FAQ
Have CAT questions? We have answers.
Cat Adoption Team (CAT) is located in Sherwood, Oregon. We’re about 15 miles southwest of Portland. Our address is 14175 SW Galbreath Drive, Sherwood, Oregon, 97140.
See our contact page for our hours, contact information, map and directions.
CAT also has several offsite adoption locations throughout the Portland area.
We believe all cats and people in our community deserve equitable access to resources that support good health, keep pets and people together, and strengthen the bond between cats and people. Here are a few of the resources CAT offers:
- Low-cost spay/neuter services
- Online cat care and behavior resources
- CAT Helpline — If you need temporary emergency boarding, assistance with paying for veterinary care, or another crisis that threatens your ability to keep your cat, please contact us! We may be able to help and can provide suggestions and resources too.
- Rehoming support
- Lost/Found cat help
Our shelter is open for walk-in visitors during regular hours, and we adopt on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you’re interested in meeting a cat or kitten in foster care, you can apply through their online pet profile — if you’re the first application in line for them, we’ll contact you to setup a virtual or in-person meet-and-greet.
To see when CAT’s shelter is open, please visit the Contact Us page.
Volunteers play an essential role at CAT. We would love to have you join the team! We have some volunteers who help out in the shelter, others who take on tasks at our thrift store, and still others who foster in their home.
The first step to becoming a volunteer is to attend a volunteer orientation. Visit our Volunteer page for details about CAT’s volunteer opportunities and upcoming orientation dates.
It can be scary when your cat has gone missing, but don’t lose hope! Displaced, stressed cats often hide in silence for an average of 10 days to two weeks, depending on personality and whether they are indoor-only or regularly go outdoors. Get lost cat advice, tips, and resources to help you find your cat.
Thank you for sharing the care in our community! When a pet is kept in the neighborhood where they were found rather than enter a shelter, they are much more likely to be reunited with their families. If you can hold a healthy, found pet for just 48 hours while searching for their owner, you can make reunification not just possible, but probable.
If you’re not in a position to hold onto the cat while you search for the owner, or if the animal is sick or injured, please follow these steps.
CAT takes in cats and kittens based not only on whether we have space, but on whether we can meet the needs of the individual cat. We manage our admissions based on our capacity to provide care for cats—we work hard to bring in only cats for whom we can find homes and who will do well during their time with us. As a private nonprofit, we must balance the needs of the community and the needs of the cats in our care, while being good stewards of the money voluntarily donated to us.
In order to provide quality care and optimal chances at adoption, CAT does have limits on how many senior, FIV-positive, or other special needs cats we can have in the shelter at any one time. Taking in too many cats doesn’t increase adoptions—it increases illness and causes cats to spend more time at the shelter prior to adoption. Managing our population helps keep our cats happy and healthy, which gives them the best chance to find new homes quickly so we are able to help the next cat in line.
There is also a maximum number of cats and kittens our organization can responsibly house and care for at any given time. We do not want to bring in more felines than we can manage in a healthy, respectful way. Overcrowding is both inhumane and ineffective at saving lives.
As an adoption-guarantee shelter, we promise to save the lives of all the cats in our care who can reasonably be provided with a humane outcome. There is no limit on how much time or money we invest in a cat if they have a good chance at a good life.
CAT does not euthanize for space or time and often is able to provide medical care for cats that other animal shelters may not have the resources to help. This does not mean that CAT never euthanizes. Our medical team may determine that euthanasia is the most humane option for a sick or injured cat when prognosis is poor, pain cannot be managed, and quality of life is severely diminished. In very rare cases, CAT may euthanize a cat suffering from a severe, irreversible behavior issue who cannot be safely adopted or housed.
Our goal is to provide each cat with the best possible chance of finding a loving home. A home is truly the best place for a social, domestic cat.
If you’re overwhelmed by challenges that seem supersized, you’re not alone. We offer assistance to help keep you and your pet together if possible, and if your pet needs a new home, we’re here to offer guidance for that too.
Explore our rehoming resources or submit an admissions consultation form to tell us more about your and your cat. Once we get your form, a member of our CAT Helpline Team will reach out to you with options.
Please note that CAT is only available to accept incoming cats by appointment. Submitting the admissions consultation form is the quickest way to get support.
Congratulations on deciding to adopt a feline friend!
Click any of these links to learn more about CAT’s adoption process, policies, and fees.
Cat Adoption Team seeks out and cultivates partnerships with other shelters and organizations in the Portland area, throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington, and across our region. Through these partnerships, CAT helps at-risk cats and kittens, and assists other organizations in reducing their feline euthanasia rates by transferring cats and kittens to CAT’s shelter for adoption.
- About 80% of CAT’s cats come from other shelters, rescue organizations, or veterinary clinics.
- The other 20% of cats in our shelter were relinquished by the cat’s owner or brought to CAT as a stray found in Clackamas County.
CAT encourages anyone who finds a lost cat to first take the cat to their local animal control. Please read CAT’s lost and found information for more details.
Yes. You may see purebred cats when you search through our cats for adoption.
It is estimated that about 20% of the animals you find in an animal shelter are purebreds.
CAT is considered an “adoption guarantee” shelter, meaning we promise to find loving, appropriate placement for cats in our care whenever it is humane and responsible to do so.
While there are no “time limits” for how long a cat can stay in our care, we work hard to match our cats with new families so they can move out of the shelter and into loving homes as quickly as possible.
We give every cat in our care the time and support they need; however, because we take in some very vulnerable and sick cats and kittens—including newborn orphaned kittens—some of the cats in our care do pass away or are humanely euthanized to end suffering due to incurable disease or behavior that can no longer be safely managed.
A friendly young cat or kitten with no known medical issues may be adopted within a day or two. Older cats, cats with medical conditions, or those with behavior issues may stay in our care for days or weeks. In some cases, a cat may be with us for several months before finding the right home.
Click here to see our adoption numbers and other statistics.
Regular Cat Food? Yes! CAT welcomes donations of unopened, unexpired cat food for use by picky eaters in our shelter or to stock our Cat Food Bank that partners with Meals on Wheels.
Cat Litter? No, thank you. Thanks to generous donations from Purina, we do not have a need for cat litter at this time. Please consider donating to another local rescue or shelter organization.
Prescription Cat Food & Medications? Maybe. CAT may be able to accept unopened, unexpired prescription food and some medications — please contact us first to ensure we’re able to make good use of your donation. We are unable to accept opened/expired prescription food or controlled/expired medication.
To ensure optimal health of the cats in the shelter, CAT typically cannot accept used cat items. We are unable to accept open litter, used litter boxes, or worn scratching posts.
To see a list of our most-needed items, please visit our Wish List. You can also check out our CAT Thrift Store as an option for donating gently used goods.
