and-make-a-difference.html
Foster if you can. https://www.tenderlovingcats.org/foster-application.html
Adopt if you can. https://www.tenderlovingcats.org/adoption-application.html
Share if that’s all you can do.
Just please don’t look away.
There are 200 cats and kittens counting on us.
And right now…
I’m counting on you. ♥️
