When Dominic Saraceno took his 5-year-old niece, Rhaya, to the Niagara SPCA, one of the older cats kept reaching through his cage to scratch her leg.

What You Need To Know

  • Local attorney Dominic Saraceno is paying all adoption fees for senior cats at the Niagara SPCA
  • Saraceno was inspired after adopting Stormy, a 15-year-old cat with multiple health issues
  • Saraceno funded a similar program six years ago to pay adoption fees for cats at the Lockport Road shelter, called “Garfield’s Gift”
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Saraceno saw a scraggly, 15-year-old furball named Stormy, an appropriate name for a senior cat with an uncomfortably long list of health issues.

“There’s a large tumor in the front of his chest with blood vessels running through it,” he says. “He has a hyperthyroid, so he takes a daily medication for that, and he takes a steroid to try and keep this tumor from growing.”

Stormy’s fur was badly matted at the shelter, and some of his hair still hasn’t grown back. He’s a skinny cat who is more energetic than he looks – you don’t have to hang around him long to hear a chorus of meows toward his favorite humans.

Saraceno was so inspired by Stormy that he wants more people to adopt senior cats, and he’s paying the adoption fees for cats at the Niagara SPCA who are 10 or older.

“Stormy has had such an amazing impact on our lives, it opened my eyes to how much a senior cat can contribute to a family,” he says.

Saraceno is going one step further, paying the insulin fees for Tigger and Bella, two senior cats who are also diabetic, for up to one year.

“I thought perhaps that would allow them to find a home,” he says.

Dominic’s goal is to help others take in senior cats like Stormy, and let them enjoy their golden years.