Patty Reynolds, a former LVT in the section of Diagnostic Imaging, recently retired after 38 years of service at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. However, Reynolds hasn’t quite experienced your typical “laid back” retirement — for the past two years, Reynolds has been running her own 501(c)(3) nonprofit called, The Cat Program at the Old Barn, in the village of Moravia, New York.
Her Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) initiative began when she moved into the area and realized her home and neighborhood were inundated with cats. Reynolds says, “two and half years ago I was in my basement and all of a sudden, there was this little calico kitten in the window. I kept track of her and I’ve always been a cat lover and then I retired and a friend of mine put on Facebook that the local dog rescue was looking to help with the cat situation. I’m retired and somebody needed to step up and why shouldn’t it be me? So two days later, I had a full time volunteer job.”
While Reynolds does not currently own any cats of her own, she does have visiting cats. Three cats that visit and one that actually lives on her deck. Otherwise, her time is kept busy tending to the multiple barns that range from having 20-70 cats and/or kittens.
Reynolds is greatly appreciative of being able to utilize the Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program CornellVet CARES Community Cat Clinics. When asked about the importance of HQHVSN, Reynolds says, “we couldn’t do it without you guys, honestly. We have very few people that can afford to have these animals.” The majority of the cats that they are providing TNR for are feral but Reynolds has found a number of friendly cats that have also been dropped off. Reynolds says many of these friendly cats have kittens, so they take the kittens once they are weaned and place them in homes. Then, depending on how the mama cat is doing, they will adopt the cat out or make sure she is altered and then released.
Reynolds estimates that over the last six months, she has brought 40-50 cats to Cornell for the community cat clinics and she plans on utilizing them each month. Reynolds says, “the biggest thing holding us back is the number of traps we have.”
Written By: Suzette Moschetti
Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program Coordinator
