To the Editor:

I have known Marcia and Chuck Scott both as friends and as a volunteer for Happy Cat Rescue for about a year and eight months. During this time, I have witnessed their complete dedication to the welfare and rescue of homeless, abandoned, and abused cats.

Marcia will go without food and sleep to do what it takes to help these cats and kittens. She and Chuck will leave at a moment’s notice, even if it is in the middle of the night, to pick up cats or kittens in an emergency situation.

Those taken into the rescue are evaluated by a veterinarian, spayed or neutered, and given treatment and medication if needed. No cat is overlooked. Every kennel is thoroughly cleaned out twice a day, and water, litter, toys, and high-quality food are provided.

Every cat eventually gets a home. Her network of fosters, such as myself, will take harder-to-adopt cats (i.e. scared, shy, aggressive) and work with them until they feel secure and happy.

I can't bear to think of any of her cats at a “humane society” where a cat such as I just mentioned is likely to be killed. I’ve seen cats in shelters like these, confined to much smaller quarters than Happy Cat provides, and indeed, without the personal care and attention Marcia’s cats get from Marcia herself, Chuck, and a host of volunteers.

Every cent Happy Cat raises goes directly to the care of these animals. Marcia’s own cats are her children. Literally. Her heart is bigger than most people I know who claim to love animals. And may I say, there is no one I know who works harder for them.

Happy Cat Rescue is a service this community needs to get strays off the streets and abused cats out of the wrong hands. I feel compelled to say that I have witnessed situations where actual, obvious animal neglect takes place with numerous pleas for intervention falling on deaf ears.

This situation thrust upon Happy Cat is a waste of time for many people as well as a waste of money. Money that could go to help innocent cats, who are now at a kill shelter.

It would seem funny and ironic if it weren't so tragic. The innocent cats are the true losers in all of this, and my heart breaks for them and for Happy Cat Rescue.

Anna M. Nersesian

Schenectady