Sue Ware was devastated when her 6-year-old kitty, Sweetie Pie, had to be euthanized because of an incurable lung disease.

"I was distraught," Ware said. "I couldn't stop grieving. It was very traumatic. She was my baby."

A friend suggested that she contact Vicky Viner, founder of Kitty City Kansas Rescue, Inc., in Shawnee, an all-volunteer group that accepts cats and kittens from high-kill animal shelters and places them in foster homes.

"When I talked to Vicky, I felt so much better," Ware said. "I could sense her passion for kitties. I decided to volunteer."
Ware, who lives in Olathe, is typical of the volunteers working with Viner. She became business manager and started a newsletter in her "labor of love."

Viner's group nurses kittens back to health if they have medical problems, bottle-feeds them if needed, spays or neuters them, and places them in foster homes, where they stay until they are adopted. Sound too good to be true? In the two years since the organization was founded, 700 cats and kittens have been saved.

Kitty City Kansas Rescue isn't Viner's first venture into improving the health and well-being of cats and kittens. That began more than 10 years ago.

"My husband, Phil, and I were walking around Metcalf Center and ran across a pet shelter in which kitties and puppies were being kept in small, cramped cages," Viner recalled. "It was obvious that their chances of being adopted weren't very good, and the likelihood was that most would eventually be euthanized. It really troubled me."

Subsequently, Viner volunteered with Homeless PetsKC, an organization devoted to finding no-kill sanctuaries for pets.

"We met with shelter homes and city animal control agencies throughout the metropolitan area in an effort to stop euthanization," Viner said. "Now Greater Kansas City is ahead of most cities in this endeavor."

Viner can cite statistics. Six years ago, 65,000 cats and dogs in the area were euthanized every year. This past year, that was reduced to 13,000. Viner's goal is no killing at all by 2012.

Viner was especially concerned about the large number of kittens that perish in shelters from lack of care.

"Kittens a few days old don't survive in many shelters," she said. "They need special care that isn't available."

So Viner started bringing home kittens that were only a few days old. She and Phil bottle-fed them and took them to the vet for medical treatment. They had them spayed or neutered, and kept them until they could find a suitable home for them.

"This became very expensive, especially the medical treatment," she said. "We realized we needed to go a step further."

So Viner filed an application with the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3), which qualified her to receive deductible bequests and gifts and classified her organization as a public charity.

Kitty City Kansas Rescue has a crew of devoted volunteers who provide foster homes for kittens (and the mother cat, if she's around) so they can live cage-free until they are adopted. Some volunteers keep as many as five to 10 kittens and cats until suitable homes are found. During 2010, the group adopted out an average of 25 to 35 kittens a month.

Viner has a working agreement with Dr. Sheila Dodson, her veterinarian at the Mariposa Veterinary Center in Lenexa. Dodson gives Kitty City a discount on medical treatment and a room at the center from noon to 5:00 p.m. every Saturday for cats and kittens to be on display for adoption. That's the only time they're in cages.

Adoption fees range from $50 to $125 and, like all funds received from donations and fundraisers, the fees go only toward operational expenses. Viner notes that both volunteers and donations are needed.

"I receive calls from shelters every day saying they have kittens that need homes," Viner said. "Unfortunately, we can't take them all."

Viner, 57, of Shawnee, is president of the organization and Phil, 64, is treasurer. Other officers are Michelle DePrima, of Olathe, vice president, and Katie Kosfeld, of Kansas City, Mo., secretary.

For more information about Kitty City Kansas Rescue, visit www.kittycityks.com or call Viner at 913-422-1911.

---