Voucher program helps woman who rescued family of cats in Cranberry Township
CRANBERRY TWP – A cold January day didn’t deter Bailey Lawson from following little footprints etched into the snow that led toward the woods behind her apartment.
She was cold, but she could tell that the four cats she found at the end of that line of footprints were colder.
“I had a hoodie and a heated jacket, and I would be out there for two to four hours a day, and I was still freezing,” Lawson said.
Lawson “sat out in the cold and threw them tuna and hand-fed them until they got comfortable enough to come up” to her. The three kittens did not take too long to warm up to Lawson, but the mother never trusted her.
After several days of courting the cats, Lawson set up a trap so she could get them to safety before they grew too old. She trapped the mother and one of the kittens one day, and the other two kittens soon after.
Each of the cats has since been spayed, which Lawson paid for with a voucher provided by the Butler County Humane Society. Lawson said she had to pay only part of the vet bills to spay the four cats and get them treatment.
“Vet bills are so expensive, and I think that’s why people are so turned off from helping,” Lawson said. “If you can prove you’re a resident, Butler County Humane Society gives you a voucher, and that comes up with most of the money that it costs.”
The Butler County Humane Society provides vouchers that are grant-funded and valid at nine vet offices. Shanna Best, director of shelter operations, said money for the voucher program was donated in 2022 by Susan E. Andre. The program is available to people with stray cats, as well as cats of their own.
“Once they get the vouchers from us, they will choose the vet and call and set up an appointment,” Best said. “If they want any extra services, it's on the voucher holder.”
Since 2022, the grant has helped 5,474 cats, according to Best, who also said the society is still counting the 2025 stats — the count for the year is currently at 3,009. Butler County residents can get three vet vouchers at a time, which covers the cost of getting a cat neutered or spayed.
“Once they use those they can get additional vouchers,” Best said. “We just want to spread it out and help as many people as we can.”
Lawson said she took the four cats to Fix'N Wag'N, a nonprofit mobile veterinary truck. In addition to having each of them spayed at no cost to her, Lawson also had the cats checked and treated since they had been living outdoors for an unknown amount of time.
She said the vouchers from the humane society reduced the cost of treating the cats.
“I think I paid $140 in total for all four cats, and that covered dewormer and FLV testing,” Lawson said.
Lawson said she often helped animals when she was a child.
“Growing up, we would always feed baby birds when they fell out of the nest,” Lawson said. “I’ve never done anything with actual feral animals.”
Lawson said in the weeks since she began taking care of the cats, the kittens have become friendly and docile. She even managed to train them to use the litter box.
The mother cat, however, is another story.
She was in the wild longer than her kittens, so Lawson and Best both knew there was a chance she would never be domesticated. Best said this is typical of cats that have spent extended periods in the wild, and the humane society is not able to house them. She does advocate that they be fixed.
“We can't accept feral cats, because they cannot be housed in a cage,” Best said. “The best thing to do with a feral cat is trap, neuter, release.”
The rest of the cats are being trained to be adoptable by people Lawson knows. Best said the humane society can keep stray cats in its shelter, if they are not feral, but it depends on the space available.
“We do accept stray cats, but our space is dependent upon adoptions, so if one needs to come in there might be a waiting list,” Best said.
Lawson said the kittens let her pet them at times, and have generally warmed up to her and other humans in the weeks since they were brought inside.
“Just working with them and being patient,” Lawson said. “They say whenever cats are up to 4 weeks old, the time to domesticate them is relatively easy because they haven’t associated humans with fear.”
Those cold January days Lawson spent courting the kittens were worth it, now that she knows the cats won’t live their lives out in the cold.
Best said people should not worry about the potential cost of trapping and neutering a cat, because the humane society has the funding to help those who live in Butler County. She said people can email sea@butlercountyhs.org to check on the availability of vouchers to have a cat fixed.
“I would definitely tell them to contact the shelter,” she said. “They can either call the shelter or they can email.”
