Cat Crossing

We began in May of 1991. Our main purpose has always been to rescue and place "orphan" cats into safe and loving homes. To achieve this goal we found that it was advantageous to bring together various rescue groups and private individuals who had the common need of placing cats they had rescued. Cat Crossing provides the staff to run adoption "shows." Our responsibilities are diverse, our staff does everything from screening prospective homes to buying advertising and providing the administrative backup needed to run our now extensive adoption program. All of our staff are volunteers.

In order to find rescuers willing to help with our adoption shows we provide a unique incentive to them. Unlike other organizations with similar operations, Cat Crossing reimburses its rescuers for their out-of-pocket expenses. These expenses can be debilitating to many rescuers and often forces these individuals to stop their needed rescue work. Although some cats need very little, it is not uncommon for a rescuer to spend hundreds of dollars on a cat. Because most rescuers are soft-hearted they very often rescue the cats they know may be hard to place. These types of cats may be ones that were born feral (wild) and need to be tamed, or a handicapped cat that needs expensive veterinary care. Adult cats usually take months, or even years, to place into homes, and the rescuer provides food, litter, shots etc. for the cat until it is placed.

Some organizations keep their cats in kennels or run private catteries. Cat Crossing prefers to work with individual rescuers who keep the cats in their homes. By eliminating the kennel, we feel the cats receive more personal care and love. Also, it allows us the opportunity to get to know the cat so that we can establish the type of home in which the cat should be placed. For example, if we know the cat is shy, we would search for a quiet home with one or two adults.

Our adoptions are also open (by appointment) to individuals who are trying to place their own cat. In these cases, our volunteers are responsible for screening prospective homes, but the owners must be willing to provide foster care for their cat while we search for new adoptive parents.

Cat Crossing works with the City of L.A.'s spay/neuter program and the city's feral cat program. Our volunteers answer phone calls and distribute vouchers that offset the cost of spays and neuters for dogs and cats. These vouchers are provided by the City of L.A., Animal Services (formerly called Animal Regulation).

In our effort to help control the feral cat population, Cat Crossing will loan traps, at a minimal charge, to individuals interested in sterilizing and then maintaining colonies of feral cats. Without sterilization, most of these colonies reproduce until the populations are out of control. By monitoring these colonies we feel that we are giving these cats the best life possible. Unfortunately, the only other alternative is to euthanize these animals. Many of our volunteers take the kittens from these feral cats into their homes to tame them and eventually adopt them into homes.

Finally, a goal of Cat Crossing is to do whatever it takes to improve the status of pets in our society. We are deeply concerned with the fact that many individuals have the attitude that pets are "disposable." We make every effort to educate the public about the MILLIONS of animals killed in shelters every year. We would like to expand our efforts in this area and, with your help, we can do just that.

Cat Crossing is supported solely by public donations. We depend on you to help us with our ongoing efforts. We appreciate the donations that many of you have already given to us. We are now offering memberships as a fundraising effort. Even if you cannot help us out financially at this time, we would love to hear from you - moral support keeps us going! Also, we are seeking volunteers to help with administrative duties AND MORE!

Please write to us [email protected] with any comments, stories or things that you would like to see published on our web page. Or drop us a note if there are any issues that you feel Cat Crossing may wish to address.

Note: PO Boxes will not show correctly on the map below.