I still cherish my first childhood toy — a Steiff cat — but I thought I had permanently retired as a cat lady in the 1990s. Then in 2018 I visited Kotor, Montenegro, for 2 days, met Danijela, their best-known community cat lady, discovered there was no spay-neuter program to donate to, and found Luka, who needed a snip…
Suddenly my crazy background in anthropology (UC Berkeley,) community organizing (tenant rights and low income housing issues,) non-profit management and cat rescue/spay-neuter/TNR activities made sense. I rekindled an old passion just as I retired. Along with friends new and old I founded Kotor Kitties.
Kotor Kitties celebrated it's 5th birthday in September 2023 with 10,000 cats spayed and neutered in Montenegro. For organizational clarity we are now a partnership of three organizations--a US-registered 501(c)(3), a registered UK charity, and a Montenegrin NGO. We operate under an MOU, sharing social media platforms and our website as "Kotor Kitties." Our work is done through private Montenegrin vets willing to learn the techniques for HQHVSN and working safely with fractious kitties. In exchange for the high volume of work, we pay a fixed price for each spay or neuter which is highly discounted from their normal rates.
I live in Seattle with my husband Michael. We share our house with TNR’d kitties Teddy and Nellie Caboodle (they failed the Return part!!), failed foster Bugsy Malone, and two kitties from Montenegro: the Waffles, Leggo and Eggo. Sadly, our dog Emma Louise left us in 2022, at age 15. Our two sons turned out to be fairly normal, but our daughter, Maggie, shows potential as a fine cat lady!
I want to enjoy retirement in Montenegro if my health allows!.