Caring for homeless cats & kittens in loving foster homes.
Valley Cats Cat & Kitten Rescue was founded in July, 2014 by Wendy Zolkowski, Emily Anderson and Carlyn Cooley. We saw the need for a foster-based cat and kitten rescue that could focus on helping other rescues and humane societies when they were 1) full beyond capacity and/or 2) needed assistance with special needs cases where a cat or kitten could benefit from intense TLC and one-to-one attention from trained foster home volunteers.
Our primary goals are to rescue homeless cats and kittens, care for them in loving foster care homes, and find them loving new forever families; and to reduce the feral and barn cat population through coordination of a small-scale Trap Neuter Return (TNR) program. TNR is the only scientifically proven method of reducing the feral cat population. To learn more about TNR, visit the Alley Cat Allies Web site here.
Wendy Zolkowski, Executive Director, and Emily Anderson, Marketing/PR Director, currently run Valley Cats on a volunteer basis out of a handful of loving foster care homes in Neenah, Appleton, Oshkosh and the Fox Valley area of Northeast Wisconsin. They have more than 36 years combined experience in animal welfare.
As of January 18, 2024, we have rescued and adopted out 982 cats and kittens and TNR’d (Trapped-Neutered-Returned) 821 feral/barn cats!
Emily Anderson (left) and Wendy Zolkowski pictured at a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Spay Day held at a local veterinary clinic in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Dozens of dedicated veterinarians, veterinary techs, veterinary support staff and trained volunteers come together to make these events possible, donating their time and talents to help prevent unwanted litters.
Often when spaying and neutering large amounts of feral (wild) and barn cats in one day, kittens who are young enough to be socialized end up coming in to the clinics. When that happens, with the assistance of veterinary staff, they are evaluated, and if we have capacity, we will take them into care, socialize them, nurse them to health if needed, sterilize them and find them loving families.