Carol and Larry Jones support and care for O‘ahu’s felines

Longtime supporters and feline foster family Carol and Larry Jones didn’t always consider themselves cat lovers, but after their son adopted a Himalayan Persian Smokey, their hearts were forever changed. After losing Smokey three and a half years later, they were heartbroken but knew they wanted to continue caring for cats. Because their grief was so great, rather than adopt again, they decided that fostering would be the way to go.

“It hurt so much to lose Smokey,” remembers Carol. “Although the cats we foster will return to the shelter, it helps knowing there will be others needing a good foster home and that we can provide them with one.” Carol and Larry have enjoyed caring for cats of all breeds and ages. They once fostered nine kittens at one time and have currently chosen to focus on senior cats and cats that are sick and in need of healing.

Understanding the expense that goes into owning a cat, Carol and Larry noticed an increase in local Free-Roaming cat communities as well as the number of cats admitted to Humane Society. "People don't realize the investment in after-adoption care, particularly the cost of spay/ neuter services, microchipping and vaccinations," states Carol. "The costs can overwhelm a family to the point where they drop off their cat at a Free-Roaming cat colony or return them to Hawaiian Humane. That's why we wanted to start this fund - to help curb O‘ahu's FreeRoaming cat population."

With the increased need in managing Free-Roaming cat populations to promote healthy communities, the Joneses responded by shifting their focus and founded Hawaiian Humane’s Community Cat Fund in December 2020. The fund assists in providing much-needed spay/ neuter services, microchipping, and vaccination to cats living in Free-Roaming cat communities to help reduce reproduction, maintain colony health, and control the population. Although the City & County of Honolulu’s Feline Fix program enables Hawaiian Humane to offer 100% subsidized spay/neuter services to freeroaming community cats, there is still a growing need for private funding to grow this program and continue to provide these services for our Free-Roaming cats. Carol and Larry appreciate the value of all felines and are happy to help fulfill this need through the Community Cat Fund.

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