Located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Meow-Aid is a small, grass roots, not for profit organization committed to easing the suffering of homeless cats. For 20 years Meow-Aid has been helping homeless cats by sheltering them until a good home can be found, and by promoting the practice of spaying and neutering. Meow-Aid is a no-kill operation run totally by volunteers. Many of our cats come to us half-starved, mistreated or terrified as a result of abuse or abandonment. We provide them veterinary help as well as food, shelter and lots of love. Our aim is to find good homes for them all. In 1985 while volunteering with another animal help organization, which euthanized their excess cats, Mandy Butcher wanted to find a way to do more. Realizing the magnitude of the cat problem after seeing the number of cats being put down for no good reason, and without thinking of the costs involved, Meow-Aid was born with the help of a few incredible people. Over the years, Meow-Aid has grown and evolved into the wonderful organization that it is today. These days we specialize mainly in older and harder to place cats, and cats with behavioural and/or medical problems. At any given time, we have anywhere from 75 to 100 cats in our shelter and we help out approximately 350 to 400 cats per year. We have 35 wonderful volunteers that dedicate several hours of their week to help run the shelter and care for the cats. At any one time we also have approximately 50 loving foster families that help out by providing a temporary home to cats that are not suited to a shelter environment. The cost of running the shelter, including veterinary bills, is a minimum of $50,000 per year. We operate solely on donations and assistance from individuals and societies sympathetic to our cause. So needless to say, we are very grateful for all monetary donations, large or small!