FAQ

We had a “soft” opening in April of 2021, but we took in our first cat, Hunky Dory, on August 31st of 2021. Hunky went to his forever home on October 6, 2021 and is the first of many TCC shelter happily ever after stories!

Because we are a fear-free shelter, we don’t allow the general public to come in to look at the kitties. Potential adopters who have completed our adoption application and spoken with our Adoption Coordinator can come to meet the cats or kittens in which they’re interested. Meet-and-greets are set up by the Adoption Coordinator. You can also see kittens, when we have them, in the kitten room on our special Kitten Cam!

View Kitten Cam on YouTube

First, you must complete an application form. Our Adoption Coordinator will contact you for an interview and let you know if we have any cats or kittens at the shelter or in a foster home that would be a good match.

Once the match has been made, a meet-and-greet will be arranged at the shelter or a foster home (we try to do most adoptions from the shelter but in some case, to reduce stress on a cat, we arrange to have adoption candidates meet kitties via zoom or at a foster’s home.) Once a match is made, an adopter signs an Adoption Agreement, pays the adoption fee (which is NOT a tax-deductible donation), and sets a date to pick up the kitty or kitties.

Please note that we adopt kittens in pairs because little ones need playmates! Some older cats are okay by themselves – in fact, some prefer to be alone – but most cats prefer company so either we will adopt a cat with a friend or if you have a cat that would welcome a buddy, our Adoption Coordinator will talk to you about that.

You can find our adoption fees on our Adoption Payment page.

First, you must complete an application form. Our Foster Coordinator will contact you for an interview and a house inspection (which can be done via Zoom) and let you know if we have any cats or kittens at the shelter or being surrendered that would be a good match.

Once the match has been made, we will arrange to get the cat or kitten to your house. We are always looking for good fosters, especially those with experience socializing shy cats or kittens.

While we take in as many cats and kittens as possible, we are a small shelter with limited space. We have five “pods” (fenced enclosures the size of a small room) upstairs as well as a kitten room that can hold approximately 8 kittens. Our intake, quarantine, and overflow rooms are downstairs but because those are equipped with cages, we try to move kitties out of those areas as soon as possible into the larger free-roaming spaces upstairs.

Our foster capacity varies due to attrition, experience handling cats, vacation times, etc. We’re always looking for more fosters so we can take in more cats. There are times, however, when our fosters are full, our pods are full, and we just can’t take in more cats. We can’t tell what our capacity will be at any given time, but we move as quickly as possible to get our cats and kittens vetted, neutered/spayed, vaccinated, and adopted to excellent homes so we can do the same for the many other kitties looking for their forever homes.

While we may not be able to take your kitty this week, there’s a chance we’ll have room the following week or month, so we ask for patience and understanding.

We are affiliated with a wonderful, highly trained cat behavior consultant. The consultant will speak with you to assess the situation and provide any advice that might be of immediate assistance. While we wish we could provide free long-term counseling for kitties with severe behavior issues, our consultant makes her living doing this – making her extremely experienced and knowledgeable – and she does charge.

You can find her rates on her website. For cats or kittens adopted from The Cat Connection, the fee is discounted.

Please call our main number 781-899-4610 and leave a message, or send an email to info@thecatconnection.org. Someone will be back in touch as soon as possible with resources to help, usually within 24 hours.

You can usually find available cats on our Available Cats page but because our Adoption Coordinator is so good at what she does, we may not have any immediately available for adoption. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any at the shelter or there won’t be any available for a while, however, so you should always complete an adoption application to get into the adoption queue.

We may have cats or kittens on medical hold due to having a “kitty cold” (upper respiratory infection, or URI, something very common in shelters) or because they have not yet been examined by a vet. (We only adopt out cats that have been fully vetted.) Any kitties with medical issues will be adopted with a Medical Disclosure so adopters are aware of current or past medical issues. We never knowingly hide a condition from an adopter – taking care of sick pets is not cheap. We would never put that burden on anyone without letting them know the possibility of incurring vet expenses.

We’re so glad you asked!! Please go to our Donate page where you can donate via PayPal. You can also mail checks to: The Cat Connection, P.O. Box 541435, Waltham, MA 02454. We pick up the mail weekly. You are also welcome to stop by the shelter in Brighton (167 Chestnut Hill Ave., next to Gyro City) during our morning (8 AM to 10 AM) or evening shifts (5 PM to 7 PM) to drop off a monetary donation. Please be sure to include your address and contact info so we can send you a proper thank you note with our tax ID as donations are tax deductible. Our tax ID number is 04-3518268 in case you need it.

The best thing to do is to contact us via our phone number (781-899-4610) or email (info@thecatconnection.org). Our wonderful Reception team will let you know what we can and can’t accept (we can’t accept opened cat food, for example), what we need and don’t need, and where and when you can drop it off. Our list doesn’t stay the same so check back if you don’t get the answer you’re looking for. And thank you in advance, our kitties appreciate it!