Shurs provide care, comfort to dozens of cats

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Shur Rescue

WHERE: N6591 Cheese Factory Road, Cecil

WHEN: By appointment only

ONLINE: www.shurrescue.com

CONTACT: 715-927-7297 or shurrescue8823@gmail.com

There’s a place on Cheese Factory Road in the Town of Washington surrounded by corn fields and an auto repair shop where cats get a second chance at life and forever homes.

Shur Rescue is home to dozens of cats that were found roaming properties, abandoned in dark corners of Shawano County and beyond — some even left to die on the side of area roads. They could have been goners were it not for the steadfast efforts of Steve and Brenda Shur, who adopt the motto “Rescue the mistreated. Save the injured. Love the abandoned.”

It all started with the stray cats that would come on the Shur property years ago, when the couple would take them in and care for them, from providing a safe and warm place to live to paying the veterinary bills for illness and injuries.

Steve Shur said rescuing cats began in earnest in 2022 when more and more people came to him and his wife about cats wandering in the area, having been abandoned. They would be taken in and cared for, with many of them adopted out to loving homes. Shur Rescue was formalized in February 2025, and now more than 60 cats occupy a number of indoor spaces in the Shurs’ home and surrounding buildings.

“There were people that found cats that were injured and abandoned, and we started giving support to those cats and the people,” Steve Shur said. “It started out small, just rescuing cats that were just in the area here, and then we had people from other areas as word spread out.”

The Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce and its ambassadors went out Sept. 10 to cut a ribbon on the best-kept secret sanctuary in the Town of Washington and got to see much of the work that has been done.

Inside a garage, the newest residents of Shur Rescue learn how to be around people again, as well as other cats. A covered porch area that Steve Shur dubs a “catio” has plenty of things for the cats to do — from cat trees to other things where they can frolic.

Shur Rescue also has two barns constructed by the Amish that are climate controlled and house many more cats year-round. There are also televisions that broadcast nature images and sounds that help to keep the cats calm and remind them they are in a safe place, Steve Shur said.

“We just saw there was a huge need in the community, especially in this area, where there’s a lot of cats that were needing some help and support, and we would take them in and get them medical help, whether they were stray or domesticated,” he said. “We had some cats that had some broken legs, some that had vision issues. So we would take them in, get them the necessary care, try to domesticate them basically if they were feral, which we were successful with for about 80-90% of the cats.”

There have been times where over 80 cats were in the Shurs’ care, depending on the need. Sometimes the cats have ongoing medical needs, said Brenda Shur, and most times they remain with the Shurs unless a home can be found where the owners can absorb the cost of veterinary bills.

“We do hold onto the medical and special needs cats,” Brenda Shur said.

One of the cats needing ongoing care is a younger kitten that was found and rescued a month ago by Charles Fritsch, constable for the Town of Washington. Steve Shur said it appears the cat was thrown out of a vehicle in Shawano, resulting in two broken legs that required putting pins in the cat — named Charlie, in honor of his rescuer — so that the bones could heal properly.

“This was a kitten that was right on Waukechon (Street) by the Super 8 (now Amerivu Inn and Suites),” Steve Shur said. “Charles actually grabbed the kitten and brought him right over to us, and we got him to Specialized Veterinary Care to make sure he was going to be OK with quality of life. He didn’t have any damage or trauma to the head or major organs.”

A fundraiser has so far collected $4,000 of the $5,000 needed to pay just for Charlie’s surgery, according to Steve Shur. He’s recovering on the catio, and he’s even managing to walk just a few weeks after the harrowing incident.

The cat rescue has been an ongoing dream for four or five years, Steve Shur said, but he and his wife want to expand their operation. Their hope is to build a new building to house more cats but also to provide some on-site, low-cost veterinary care, which would not only be a benefit to the local rescue operation but also to other cat rescues in northeast Wisconsin.

“We can have more capacity and more flexibility to help with the need of the cats being rescued in the area,” Steve Shur said. “In the next two or three years, I hope to start construction on that new building. We’ll still use these facilities (barns) as satellite locations for the cats. The main building will be a three-level building, like a humane society, and there will be a vet clinic in there.”

Brenda Shur added the low-cost veterinary service is a big need in the area. Although area vets help out as needs arise, they’re not able to provide discounts for their services.

“We want to get a clinic up where we can offer low-cost vet services for other rescues in our area, which would really help a lot,” Brenda Shur said.

She added that Shur Rescue is currently able to get vaccinations and health checks for the cats that come in, but they’re not allowed to provide rabies shots or spay and neuter the animals without a certified veterinarian.

“We do everything we can with our vet tech here,” Brenda Shur said. “At some point, you need a vet. If we need medication or antibiotics, we go to the vet.”

Shur Rescue is a no-kill shelter, with euthanization taking place only when there’s no hope the cats will recover, and medical care would only prolong the suffering.

With the new building, Steve Shur hopes to implement a trap-neuter-release program, noting that many of the stray cats out there come from cats being allowed to breed without supervision or control.

“I’d like to get a small group of people in a subsidiary of the rescue to do a TNR program to help with the cats out there,” he said. “There’s definitely a large need for the TNR program in this area because the cat population is out of control, and it’s a crisis.”

The Shurs’ love of cats is evident, from the artwork that hangs in the rescue barns to the photographs that hang on the walls in their homes. Steve Shur said that there’s no better feeling than seeing a cat come in feral and ferocious and then become domesticated enough to get a second chance in a forever home.

“A lot of people think cats are different than dogs, but they are pretty smart animals,” Steve Shur said. “They can hunt. The old saying that cats have nine lives, they’re very resilient. They’re very comforting for people.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com