About

Save Our Cats and Kittens, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, started in the home of our founder Sara DeMonbrun in 1993, and moved to its current location in 2004.

Sara, a local high school teacher, wasn’t a cat person until her son, Tom, brought home a stray that became a family pet. Sara began noticing all the stray cats in her neighborhood and fed them. A passion and mission formed.

Cecil, her husband, was not a cat person until much later, but he liked to gamble. He won a lot playing blackjack in Biloxi casinos, and brought the money home for Sara’s cat shelter.

The acronym, SOCKS, is a nod to the “First Feline” in the White House at the time, Socks Clinton, an adopted stray tuxedo cat.

Sara and Cecil passed away in 2025.

SOCKS does not have a government contract. It is funded solely by donations, estate bequests, business sponsors, fundraisers, its thrift store, and grants. All contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

We help communities in Okaloosa, Walton, and Santa Rosa counties by:

• Providing a safe refuge for cats and kittens that are homeless for various reasons. Not all are abandoned or stray. Owners lose housing, become ill, or die. Military members deploy to areas that don’t allow cats. Allergies develop. In these and other heartbreaking situations, SOCKS is a trusted entity people turn to for help in finding new, loving homes for their cats.
• Addressing this area’s extreme feline overpopulation problem not only by sterilizing every cat adopted out, but by connecting citizens with low-cost spay/neuter services, and heading up organized, targeted sterilization of community cat colonies.
• Taking in injured and ill felines and “pulling” cats and kittens from area shelters that have run out of space and/or do not have the resources to save the animals from euthanasia.
• Providing cat food to low-income owners and those feeding community cat colonies.
• Answering continuous calls for help and information about cat behavior, care, and community issues.