City Kitties: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:17, 28 May 2025

A Nonprofit, No-Kill Cat Rescue

City Kitties is a small collective of volunteers without any central office or facility. Volunteers rescue cats from the streets and shelters of Philadelphia, provide veterinary care, and find them happy new homes. When a new stray comes into our care, our intake team notifies potential foster homes and the cats are taken to City Cat Vets for immediate vet care — an exam, FeLV/FIV testing, spay/neuter, vaccinations, and parasite treatment. Once the cats receive a clean bill of health, we place them in one of our dedicated foster homes. We advertise our foster cats online and at outreach venues such as the Clark Park Farmers Market. City Kitties also collaborates with Baltimore Pet Shoppe, displaying our adoptable kitties in the store window.

Those interested in adopting fill out an application, let us know which cats they are interested in and, once approved, meet the cats in their foster homes. Once an adopter falls in love with a cat, we arrange transportation, bring the foster cat to its forever home, and provide ongoing support as needed. City Kitties runs entirely on generous donations from Philadelphia residents and beyond.

City Kitties truly could not exist without its foster homes and community support. One of the easiest ways you can support City Kitties is to spread the word. Whether you want to volunteer to hang up fliers in the neighborhood, or pass the word on to your friends, every little bit helps. Every cat adopted makes room for another cat to be rescued from the streets.

Note: The above description came from the organization's How It Works page.

In The News

What do I do with this animal I found?, West Philly Local, February 20, 2018.

Info

Volunteer: Foster Application

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-{{toplink|url=http://www.citykitties.org|name=citykitties.org}}<blockquote>''Saving and Improving the Lives of Stray Cats and Kittens in Philadelphia''</blockquote>
+{{toplink|url=https://www.facebook.com/CityKitties/|name=facebook.com/CityKitties}}<blockquote>''A Nonprofit, No-Kill Cat Rescue''</blockquote>
-City Kitties
+'''City Kitties''' is a small collective of volunteers without any central office or facility. '''Volunteers rescue cats from the streets and shelters of Philadelphia, provide veterinary care, and find them happy new homes'''.  When a new stray comes into our care, our intake team notifies potential foster homes and the cats are taken to City Cat Vets for immediate vet care — an exam, FeLV/FIV testing, spay/neuter, vaccinations, and parasite treatment. Once the cats receive a clean bill of health, we place them in one of our dedicated foster homes. We advertise our foster cats online and at outreach venues such as the Clark Park Farmers Market.  City Kitties also collaborates with Baltimore Pet Shoppe, displaying our adoptable kitties in the store window.
-Red.png
-MISSION
-City Kitties is a non-profit cat rescue dedicated to saving and improving the lives of stray cats in the Philadelphia area. We rescue strays from the streets, give them proper veterinary care and a loving foster home, and adopt them out to happy new families.  The organization is a no-kill rescue, meaning that we will never euthanize an adoptable or treatable animal, and will never turn away a homeless animal due to illness or injury. We also assist with TNR (trap, neuter, return) of feral (wild) cats.
+Those interested in adopting fill out an application, let us know which cats they are interested in and, once approved, meet the cats in their foster homes. Once an adopter falls in love with a cat, we arrange transportation, bring the foster cat to its forever home, and provide ongoing support as needed. City Kitties runs entirely on generous donations from Philadelphia residents and beyond.
-ABOUT
+City Kitties truly could not exist without its foster homes and community support. One of the easiest ways you can support City Kitties is to spread the word. Whether you want to volunteer to hang up fliers in the neighborhood, or pass the word on to your friends, every little bit helps. Every cat adopted makes room for another cat to be rescued from the streets.
-OUR MISSION & HISTORY
-HOW IT WORKS
-BOARD OF DIRECTORS
-PRESS
-City Kitties is run entirely by volunteers, from our board of directors to our foster homes. We have no paid staff and rely on the generosity of our donors to continue our work.
-City Kitties was founded in 2005 by Louisa Alexander & Lori Horwedel. Determined to be a part of the solution, Lou & Lori linked up with some amazing volunteer foster homes, found a rescue-friendly veterinarian, and with the help of volunteer attorney Lori Odessa, filed for a federal 501(c)3 non-profit status in 2007. Since then, City Kitties has grown to a collective of volunteers with a common goal: prevent suffering among helpless stray cats and kittens, and find loving homes for as many as possible.
-CORE VALUES
-Small Rescue.  We recognize that we are not able to help all, or even a majority of cats and kittens in need. City Kitties prioritizes being able to help as many cats as we can while maintaining quality of care for our cats and kittens, and maintaining a level of commitment that can be reasonably managed by volunteer oversight. We focus our efforts primarily within the West Philadelphia and University City area.
-Network of Foster Homes.  Recognizing the challenges of operating a centralized space, City Kitties operates solely as a network of foster homes. Foster homes are essential to our mission, and we value the personalized relationships with our foster parents.  We always provide ongoing support for foster homes (including centralized screening of adoptions and coordinating all vet care).
-Quality Adoptions.  City Kitties is committed to ensuring to the best of our ability that all cats adopted through our rescue are adopted by responsible, loving forever homes. We reserve and exercise the right not to adopt cats to homes that are not a good fit, even when it means that the cat stays in foster care long term.
-Low Operating Costs.  As a volunteer-run non-profit organization that is sustained exclusively by donations, the leadership of City Kitties is committed to a financial model that allocates a majority of donations to providing for the cats in our care. The board of directors works to ensure that 80% (or higher, when possible) of our income is dedicated towards veterinary services and supplies for our cats.
-No-kill Rescue.  City Kitties does not euthanize animals to make space in our foster homes, and we do not euthanize animals for medical problems unless deemed humane and necessary by a veterinarian.
-We Provide High-quality Veterinary Care.  All of City Kitties foster cats and kittens receive high-quality veterinary care. We will never turn away a homeless animal due to illness or injury, if we have the means and capacity to help. We make sure that all of our cats and kittens are fully vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and otherwise healthy prior to adoption.
-Helping High Needs Cats.  When possible and within our financial means, City Kitties works to help care for cats and kittens that otherwise would not survive on the streets or in the shelter systems. This includes our “Meatball Fund” kitties who are particularly high needs cats and kittens that are currently within the shelter system and face being euthanized due to lack of resources to address their medical needs.
-Collaborative Leadership.  City Kitties is aware that animal rescue work can be challenging and emotionally draining, particularly for volunteers in leadership positions.  As an organization, we are dedicated to supporting each other and maintaining a leadership model that allows us to focus our energy on rescuing cats in need.
-Volunteer Run.  City Kitties is run exclusively by volunteers – including the Board of Directors, Coordinators, and Foster Homes.  This ensures that we are able to function with low operating costs, and dedicate a majority of our funding to caring for the cats and kittens in our care.
+''Note:''&nbsp;&nbsp;The above description came from the organization's [http://www.citykitties.org/howitworks How It Works] page.
 ==In The News==
 *[http://www.westphillylocal.com/2018/02/20/what-do-i-do-with-this-animal-i-found/ What do I do with this animal I found?], West Philly Local, February 20, 2018.
+==Info==
+*Volunteer:&nbsp;[http://www.citykitties.org/foster-application Foster Application]
 [[Category:Does-Animal_Rescue]]
-[[Category:Is-Animal_Welfare_Organization]]
+[[Category:Is-Animal_Welfare_Organization]] [[Category:Is-Nonprofit_Organization]]
+[[Category:Serves-Animals]]
+[[Category:Using-Volunteers]]
-{{W}}
+<!--contact info sought but not found-->