Denise Sinico is the founder and inspiration behind The Westfield Homeless Cat Project. It all began in 2006 in response to a friend’s mention that stray cats were being killed in truck engines at the local DPW . They were climbing up into the engine compartments of the vehicles trying to find warmth in the sub-zero winter temperatures. Denise decided she had to see for herself just exactly what was going on so she went to the yard with a can of cat food and to her amazement cats appeared from everywhere.
Her mission started by feeding cats at this location. Realizing that these cats would continue to multiply she started looking to see what could be done. With help from another organization she was able to Trap, Neuter/Spay and Return these mostly feral cats to the colony where they were fed by the workers of the DPW. Denise continued to volunteer and trap for these clinics and often found that some of the cats were friendly. Thinking the animals were adoptable she brought some of them to the MSPCA and later was horrified to find out that they been euthanized.
Appalled that this had transpired she vowed that this would never happen again. Knowing that she had no room in her home for more cats. She emptied a shed in her back yard creating a make shift shelter and things have only escalated from there. The shelter still remains a bare bones operation and relies totally on volunteers for the day to day routine care of the residents. Foster homes help pick up the overload when there is no room or there is a pregnant cat that needs a place to give birth and raise her babies to 8 weeks of age so they can be adopted.
Between the cats in the shelter and in foster homes Denise can have up to 125 or more cats under her care and supervision any given time. In order to find forever homes for these helpless creatures adoption clinics are held every Saturday from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Westfield Home and Garden Center (Agway) located on Route 20 in Westfield and The Holyoke Petco from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. This organization has re-homed thousands of cats that would likely have died living the life of a stray or been euthanized if picked up and brought to another shelter.
The only income to operate the shelter comes from private donations, adoption fees, tag sales and an occasionally fund-raiser that someone is kind enough to hold on behalf of the shelter. This shelter receives no Federal, State or Local funding nor does it receive grants of any sort.
This web site is dedicated to Morris (pictured below) one of the original cats in the colony at the DPW. In the summer of 2008 Denise was informed that Morris seemed to be ill. Morris was trapped and taken to several local veterinarians for diagnosis and treatment. He was put on antibiotics and brought back to the shelter to be cared for during his recuperation. The effort however was futile, after being at the shelter for almost two weeks Morris passed away on Sunday July 27th.
As sad as Morris' story is, HE is one of the lucky ones. His last weeks and days were spent in a safe and comfortable place where he was fed and cared for as well as being showered with lots and lots of love.
REST IN PEACE MORRIS