Homeless cats in Fountain Hills will receive a safe and healthy place to live while they await adoption, thanks to the efforts of Fearless Kitty Rescue and a grant from the Fountain Hills Community Foundation.

The FHCF chooses recipients based on how each organization impacts residents in the local area. Owning a pet has benefits for both animals and humans. Experts say the health benefits of owning a pet may include decreased stress and improved heart health, along with enhanced social and emotional skills.

Executive Director Christie Fixico-Silver said the no-kill shelter will use the $1250 exclusively for Fountain Hills cats. She said Fearless Kitty receives as many as 200 requests each month to take in cats from all over the Valley but only has capacity to take in a maximum of 30.

“When we get a request from someone in this area, we do everything we can to help that cat. This grant allows us to put a special focus on that.”

Costs for sheltering each kitty average $250 and include food and litter, veterinary exams, vaccines, viral testing, microchipping, medications, spaying/neutering, transportation and all caretaking supplies.

“Many people think kittens come in healthy, but that’s not always the case,” she said. “There’s usually always something going on that needs to be taken care of. Since you never know, it’s always helpful to have that grant money to take care of any of those needs.”

Christine said all rescues are in need of community support at this time because shelters are seeing an increase in relinquishments.

“What most people don’t realize is that we had a great resurgence of people adopting during COVID,” she said. “Now that people’s lives have changed again, there are a lot of surrenders. And because there was less spaying and neutering at that time, now we are dealing with a lot of cats and kittens as well.”

Although Fountain Hills is a small town, Christine said people come from all over Maricopa County to adopt their cats because Fearless Kitty has such a big following. Last year they placed 325 cats and are on track to place the same amount this year. Since their inception, more than 2500 cats have been reunited with their owners or found their forever home.

“We love being here in Fountain Hills. We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” she said. The Fountain Hills community is a big part of who we are as a rescue. It means a lot that organizations like the FHCF support us when we ask.”