The Cat's Meow

I am very much a cat person, as I’m sure you’ve already noticed. That’s why at the Renegade Craft fair earlier this year I was drawn to a booth with giant cardboard cut outs of lovable-looking, furry cats. The booth turned out to be a table advertising the Tree House Humane Society. This shelter is “A cage less, no-kill cat shelter dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of sick, injured and abused stray cats.” I believe this organization is doing great things for the animals in neighborhoods all over Chicago. They have a regulation that all animals brought into the shelter are spayed or neutered, so just in case they end up back soon the streets, they won’t be able to breed and create more homeless cats to wander the cold streets of Chicago.

I love that this place is a no-kill and cage less shelter. I feel that creates the ideal environment nurturing homeless cats and finding them new homes. Their volunteer program is wonderful too. They hire volunteers to do many jobs you would expect to see at a shelter, like food distribution and cleaning jobs. But I was surprised and delighted to learn that they have volunteering jobs that require you only play with the cats. Some of the cats are antisocial because of their upbringing, and it’s important to get them used to nice humans so they can be adopted later and given a living family and a warm home. Also, some cats don’t behave well with others and it’s up to human volunteers to give those cats extra TLC to find the lovable playful kitten in every cold, weathered and hardened old alley cat. I believe these volunteer programs help the human community too. It’s true that not all people willing to work with animals are willing to deal with the sometimes nasty grunt work. But almost everyone I know would gladly sign up to take time out of their day to just sit and play with dozens of cats. The positive volunteer work could help give kids something constructive to do and keep them off the streets.

Although I am a huge cat fan I do have one criticism about the shelter, and that is the fact that it is a strictly cat shelter. I know there are many shelters in the city that home dogs but I’m sure one more couldn’t hurt. They may have good reason to keep only cats in their shelter. Maybe it’s easier to keep it cage free because cats are smaller and quieter, but from my perspective right now I think they could benefit the animal population in Chicago by allowing other pets into their loving arms too.

If you’re interested in volunteering or maybe adopting from the Tree House Humane Society, their phone number is:
(773) 784-5488
Or you could send an email to:
info@treehousanimals.org