Our Love Story: The True Story Of Puffy Paws

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 Our Story: The History of Puffy Paws Kitty Haven

 This is our true story and our history documented in the media—a powerful testament to how local obstacles can never triumph over the deep love the founders of Puffy Paws Kitty Haven hold for each other and the special needs felines under their care.

Shifting From Local Friction to Global SupportPuffy Paws Kitty Haven is internationally recognized and supported by kitty lovers from all over the world, yet our journey began because of the challenging restrictions of a tightly knit establishment in one small Florida town. In the small town of Englewood, Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico, we quickly discovered a harsh reality regarding how local communities approach animal rescue:

• The "Football Team" Mentality: Most town folks pick their favorite local rescue like an NFL football team—they support one chosen team and show complete disdain for the rest.
• Misleading the Community: Well-connected figures in Englewood have spent years misleading the community in their own animal rescue endeavors, actively working behind the scenes to try and restrict Puffy Paws Kitty Haven's operations.
• Zoning Friction and Roadblocks: When power, influence, and prestige are involved, bureaucratic roadblocks and personal conflicts inevitably follow.
• Inadequate Local Backing: While Puffy Paws does have a handful of loyal local supporters whom we are completely grateful for, there is simply not enough local support in our immediate area to sustain our extensive medical hospice mission.

The Regulatory Restrictions That Reshaped Our Operations

In the Spring of 2007, Puffy Paws Kitty Haven launched its adoption program, quickly finding loving "fur-ever" homes for over 350 kitties. Times were good, and we hosted public Open Houses three times a week, welcoming perfect strangers into our home so the adoptable cats could find their families and we could qualify applicants.Rick was building a stellar reputation and successfully raising vital funds within the community.However, everything changed when Rick uncovered the administrative realities of local animal welfare:

• Exposing the Truth: Rick could not stay silent about the staggering loss rates of adoptable pets in municipal facilities, local mismanagement, and the blatant misappropriation of funds in the area. Massive amounts of money meant for the animals were instead being funneled into high administrative costs and huge salaries for the leaders of other protected local organizations.
• The Retaliation: Speaking out for the voiceless animals, Rick gathered hard facts backed entirely by official government documents. He contacted local newspapers and wrote letters to the editor that were repeatedly denied. But when Rick successfully aided a Fort Myers TV news station in bringing these allegations of administrative issues to the airwaves, a backlash from the local establishment was inevitable.
• The Anonymous Call: Ten days before it happened, Rick received a warning phone call that certain groups were looking for a way to use county building codes to restrict the Haven down—with absolutely no regard for whether the cats lived or died. In the Fall of 2009, a single anonymous phone call to Code Enforcement officially locked down the Haven to all public adoptions, surrenders, and volunteers.
• The Residential Ban: Code Enforcement's bottom line was absolute: you cannot run an organization from a residential home, meaning NO FOOT TRAFFIC is allowed. While this completely blocked people from adopting straight from the sanctuary property, it has never stopped us from fighting to find our cats their forever homes.

Turning to the World to Save the KittiesWhen our detractors called Code Enforcement to limit our operations, their plans backfired. Instead of destroying Puffy Paws, they forced us to adapt, grow, and take our mission online to the global stage:

• Going Global for Survival: Denied the ability to raise funds or host adoptions locally, we took our fight to the internet. We refused to let the cats down.
• A Worldwide Lifeline: Because we went to the world, Puffy Paws Kitty Haven is now internationally known and completely sustained by a global family of dedicated kitty lovers. The internet became our bridge to survival, allowing us to broadcast live shows, run global fundraisers, and keep our doors open despite local opposition.

A Relentless Two-Person Team

What local forces truly accomplished was placing the massive, exhausting physical burden of keeping 120 special needs felines alive squarely onto the shoulders of a dedicated two-person team:

• Chrissy's Silent, Heroic Strength: Chrissy Kingston pushes through severe, daily pain from worsening chronic health challenges. Though under a doctor's care and suffering in silence on most days, she possesses the inner strength of a thousand men. Chrissy works grueling 16-to-20-hour days—personally hauling hundreds of pounds of cat litter in and out of the Haven daily, scrubbing over 20 massive litter boxes, managing 10 distinct feeding stations every four hours, administering specialized medications, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and tending to our sickest residents.

• Rick's Operational Battle: While Chrissy manages the hands-on sanctuary care, Rick works non-stop to secure the funding that keeps the doors open. Rick runs the Business Center storefront, coordinates our online fundraising campaigns, acts as the sanctuary webmaster and graphic designer, manages all updates across Facebook and social networks, pays the bills, puts out the daily fires, and stands as Chrissy’s ultimate anchor and fixer.

We can still welcome close family and friends to the residential Haven, but the reality is that no one else wants to step up to clean cat litter boxes.With a grueling schedule and the non-stop stress of raising funds for hospice care, the Kingstons move forward every single day purely by the grace of God and the extraordinary charity of kitty lovers across the globe.

That is the unstoppable power of Mad Kitty Love!