Jennie Peterson’s volunteer work with homeless Siamese cats is almost a full-time job.
The Hampton resident is one of a number of local volunteers who work with the Siamese Cat Rescue Center in Locust Dale, Va. The center has a network up and down the East Coast to shelter, transport and support adoptable cats.
Peterson, 41, fosters cats in her home, transports cats and volunteers in the center’s kennel. She has also adopted a cat from there.
So why Siamese cats?
“I had one growing up, and just remember how sweet and talkative and lovable and people-oriented she was,” Peterson said. “So when I found it online, I decided that was what I was going to do and I decided that’s what my next cat was going to be.”
The internet-based Siamese Cat Rescue Center in Virginia has sister organizations in Texas, Colorado and two in California and collectively they celebrated their 20,000th cat rescue in December. The entire operation was founded in 1998 by Siri Zwemke, who is now executive director of the Virginia operation.
Regional volunteers are very important in order to efficiently house and transport cats between the center and their foster or adoption homes, Peterson said. Cats are temporarily housed in foster homes and then handed off to volunteer drivers for various legs of transport until they are delivered to their next destination.
“Volunteers are the key to not only our day to day success, but our growth,” Zwemke wrote in an email. “We would be nothing without them.”
Peterson got involved a little more than two years ago after her cat passed away and she ran across information on the rescue, deciding to become a volunteer and adopting a Siamese six months later.
She started fostering cats in August and is benefiting from mentoring by a more experienced foster host in Williamsburg and one in Virginia Beach, she said. Only three foster cats are allowed in a home at any given time, and the length of their stay is determined by how long it takes to find them homes, she said.
Peterson, a stay-at-home mom, spends a lot of time working for the rescue.
She usually transports cats on weekends, and her normal route runs from Hampton or Virginia Beach up to Fredericksburg because those are some of the harder legs to fill, going up I-64 and I-95, she said.
Every four to six weeks, Peterson goes up to the Locust Dale facility to clean out cages and litter boxes or do whatever is needed. The rescue center is located near Culpeper, and the trip takes two hours and 40 minutes each way.
“It’s almost a full-time job for me now, especially with fostering,” Peterson said. “Because we bring the cats in, have to have the vetting done. Some have to be fixed, and they have to be watched for 10 days before they can be adopted to make sure they’re not sick.”
Siamese cat adoption
February is Responsible Pet Owners Month. For more information on the Siamese Cat Rescue Center in Locust Dale, Va., visit siameserescue.org.
More online
To see a video on Jennie Peterson’s Siamese cat rescue efforts, go online to dailypress.com.
