A family in Dixon, California, spent six years running an animal rescue out of their home and helping hundreds of cats and kittens find homes. Now, after a fire at the home left them without a place to live, they need help of their own — and more than two dozen of their cats still need to be adopted or fostered.
SOCKS, which stands for Save Our Cats and Kittens, is a nonprofit rescue run by Mike Traum and his family. Traum, who works for the state in emergency management, said 40 cats were present at the home rescue when the fire broke out in September. Investigators think a lamp upstairs may have sparked and started the blaze.
Thirty-seven saved, three lost
The family was able to rescue 37 of the cats, but three were killed during the fire. Their focus now is finding places for the cats to stay. Over two dozen cats still need to be adopted or fostered, according to Traum, and the family is asking people interested in adopting or fostering a kitten or cat to reach out through the Dixon SOCKS Facebook page or by email.
It is a cruel turn for a rescue that has spent six years taking in other people’s cats. The fire took the family’s home and three of the animals they cared for; what remains is a group of cats that need somewhere to go, and a family that is still trying to place them while dealing with the loss of their own home.
A rescue that needs rescuing
Home-based rescues run on a thin margin at the best of times: a house full of cats, a family doing the work, and a network of adopters and fosters that keeps the numbers manageable. A fire breaks that chain in an afternoon. The cats that survived need new roofs over their heads, and the family needs the same.
For now, the ask is simple and specific: adopt or foster one of the Dixon cats. The rescue that found homes for hundreds of cats over six years is asking the public to do the same for the two dozen it still has — cats that survived a fire and are waiting for the next part of their story.
