BUFORD, Ga. — A local rescue that helps hundreds of cats find homes each year says their home is in jeopardy now that they're being forced to leave.
What's known locally as "The Cat House" in historic Buford is run by the nonprofit Cat Rangers. They house up to 72 cats inside the home and they all have made it their own.
Kaitlyn Ross reports that home was just sold.
There are 58 cats here at the Cat Rangers Rescue Buford. They've had as many as 72 and all of them have their own chair or bed to relax in. The founders say there's nothing else like this place, that's why it's so important for them to keep it.
Cat Rangers Co-Founder Sparrow Marcioni knows all the cats that live at the rescue in Buford. She says the 50-plus volunteers who work with the cats in the home love each one of them.
"Once they establish their safe place, they settle down, then we have to make sure there's no empty food bowls," she said.
She says it takes an enormous amount of work to make the house run smoothly.
When they moved in nine years ago, people didn't believe they could make it work.
"Nobody believes the cats can get along in this environment. The first thing people say is, you have HOW many cats?! And they all get along and they don't fight," he said.
But she says their model has proved to be a success. They adopt out hundreds of cats each year that otherwise would have been euthanized.
They know the work they're doing is important, which is why she says they were devastated when they found out their home would be sold.
"Panic, and it was how in the world can we find a place like this? It's a house converted to commercial, we have been able to divide it, it's got parking, it has everything," she said.
She says their new place also had to be close by so the dozens of volunteers who keep the place running could still come help.
"We are pulling our hair out, we have six real estate agents looking, all of our adopters," she said, trying to find a new place.
She says they think they just found a spot nearby, but they'll have to raise a lot of money to make it work.
"We need to find a way to raise the funds we need... which will be between $25-30,000 dollars," she said.
She says everyone who loves the rescue is willing to put in the work to make their new home just as special as this one is.
"Cats don't act themselves when they're in a cage... so it's hard to find a good match, so we make good matches," she said.
They know it's going to take a lot of work to make those repairs, so they started a fundraiser: catrangers.com.