With five rescues of her own plus a colony of friendly ferals to care for, it’s clear that Heather Smith has a genuine passion for homeless cats. Her friends even refer to the street she lives on as “Black Cat Lane” due to several feral kitties who have happily made a home there.
Heather was introduced to FixNation and TNR back in 2014, when she and a neighbor trapped three cats living in her back garden. “We followed the detailed FixNation instructions to the letter, and within five minutes of setting out the traps we had the mama cat in one and two kittens in the other,” Heather recalls. “We were literally jumping up and down, we were so excited.”
Buoyed by the success of her first-time trapping experience, Heather began to get more involved with FixNation and its mission to improve the lives of homeless, feral, and stray cats. She was part of the Catalina Cat Lift team that flew to Catalina Island earlier this year to spay/neuter and provide much-needed medical care to a large colony of cats.
“There were dozens and dozens of feral cats to take care of, we had a very small team, and we had to finish everything up before it got too dark to take off from Catalina’s [unlighted] airport runway,” Heather said. “It was all hands on deck from morning to dusk. It was crazy. Crazy and great.”
For Heather, the whole Catalina experience was a life-changer. “Even though it was exhausting, it was also one of the best days I’ve had since moving to L.A.,” she said. An actress and former dancer—who was once profiled with one of her rescued kitties on Jackson Galaxy’s popular reality show My Cat From Hell—Heather is now preparing to return to school to become a vet tech. “That day with Karn and the FixNation team on Catalina gave me new inspiration to pursue my dream of working full-time with animals.”
Heather also volunteered her creative talents at the hugely successful Cat Con event in June and at “Whiskers in the Moonlight,” FixNation’s July 25 fundraising concert at the Autry Center. While volunteering at the clinic on a recent Saturday, a trapper brought in tiny blind kitten that was too underweight to be operated on and too vulnerable to be released back onto the streets. Heather immediately offered to foster “just for a few weeks,” and nursed the tiny kitten through round-the-clock hand-feedings, vaccines, and treatments for worms and fleas.
It has now been a couple of months and little Bella has gained weight and found a loving forever home. “Once I started posting photos of Blind Bella online, everyone pretty much knew she was here to stay. She already has about 300 followers on Instagram!”
Bella fits right in with Heather’s other four cats, who are all equally photogenic and serve as models for Waggish.com, her line of handmade greeting cards spotlighting rescued felines. She is also developing a concept for a new reality show devoted to animals. Stay tuned!
View Bella’s Video here!
