Caboodle Ranch
The Caboodle ranch is a cat sanctuary like no other. Basically it is a sort of cat town, where hundreds of cats roam free through a community built especially for them. There are little 'gingerbread' houses for the cats to live in, which are basically small weather-proof structures with an indoor part and a small porch where the cat can lounge on a sunny day. There is even a 'City Hall' and a 'Wall Mart'; and in the middle of the ranch there is a fountain from which the cats love to drink. |
Caboodle ranch started as a one-man project in 2003 and now expanded to a 30 acre cat sanctuary which gives a home to over 500 once abandoned or homeless cats. Craig Grant' who is the founder of the ranch, still largely pays for the whole project from his own savings. But his cats love their new home. And there is much to like. Using his imagination and practical skills he has built most of the place himself, and admits that any time he is away from his cats, he 'worries like a mother hen'. Most of the cats arrived at the ranch after they were discovered as homeless strays in the area. Craig has never willingly turned away a cat in need of shelter, and also takes in cats needing care if for some reason their humans can no longer look after them. He describes his project as 'totally unintentional ...a true story that started with one man and one cat - who never really got along well with each other.' That cat had kittens, and Craig moved into more-cat friendly lodgings. As he collected more cats that had been 'kicked around' by life, he eventually located the site which was later to become the Caboodle ranch 100 miles west of Jacksonville in Florida. It's right in the middle of a wilderness area, and at the time of writing, Craig is trying to raise money for a fence to keep out marauding coyotes which occasionally disturb the peace of his feline community.
All the cats on the ranch are neutered, and are given their shots before they are allowed to join the other 'townscats' because of the risk of spreading feline diseases. Wherever possible, those dropping cats off at the ranch are expected to provide a donation for the ranch's upkeep, and no-one is allowed to drop cats off unannounced. Newcomers need to be carefully checked, and spend their first couple of weeks in large cages similar to those of the more traditional cat sanctuaries. This gives the cats a chance to get used to their new surroundings and to meet the other cats of the ranch. Once they are comfortable with their new circumstances they join the others to roam free. Despite the ranch's large population Craig Grant has made sure that every cat in the sanctuary has enough personal space. He utilizes the lower branches of the trees for cats to have secure look-out places, builds additional safe hide-outs, and even has constructed underground dens for those cats which prefer them.
You can see the life on Caboodle ranch on this video:
Craig spends 14 hours a day, seven days a week, to care for the ranch and even if he does not have money to eat, he makes sure his cats do. In his blog 'A day at the ranch' he describes the everyday challenges of keeping his cats fed and sheltered, and of late-evening journeys to get the doughnuts of which some of the cats are particularly fond. Keeping the ranch going is not a trivial expense. The cost for food and veterinary services comes to about 6000 dollars a month. But as Craig says himself: 'I do with very little so I can give them (the cats) a happy life'. Craig's is certainly a magnificent obsession, and he wryly acknowledges this with a Dan Greenberg quote on the Caboodle website 'There is, incidentally, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person'. Hundreds of cats have reason to be deeply thankful that Craig has been so uncompromising in his commitment to his charges, and he has created a unique environment for them to live in. But it is not always easy, so if you can make a donation to Caboodle ranch follow this link.
For more information on the Caboodle ranch go to : www.caboodleranch.com
