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Perry Backus - Ravalli Republic
Chris Ritchson holds one of the 23 Feral Cat Rescue kittens that will be offered for adoption this Saturday, Dec. 3 at Lakeland Feeds.
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Perry Backus - Ravalli Republic
Casanova is one of 23 kittens now being cared for by Hamilton's Feral Cat Rescue organization that is looking for a caring home.
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Chris and Tami Ritchson would like to have their living room back.
Right now, smack dab in the middle, are cages filled with cute little kittens.
Every single one of the cuddly little cats was captured by the couple who form the nucleus of the Bitterroot Valley's Feral Cat Rescue organization.
This fall has been especially busy.
"It was an extremely late season for the second litter," Tami said.
Cats normally have two litters a year. The couple guesses that the unusually wet spring pushed that whole reproductive cycle back a few weeks this year.
"Whatever caused it, this fall has been unbelievable for kittens," she said. "We have kittens coming out of the woodwork. This is new territory for us. We've never had so many this late in the year."
This Saturday, the couple is hoping that cat lovers across the county will stop by Hamilton's Lakeland Feeds to take a look at the 23 kittens they have available for adoption.
The kitten adopt-a-thon will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 3 at 110 Mill St.
Feral Cat Rescue is a local, nonprofit organization that was formed after the Ritchsons noticed a feral cat with kittens roaming around their home on the southwest end of Hamilton about five years ago.
Back then, they hoped that a major effort of capturing and neutering as many feral cats as possible would eventually lead to a time when that wouldn't be necessary.
"We are still pretty busy," Tami said.
The rescue organization returns most of the cats they capture and have neutered at the Fox Hollow Animal Project to the location where they were found.
The kittens are placed in a foster setting where they are socialized in preparation for being adopted into homes.
All of the kittens being offered for adoption at Saturday's event were rescued in Ravalli County.
The rescue organization asks for a $40 donation at the time of the adoption, but that isn't mandatory.
"The $40 helps us keep going," Tami said. "We have to pay for spay and neutering and for food."
The organization also requires that people adopting a kitten sign a contract that requires them to return the animal if they decide they can no longer care for it.
The couple spends a good deal of time helping people address the issue of feral cats.
"People sometimes just get overwhelmed," Tami said. "They start out feeding a cat or two that shows up at their place and before they know, they have 20 or 30."
One memorable case involved a man that folks said shouldn't be bothered.
"They told us he'd just as soon point a shotgun at you than talk with you," she said. "He'd been feeding cats for 10 years. When he got up to about 50 cats, he would round up some and then drive the back roads and drop them off at barns along the way.
"That was his solution to the problem," she said.
The organization now has a food bank and can offer people feeding feral cat colonies some help if they are struggling financially. To qualify, those folks have to be willing to have their animals neutered.
"It is better for the cats if they can stay in the place they consider home," she said.
The Ritchsons have recently submitted a grant proposal that would allow the rescue organization to buy some land to create a cat sanctuary in Ravalli County.
"We're hoping that it will work out," Tami said.
In the meantime, the couple will share their back bedroom, bathroom and garage with their feral cat friends. And sometimes, even their living room.
"Someday, I'd like to be able to get this house finished once for all," Chris said. "Right now, there's too much else we need to do."
For more information, call Tami at 381-6580 or look online at www.feralcatrescuemt.org
Reach reporter Perry Backus at 363-3300 or
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