At Cat Town, we take in cats who appear fearful or stressed in a shelter cage, and we help under-socialized cats learn to trust. In doing so, we save the vulnerable cats who might otherwise slip through the cracks in the traditional rescue model, which focuses on cats who are friendly and confident in a shelter setting.
Sydney glares and flattens his ears at our Adoption Center. Photo by Grace Fujii.
To ensure that we give every possible misunderstood cat the opportunity to find a home, we frequently take chances on cats who appear unadoptable in a shelter cage. Most of the time they make great progress, but on very rare occasion, we encounter feral cats who don’t actually want to live in a home with people. When this happens, we know we’re doing everything we can to support shelter cats who just might not do well in cages, or who simply need extra work to become socialized.
It’s not our intention to try to socialize adult, feral cats. When these cats do come into our care, we recognize they are going to be happiest and live their best lives with a comfortable distance from their caretakers. Alternative placement gives these cats a safe home. These locations can be either indoors — like at a brewery, bakery, or other type of shop — or outdoors — like a barn or enclosed garden. In either case, these types of outcomes meet the cat at their comfort level, allow guardians to take care of them, and provide them with a safe space to live life on their own terms.
Providing alternative placement is still a success, because we know for sure it’s the most humane outcome for that individual cat.
Mai Tai peers out of a feral box. Photo by David Yeung.
Cat Town’s protocol for alternative placement is rigorous, and considers all the information we’ve learned about each cat’s unique personality during the time they spend with us. This process includes:
An interview to assess expectations about ongoing care and safety, level of cat experience, and the type of relationship desired — just like all adoption counseling we do;
Education on how to successfully introduce a cat to a new outdoor environment;
A site visit to confirm the environment is secure and free from predators, toxins, busy traffic, or other dangers;
Another visit to hand-deliver the cat with equipment for their acclimation period; and
Follow-up communications to support a stepwise acclimation to their home.
In January, Mai Tai and Sydney found a safe outdoor space to call home near the Oakland marina. Their adopter recently gave us this update:
Mai Tai enjoys her new outdoor home.
”Mai Tai now comes around for breakfast every morning when I holler for her. She’s establishing herself quite well. I've found where Sydney has been hanging out — a bit behind our building — and I'm able to leave food for him in the morning too.
”They're definitely still hanging out together, and seem to be settling into their new turf. Mai Tai comes around close enough for a photo of her living the good life, but for Sydney, I'd need a good zoom lens. I spy on him with binoculars.”
When we give cats alternative placement, their guardians agree to give them plenty of care, including taking them to the vet should they get sick. We’ve had great success finding alternative placement for a small number of cats over the years — all because we took the time to figure out exactly what they needed, and how to get them to a better place than where they started from.
Giving these cats a chance, and finding them homes where they’ll be happy and safe, no matter what that looks like? That's a success to us.