Service is the cat's meow for once-unwanted felines

MURRAY — The name of the service says it all: Tenderheart Techs.

The tenderhearted women are Noel O'Neil and Shanna Shepherd, who started their cat-rescue operation about a year ago. They are veterinary technicians at the Salt Lake Spay and Neuter Clinic, 160 E. 4800 South in Murray.

In the past year they have helped save the lives of 300 to 400 once-unwanted animals — from kittens 4 weeks old to adults of 4 or 5 years, and all ages in between.

In a way, Tenderheart Techs is nearly a feline's last chance — but if it shows up there, it's a genuine save. Shepherd and O'Neill will not give up. They'll work with a cat until they find a home for it.

Rather than destroy them, shelters sometimes will give Tenderheart Techs kittens they could not place.

For many homeless cats, euthanasia in a shelter might be a better fate than any open to them besides adoption. The animals would have to cope with life and death on the streets, starvation, freezing temperatures and sometimes cruel treatment.

Any family that has grown to love one of the cats placed by O'Neil and Shepherd can testify to the joy that a small, furry creature can bring.

Case in point: Betsy, who showed at a cat show in October, among others offered by Tenderheart Techs for adoption. A beautiful young orange-red tiger with long white stockings, Betsy taught herself to fetch balls and loves to snuggle under covers at night. She looks at her adopters with love in her eyes.

But if there were no Tenderheart Techs, this lively and intelligent little animal might not have made it out of the shelter where she was first left. Most likely, Betsy was given to the rescue service because a shelter could not place her, O'Neil said.

Without a rescue service to take her after adoption failed at the shelter, Betsy would have faced euthanasia.

Clyde Daines, the veterinarian who employs Shepherd and O'Neil at the Salt Lake Spay and Neuter Clinic, is impressed by their dedication.

"They spend so much time working with animals" at the clinic, he said. Then, in their free time, they "donate some more."

The women "spend a lot of time and money" on rescuing homeless cats, he added.

Other shelters give cats to them because they have no more space, O'Neil said. Or sometimes a shelter will bring in a mother cat and kittens that can't stay there.

"We'll take in feral kittens," she said.