Bloglander

Back in April, I was fortunate enough to take a trip to the fabulous city of Austin, Texas, to visit a family member and see the sights, which included stops at Austin's two large and successful no-kill animal shelters, the Austin Humane Society and Austin Pets Alive! I documented my visits to the shelters for Cat Friday, which you can read here.

Last weekend, I was in the Pacific Northwest's version of Austin: Portland (or is Austin actually Texas's version of Portland?). Being in Portland last Cat Friday was also the reason I left you all hanging without a new post, so sorry about that.During my short stay in the Rose City, I paid a visit to a very successful and large cat-only shelter there, which I've been a big fan of since discovering it and following its Facebook page.   

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Cat Adoption Team, or CAT, as it's also known, is a nonprofit, no-kill shelter established in 1998. It's located about 30 minutes south of Portland, in Sherwood, Ore. Since it opened, nearly 30,500 wonderful cats and kittens have been placed into loving homes. Just this year, the shelter adopted out 870 cats, and the weekly adoption count for this week is currently at 49. Pretty impressive.

I noticed lots of positive things at CAT that made it stand out, other than the room full of nothing but totally adorable kittens waiting to find homes. The facility itself was extremely large, with two stories. The first floor included a retail area, reception and a special "kitten room." Visitors to CAT are greeted by a lobby kitty, who gets to hang out in a large plexiglass-walled enclosure. Judy, a beautiful smoke-grey kitty with bright green eyes, seems to have been waiting a while at CAT to find a forever home. She's often featured on the shelter's Facebook page and likes to help out around the office with paperwork and other important duties. 

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Cat Adoption Team

Judy greets visitors to CAT as the designated lobby kitty.

On the second floor, adult cats are kept in private kennels or, if they're friendly with other cats, in small, communal kitty suites with large windows allowing the cats to be viewed from outside the rooms and so they can watch what's going on in the shelter.

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Chey Scott

This very large kitty named Anton (his paperwork noted his weight at 22 lbs.) watched the happenings at the shelter from a private suite he shares with two other kitty roommates. This particular room housed cats with Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV), which I explain in the CF post about Austin's shelters if you're curious.

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Chey Scott

During my visit, a volunteer explained that at the peak of kitten season — which is happening right now — CAT has more than 500 cats under its care. Most of that number includes cats in foster homes, but the upstairs adult cat area must have contained at least 50 private cat kennels in addition to the shared kitty suites. 

This cute little tabby named Everly was very cozy and content on her milk-and-cookie-patterned blankie. The one-year-old cat arrived at the shelter with two kittens, and now that she's done raising them is looking for a quiet home of her own.  

Unfortunately, I missed CAT's Kittenpalooza adoption event by one weekend — it's tomorrow features almost 100 little babies looking for homes. For any readers who might be in the area and looking to adopt, head to CAT for lots of cuteness overload. Adoption fees for adult cats will be waived during the event if you adopt one with a kitten, so don't forget about the grown-up kitties, either. 

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Chey Scott

A cone of shame for this little incision licker! He didn't seem to mind, and it certainly didn't take away from his adorable-ness.