Running water. Fresh food. Endless cuddles.
Welcome to the Lanai Cat Sanctuary, where nearly 600 cats of every shape and size have a home in Hawaii for the rest of their lives.
"Our motto here is: 'every cat has a plan, and every cat matters'," explains the sanctuary's executive director, Keoni Vaughn.
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Founded in 2006, the nonprofit was the brainchild of Kathy Carroll (a Lanai resident since 1999), who saw the need to shelter the island's growing population of feral cats while also protecting the local endangered birds.
The "Perfect" Attraction on Hawaii's Smallest Inhabited Island
The 140-square-mile island of Lanai is home to more than 3,000 people. It sits roughly nine miles from Maui, the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands.
Billionaire Larry Ellison bought 88,000 acres (or 98 percent) of Lanai, the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the Hawaiian chain.
The sanctuary spreads across about three acres and sits less than two miles from the island's airport.
Much like life on Lanai, the cat sanctuary is calm and laid-back.
There's a mobile veterinary clinic for medical care. A vet and two technicians fly in twice a month to check on the cats' health, while a manager keeps an eye on day-to-day operations and makes sure the cats have everything they need.
But keeping a place like the Lanai Cat Sanctuary running is no easy task, and it isn't cheap either. Because of its location, many resources have to be shipped in.
The cats, for example, go through about 75 pounds of cat food a day. That food has to be delivered every week, costing around $35,000 a year.
The main source of income? Donations from guests and cat lovers around the world. The sanctuary has welcomed visitors from places as far away as Japan, Australia and India.
Over the past year, Vaughn says, nearly 10,000 people have visited. And it's not just about spending time with the cats: in 2016, the sanctuary hosted a wedding for cat lovers who wanted to be surrounded by furry guests.
How It All Works
When a cat arrives at the sanctuary, it gets a name, is microchipped, vaccinated, and then spayed or neutered. The staff make sure the cats are healthy before releasing them into the enclosure with the others.
About 200 new cats come to the sanctuary every year. And the moment they arrive, a transformation begins.
"We watch these feral or unsocialized cats, who never trusted people, start to come around," Vaughn said.
For many visitors, it's a chance to get a little feline affection without any distractions. Plenty of guests bring treats and spend hours petting and playing with the cats.
For most of the cats, the sanctuary offers a life full of food and endless time to sleep, plus a shot at living with a loving family if a bond happens to form.
So far, visitors have adopted around 54 cats, but those who can't adopt show their support through monthly donations. In fact, nearly 95 percent of the donations that keep the sanctuary going come from people who don't live on Lanai.
The sanctuary's master plan is to eventually house up to 1,500 cats. That's at least double the number living there now.
The next project on the horizon is a center for the sanctuary's senior cats, a quiet area set apart from the main enclosure. The project is nearly finished and will house the sanctuary's oldest cats, the ones who prefer a slightly slower pace.
Vaughn's ultimate goal is to "get every free-roaming cat off the landscape and bring them here, to the cat sanctuary." So that, as he puts it, "we essentially work ourselves out of a job."
The Lanai Cat Sanctuary is open year-round from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's located at 1 Kaupili Road, Lanai City, Lanai, Hawaii.
