Our Mission
The mission of Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary is to offer a safe haven for cats who are homeless, neglected, injured, or abused.
Homeless
We have feral and feral-ish cats who came to Thundering Paws as kittens with hopes that they would tame and become adoptable. They didn’t. Oscar and Honey are in this category.
Ariel didn’t tame early enough to be shown at adoption events. She’s friendly now, but she has lived here all her life. We would not ask Ariel to move.
Skweeks, tentatively friendly with some of us, came here because his human died. An inside kitty all his life, he was very tame with his late human, but we wouldn’t bet on his success as an adopted kitty.
Neglected
Sansli has misshapen kidneys, and the pain probably is the reason she’s grumpy. Stitch is another grumpy cat with three legs. She had a dreadful injury which we had corrected with an amputation. Each of these girls came from a rural shelter where their owners surrendered them to be euthanized rather than deal with their medical issues.
Beauregard was thought to be feral until his entropion was corrected. Incredibly painful, entropion is the condition of the eyelashes turning inward and rubbing against the eyeballs. An easy operation corrects it.
Injured
Feral Phoenix shouldn’t have to dodge traffic and predators with only her three legs. She has kitty friends here.
Abused
Bijoux has been shot with BBs and chased off with water hoses. These are only the abuses we are aware that he suffered. He also has a badly healed ankle break from we know not what injury. A man called because Bijoux was having incontinent diarrhea on the man’s deck. “I tried chasing him off with the hose, but he just comes back.” Another cat was thought to be feral, once his diarrhea was totally corrected with a food change, he became a loving pet.
Tossing a pregnant cat out to fend for herself and her kittens is serious abuse, not only of the cats but of the entire community! Newt, Yuri, Uschi, Marigold, and the mothers and grandmothers of Tina, Marilyn, and all of the other cats here were all left to breed outside.
Our Organization
Since 2001, Thundering Paws has operated a no-kill, non-profit 501(c)(3) animal sanctuary located in Dripping Springs, Texas. We are home to an ever-changing number of animals, mostly cats, sometimes a dog. We provide our beloved resident’s shelter, food, filtered water, spaying/neutering, vaccinations, veterinary care, and a lot of love and attention.
In addition to the sanctuary, we support a network of foster families and animal advocates which helps expand our reach and care for many more animals than can stay at the sanctuary.
We know you care about animals because you’ve taken the time to visit our site—that alone shows a good heart. Though all of us have heard stories that pain animal lovers, we at Thundering Paws want you to know that there’s good news, too—and lots of it!
All donations to Thundering Paws are tax-deductible. We rely on our volunteers and generous donors to keep us going and appreciate any help you can give. Visit our donation page to make a contribution.
Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging
To our Thundering Paws community: In the same manner, in which we welcome, embrace, and support kitties regardless of their background, fur color, or gender, we welcome and support a diverse community of human staff, volunteers, donors, and adopters. Through our continued commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and empowerment, we strive to ensure all kitties and all humans feel recognized, heard, and loved for all that makes us beautiful and unique.
What We Do
Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary is home to dozens of rescued animals. Our residents receive:
▸ premium food and filtered water
▸ health tests, vaccinations, and veterinary care — we test all cats for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV); all dogs for heartworms
▸ clean and temperature-controlled housing — many of our cats have access to screened outdoor areas
▸ spay and neuter surgery
▸ lots of love and attention
Board of Directors
Thundering Paws volunteer Board of Directors is made up of passionate cat lovers. They contribute significant amounts of time, talent, and energy to further the mission of our organization and to protect and improve the lives of cats in our community.
Board of Directors:
Marci Spivey – Interim Vice Chair & Interim Secretary
Sharon Bennett
Sarah Gonen
Tanya Palmer
Executive Staff:
Liz Gillespie – Director
Anne Zabolio – Founder and Development Director
Staff and Volunteers
The staff at Thundering Paws perform the important day-to-day tasks of the sanctuary with the help of volunteers. These tasks include caring for, treating, medicating and evaluating all of our intakes, along with a multitude of other tasks that all help give the cats the best care possible. Most importantly, our staff and volunteers show our rescues what unconditional love looks like, allowing them to blossom into the best versions of themselves. We couldn’t be more grateful for our wonderful staff and volunteers.
Our volunteers are made up of a great team of caring, dedicated, and passionate people from our community. If you would like to become part of the Thundering Paws Volunteer Team, please consider fostering or volunteering.
For more information about volunteering, visit our volunteer page.