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We have exciting happenings - like putting up all the cat fencing which allows every cat access to the outdoors. This has just been marvelous for all of them (and me!). Watching the cats run full speed back and forth in the yard - watching them climb the dogwoods - it's just great. I don't know what I'd do without it.

Anyway, I'm Julie, the founder of OGAS. I've been involved in rescue for well over 15 years and up until 2005, primarily focused on Trap/Neuter/Return for feral cats. While I did take in strays over the years and kept them as my own pets, I also placed many animals as they were found. Doing this work makes you realize just how much of a need there is – there are so many animals that just won't find a home in the local shelters. And as for the ferals, going to a shelter is a death sentence. So, I've wanted to have a permanent sanctuary, mostly for displaced ferals, for many years. After one false start in a location that didn't work out, this dream finally true when I found my current house, in February of 2005.

It's a sprawling brick ranch house with a full basement at the end of a private gravel road. Situated on 4 acres, it's surrounded by another three hundred of basically undeveloped land. There's a large fenced-in yard for my two rescued dogs, Boris and Tasha, who have access to their own private room in the house. The rest of the house and property is dedicated to the cats and kittens.

So, how do I end up with the cats and kittens I have? My pet cats (all rescued) came to live here and the rest, well, they come from all over. The local vets and kill-shelters refer folks to me who have feral cat issues and word just gets around - "Call her if you have a feral cat issue." If the cats are in safe environments and have someone to feed them, they are trapped, neutered and returned. Thanks to other women I work with, also heavily involved in rescue (Ann Pagnotta, Gray Tuggle, Jen Naylor, Lee Brawley, Arianna Hoffman, Cathy Jackson and her daughters, Amanda and Amelia), the cats are trapped, transported to the vet, kept for recovery from surgery and returned. But if the cats don't have a safe place to return to, they come to live here. Some really thrive here or in their new homes — a few are pictured to the right.

I don't keep every cat that comes through my world. I make the decision based on each cat's situation and if there are other folks available to take them in. For example, Matty, the first picture, was incredibly feral when first trapped. I didn't expect him to turn around at all — so living here was the right decision for him. His habitat was destroyed. But as for Johnston, the second picture, Dr. Karen Heffernan of New Hope Animal Hospital, was willing to take him in, even though I had planned to bring him here to the sanctuary to recover from his illness.