Beth Montes created a cat sanctuary in her Sabino Canyon-area home and will open an adoption center in the Midtown area in a couple of months.

Chris Richards / Arizona Daily Star

Other articles by Kimberly Matas:

Life Story: Picturing beauty was his joy and fulfillment Ol' Blue Eyes had nothing on ol' Bruno Life stories : She touched the lives of others — literallyLouis Benson: Environment came first with this home builderLife stories : Librarian vividly remembered Life stories : 'Good lawyer and even finer man' Life stories : Physician who fled Castro always gave to new home Life stories : His life was full of family, music, UA, baseballFuneral industry discusses changeLife stories: Dog groomer had plenty of people skills

Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic

Kitties in the bathroom, kitties in the living room, kitties in the garage, kitties in the hall.

Everywhere one looks, there are felines lounging, grooming, eating and playing — 53 in all.

Welcome to Casa de los Gatos, Tucson's second no-kill cat sanctuary.

The sanctuary is located in the Sabino Canyon-area home of founder Beth Montes, but in a couple of months, Casa de los Gatos will open an adoption center near East Fort Lowell Road and North Alvernon Way.

Though the shelter is still waiting for approval of its nonprofit status, Montes already has 44 cats and kittens at her home — plus her own nine cats and three dogs — 90 felines in foster care and 25 people on a waiting list who want Montes to take their cats.

"I've always loved animals," Montes said. "I always had a houseful of cats, dogs."

Originally she conceived of Casa de los Gatos as a sanctuary for special-needs cats — those with diseases such as feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) or feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feral cats. Montes had been volunteering with a Tucson animal rescue group when she learned that most shelter cats that are feral or have FIV or FeLV are considered unadoptable and euthanized.

"That really pushed me over the edge," she said.

"There's no reason to put these kitties down. My last FIV cat lived to be 16 and he wasn't sick until the day before he died, and he went quickly."

Casa de los Gatos has 10 FIV-positive cats for adoption, including four rescued after last year's hurricanes in Louisiana. Montes was in that state helping with animal rescue efforts.

"Most likely, these cats will all live a normal life span, live to 20 and never develop any symptoms," she said.

Marcia Burney, the receptionist at Ventana Animal Hospital, adopted two of Montes' original FIV cats — Sarge, who was rescued from New Orleans, and Motel, who was found living with her kittens in a hole on the grounds of a Tucson motel.

"These guys are harder to place. Because (FIV) can be passed on. They have a tougher time finding homes," Burney said. "Since I was only going to have one or two, I just decided to get the two FIV kitties.

"So far they are doing really well."

Susan White was planning to take in Cheeto from an acquaintance, when she found out the cat had FIV. White didn't want to expose her healthy cats to the disease, so she took Cheeto to Casa de los Gatos. Last week, she visited him at Montes' home.

"This was really the only alternative instead of putting him down," White said. "You can't leave an FIV-positive cat on the streets. He'll get into fights and spread it."

Barb Osborne is one of three Casa de los Gatos employees. She knew Montes and took the job after two recent deaths.

"Within the last couple months I personally lost two of my cats to feline leukemia virus. I reconnected with Beth . . . and everything was pulling me in this direction to help them out.

"I love the cats. They are so forgiving and they give you unconditional love and they need someone to take care of them. They're just amazing animals and it's very, very satisfying work, rewarding work," said Osborne, who is in the process of adopting 4-month-old Kayla from Casa de los Gatos.

Montes also has some once-feral cats that are now socialized and ready for homes and dozens of cats given up by owners or found at other shelters.

Casa de los Gatos has three part-time employees to help with the feeding, cleaning, vet care and socialization for the felines. The cost for the staff, supplies and mortgage on the off-site building being renovated as an adoption center is about $8,000 a month. Montes, who sold her technology company a few years ago, has been funding the project on her own, but "I've been burning through the money pretty quickly," she said.

Montes needs help with concrete work and carpentry to renovate the new shelter.

"In the last year we've grown from eight cats . . . to 150 cats, 15 volunteers, eight foster homes and three part-time employees," Montes said.

She can still use more volunteers, foster families and donations, though.

"I had a tech business for years and years and this is just like running a business," she said of Casa de los Gatos. "I love the cats, but I'm cognizant of running it like a business.