In the late 1990s, the outlook for lost, stray and surrendered cats in the Portland Metro area was bleak. Euthanasia rates spiked while adoption numbers cratered.
Those were the conditions under which the Cat Adoption Team (CAT) opened its doors in Sherwood, Oregon, on May 1, 1998. CAT was founded on thirty-five needy cats and limitless dreams. Twenty five years later, CAT, the largest cat shelter in the Pacific Northwest, celebrated its 60,000th adoption. They achieved that number at the dizzying rate of 3,000 adoptions per month.
Marcus, a shy, stray and victim of a suspected dog attack, was lucky number 60,000. After receiving veterinary services for his injuries and serving a stint at the county shelter, Marcus transferred to CAT for further care to prepare him for adoption. His loving personality emerged during foster care.
“It was the look in his eyes,” Rose Hawk said about she and her daughter, Zia’s, meet-and-greet with Marcus. “He just looked friendly.”
CAT offers adoption, foster care and veterinary services to homeless cats and kittens and provides programs for people caring for pets. Enrichment activities including behavior modification are also available. CAT’s roster of foster families care for more than 1,000 cats each year.
The shelter is no stranger to trailblazing. In 2002, CAT was the first animal shelter in the Pacific Northwest to open an on-site veterinary hospital where medical teams offer urgent and preventative care and low-cost spay-neuter services. In 2019, CAT drew distinction for being one of only a handful of shelters to meet all 254 requirements in the Association for Shelter Veterinarian’s Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters.
Thanks to sustained collaboration with other shelters, rescue groups and animal advocacy organizations, CAT has achieved one of the highest live-release rates in the nation at more than 95 percent.
Never content to rest on their laurels, CAT works continuously to improve conditions, upgrade facilities and adjust policy in tandem with advances in veterinary medicine and animal sheltering. Over the years, housing space for cats has doubled. What began as a modest haven with limited space has grown into a 16,000 square-foot facility complete with multiple adoption rooms, onsite hospital, private intake area, and offices. Today, CAT is comprised of 40 staff members and 600 volunteers. Proceeds from sales at The CAT Thrift Store in Southwest Portland help fund CAT’s sweeping programs.
Feline alums of the CAT program have graduated to distinguished careers. “Joey,” a long-haired silver tabby, was a loving and reliable therapy cat at Oregon Health and Science University for more than 10 years.