Finding the right pet

The Knox County Humane Society (KCHS-CATS) at 400 Columbus Road in Mount Vernon has taken a fresh approach to the process of adopting a pet. Through the effective use of social media, KCHS reaches out to find people, willing to adopt a cat and offers area residents an affordable way to find the right pet.

The cat shelter, which was completely renovated two years ago, offers an attractive environment to care for cats, while they’re waiting to be adopted by their forever family. The renovations were made with cats, and their prospective owners in mind.

"We wanted to expand our surgical areas, and the original lobby was kind of small and congested, quite a bit,” said Knox County Humane Society chairperson Martha Otto. “The focus was the main lobby. We're more customer oriented. It also gave us the opportunity to add more space to our surgery area. We also put in some new windows so that people can look in at the kittens in the kitten room. They can see in from both sides.”

The kitten room offers a safe place for the young ones to play and explore. Children of all ages can peer through the window and watch the latest mischief that the kittens are up to. One of the kitten’s favorite activities is running on the big exercise wheel.

“They chase each other on there,” said Otto. “Sometimes, they lay on it and fall asleep.”

Founded in 1887, KCHS-CATS is one of the oldest, independent humane societies in the United States and is a 501(c)3, nonprofit organization supported solely by their low-cost fees, memberships, grants and donations.

The focus of the Humane Society is education in order to save animal lives, prevent animal suffering, and ensure animal wellness, as well as to build a community where people value companion animals as lifelong cherished family members and treat them with respect and kindness.

Adoptable cats from KCHS are all vaccinated (FVRCP, rabies as age appropriate). They are also spayed or neutered and have received flea and deworming medication. Each is also microchipped before going to their forever home.

“We like to keep a maximum of about 30 (cats) in house,” said Otto. “In previous years, decades ago, we had upwards of 100 cats, but we cannot take care of that many. So, the quantity we have, we have the staff to take care of. We also want to make sure we have enough turnover so, as cats come in, people will adopt them, and then we have an opening for another cat.”

The primary purpose of KCHS is to provide for the welfare of all cats; including stray, surrendered, and rescued cats. They do so through public awareness, clinics, campaigns, humane sheltering and fostering, adoption and surrender services, and initial medical and altering services. The organization places its emphasis on performing all of its goals for all cats who are healthy and adoptable.

Even if you already have cats, KCHS offers other services besides adoption.

“We have a lot of people coming in for spay and neuter surgeries for their cats,” said Otto. “We have a program where we have special prices for people from Knox County. We do surgeries two days a week, Mondays and Thursdays.”

Also, KCHS performs some services for dogs and not just cats.

“On Tuesdays and Fridays we have vaccine clinic,” said Otto. “Between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. we have people coming in at 15-minute intervals to get their dogs and cats vaccinated for rabies. We test for feline leukemia, heartworm, and things of that sort. We have the vaccine for Lyme disease. Lots of dogs are getting that these days.”

Matching the right pet with the right forever family is a matter of getting to know each family. In the application process, KCHS gets a little information about the family’s household, how many children, if there are any other pets, as well as the family’s pet history.

“That will give us an idea of what kind of cat will be suitable,” said Otto. “Most people have been looking at our website or looking on Petfinder, which is an online pet adoption service. All of our cats are on Petfinder, along with their description or other information about them. Lots of times, people will see animals there and come in to fill out forms and say, 'I want this one.' So, we try to accommodate them as much as possible."Prospective families get to spend time with the cat of their choice, in the bonding room. There, they have an opportunity to see how the cat they want, takes to every member of the family and vice versa.

At times, it seems that there are more applications for pet adoption than there are eligible, adoptable cats."Sometimes things don't quite work out,” said Otto. “Sometimes people find a pet elsewhere or things like that. I would say that out of 10 applications, we manage to go through the whole process with about half of them. Right now, we have some kittens in, and people are always interested in kittens. We try with kittens, and especially with litter mates, to have people adopt pairs of them. Pairs of kittens work a lot better in a home. All of that pent-up energy they spend wrestling with their sibling doesn't get turned into climbing up the curtains.”

There are plenty of adult cats to adopt as well.

“Most people are specifically looking for an adult cat because most of them are nicely laid back,” Otto said. “We wouldn't pair up adults unless they were already siblings."

KCHS is always in need of volunteers to socialize and play with the cats, help with fundraisers, clean up the grounds, and other things.

For information on adopting, volunteering, fostering, becoming a member, or donating to the Knox County Humane Society, please visit their website or call KCHS at (740) 392-2287.