How a Jessup couple turned their home into a licensed cat rescue

Beverly and Keith Burnham never intended to start living in the basement of their Jessup home, but that was before Sunshine.

After the scraggly orange and white cat showed up in their yard one day about two decades ago, they started feeding him. One cat became two and then became more — a lot more.

Soon, the Burnhams turned their good deed into something bigger. In 2014 they established Sunshine’s Friends Cat & Dog Rescue, a nonprofit that spays and neuters feral cats, rehabilitates them and finds them forever homes. They named it after that first cat who inspired it all and have given most of the house over to the cats.

The rescue also helps dogs through foster programs.

The nonprofit, which primarily serves Northern Anne Arundel County and Eastern Howard County, recently became a licensed rescue facility thanks to a law passed last fall by the Anne Arundel County Council.

It allows for animal rescues as a conditional use in select zoning districts, including residential, industrial parks and rural agricultural districts. The bill was introduced in part because the Anne Arundel Department of Animal Services felt the county needed rescue services.

Now the Burnhams’ unassuming colonial on a cul-de-sac serves as a shelter for as many as 50 felines. Although many are adopted, some stay on the property, living out their days as sanctuary cats.

The Burnhams renovated their home of now 28 years into an operational animal rescue center by reconfiguring walls and rooms to add more adoption space, installing tile flooring throughout the house and on a portion of the walls. They left the front rooms to be used as intake and exam rooms for a veterinarian.

They already had installed indoor cat doors and a catio — a dedicated outdoor enclosure — and used the garage as an adoption room.

They now live in the home’s basement apartment, while two employees use second-floor bedrooms.

The rest of the house is for the cats.

Walking through Sunshine’s headquarters recently, cats were everywhere. Cats sunbathed on the stone patio, ran across tree trunks and snoozed in the sunroom. Kittens were curled up in the adoption rooms with their mamas and siblings.

The very first cat that showed up to the Burnhams’ house was under their grill licking leftover grease.

Beverly Burnham started to call the cat Sunshine because, as the sun rose each day, there he was.

“Even in the rain, I had that bright orange fluff out there,” she said.

Slowly, Sunshine brought along friends, first his “girlfriend,” who delivered a litter of kittens under the Burnhams’ deck steps. The Burnhams started to feed the whole family and got the mom spayed. More cats followed.

The main mission of the nonprofit is to rehome cats, whether through adoptions or barn placements — for feral cats who prefer life outdoors.

“We’d rather relocate them because there’s no good option to put them back where they were,” Keith Burnham said.

Anne Arundel County Animal Services licenses and oversees the rescue’s operations.

Claudia Roll, the agency’s director, said Beverly Burnham called right after the legislation passed, interested in Sunshine’s becoming a licensed rescue.

Beverly Burnham said they are sensitive to the fact that they’re in a residential neighborhood.

“We don’t want anyone to smell cat poop,” she said.

Kristin Grogan adopted two kittens from Sunshine’s in July, named Edgrr and LeNoir, nodding to writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe.

Inspired by the Burnhams’ “passion and love” for cats, Grogan and her partner, John Lee, now volunteer at Sunshine’s.

Sunshine’s is always looking for more volunteers, fosters and funding to support the nonprofit. On average, bills run an estimated $25,000 a month, Beverly Burnham said. It operates through a mix of donor funding, Maryland Department of Agriculture grants and donations. Sunshine’s charges adoption fees of up to $150, but that primarily covers microchipping and spaying or neutering costs.

As a licensed rescue, the Burnhams can offer spay and neuter services on-site. They hope to partner with H.E.A.R.T. Inc., short for Helping Every Animal Receive Treatment, which provides mobile veterinary care.

Its mission includes reducing the need for so-called financial euthanasia, said Robin Catlett, H.E.A.R.T. co-founder, practice manager and the nonprofit’s board president.

“That’s one of the most common things that we see, is just people that love their pets very much but can’t afford the care,” Catlett said.

The Burnhams are also thinking into the future. They want to turn over their home to a trust for the nonprofit so that, when they’re gone, Sunshine’s lives on.

Until then, the work never stops, as Beverly Burnham fields calls each day with requests to save more cats.