Big changes ahead at Catmandu in Carson City

Catmandu in Carson City is scaling its cat and kitten services back a bit.

Executive director Linda Buchanan was recently diagnosed with Behcet’s Disease, a rare auto-immune disorder after two years of strange symptoms and increasingly poor health. Although Behcet’s disease is not considered life-threatening, it requires a significant reduction of work and stress to keep the disease contained.

For this reason, Catmandu will transition to more of a senior living center by reducing the number of cats cared for while shifting the focus from servicing a huge population of kittens and young adoptable kitties to a much smaller group of senior cats age 10 and up.

“Doing the little kittens is stressful at times,” Buchanan said. “It’s an all-day process and you don’t get a day off. … You’re always worried about them and taking care of them, so scaling back a bit will help tremendously.”

For more than five years, Catmandu has served a significant role within the Carson City pet service and foster care community. With the hard work from hundreds of volunteers, more than 1,500 cats and kittens have found forever homes and hundreds more have been taken care of in other ways.

Catmandu’s mission was to provide immediate housing, adoption services, TNR and other assistance for as many homeless cats and kittens as possible in a no-kill, cage-free facility. That mission remains the same, but aimed toward a Senior Cat Center for older cats in their remaining years.

“Some of the older cats just don’t get enough attention,” Buchanan said. “So it’s our new goal to provide for them and hope someone can help them find a home.”

Kittens and younger cats may steal all of the attention, but the older felines have their positives too.

“Senior cats won’t climb your curtains for one,” Buchanan chuckled. “They’re very experienced and calm. You know what their personality is like and you know exactly what you’re getting. They are much more easy-going with people and other animals and they’re just easier to take care of … For all the love you give them, they’ll give you all the love and care they have in return.”

Buchanan has discussed the possibility of establishing a Catmandu senior-to-senior program for senior citizen pet owners looking for a furry friend. The cats remain apart of Catmandu when they enter long-term foster care with their senior pet owner. If something were to happen to the pet or owner, the cat can be taken and treated back at Catmandu.

“So many senior citizens aren’t optimistc when it comes to cats,” she said. “They may think of what happens to them or if the cat is injured or sick? They may not know what’s going to happen to them. … I think with the foster program, the seniors get the companionship and the warmth of having a cat while not being worried about what will happen. Bringing the two of them together can be a perfect match.”

To handle her condition, taking a break from hundreds of cats and kittens helps Buchanan explore her other interests.

“This is really my life,” she said. “But I can go home at the end of the day and mess around in my garden and not be on call at all hours of the day. That will help me a lot and I’ll enjoy it.”

Catmandu still has more than 30 cats and kittens in foster care and another 20 or so adoptable adults. Buchanan hopes to have all of them adopted before switching to the Senior Cat Center in the early fall.

Interested participants looking for adoption can visit the Catmandu website here, call at 775-297-3419 or stop by in person at 1829 Brown St. in Carson City.