Caboodle Ranch

My friend Anna just sent me a link to one of the coolest places I've ever seen. I was about to go to bed, and now about 2 hours later, I'm still sitting here, amazed by this place.

This is the link she sent me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VswBKrPuAQ

Its a video about a place called Caboodle Ranch in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Its things like this that make me miss living in Jacksonville.

Caboodle Ranch is a large piece of property owned by one man who created one of the best cat rescues I've ever seen. The video tells his story (and then his website corrects some of the "facts" from the video), but basically, this guy has devoted every minute of the rest of his life to caring for about 500 cats! I know there are a lot of people out there who would find that crazy, but this is the kind of place that I want to own one day. I'm not stupid and I know that there is no way I can ever care for that many cats on my own right now, or even in the near future. But my dream is to own a non-profit rescue, and after seeing this video I want my place to be similar to this! I was intrigued by the video, but I was completely sucked in when I read his blog. One of their new projects is the creation of a separate confined area for cats that have tested positive for feline leukemia. After having my baby kitten die from leukemia, I've been very in tune to rescues that provide homes for Felv+ cats. Not many do. Most places will have them euthanized as soon as they test positive. I am happy to say though, that it seems like more and more places are accepting these cats, which makes me very happy :-). I was already in love with Caboodle Ranch when I saw the You Tube video, but it sealed the deal for me when I saw they take in the leukemia cats.

So basically I have been sitting here for 2 hours pouring over this man's website, reading his blog and wishing I was back in Jacksonville, since this place is pretty close to where I used to live. I would LOVE to volunteer my time at a place like this.

If anyone feels the need to be a crazy cat lady like me, then check this place out. If you don't feel like being a crazy cat lady, then at least give the place a quick look. Its pretty amazing to me that this man has all of these cats and they are all happy, healthy, social and obviously well cared for. It does say that he has some volunteers, but just knowing that animals rescues and shelters are constantly looking for volunteers, I'm amazed that he can pull this off so well.

So here is the main website:
Caboodle Ranch

There are links to other You Tube videos on the site, but definitely check out the one I posted at the beginning of this post. That's the one that sucked me in.

He also has a blog that can be accessed from the main site, but it shows up in a window inside of the site. So here is the actual link to the blog.
A Day at the Ranch

I personally think this man is truly inspiring to anyone who wants to own and operate a place like this one day.

(P.S. Check out the merchandise section of the main site too...I'm a fan of all of the crazy cat lady items :-)).