Cleveland APL

I spent some time volunteering at the Cleveland Animal Protective League in 2018-19 before I got too busy with freelance work and moved across town. It’s something I’d been wanting to do for a long time but I always thought it’d be too emotional. My Aunt Nancy & Uncle Rick used to foster cats for a local shelter and after they retired and moved to Maine I felt that it was finally my time to step up and help out. Yes there is the occasional sad, scared cat, but the APL is mostly full of friendly, loving kitties just waiting to find their forever homes. As a Cat Adoption Specialist I helped care for, clean up after and socialize all the cats while helping match visitors with their new family members. It was deeply fulfilling and I really wish I’d gotten involved sooner. The APL does not euthanize and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they’re averaging 50-70 cat adoptions a week and 80-100 a week during kitten season! It seemed that most of the cats spend less than a month at the shelter before being adopted. Every time I went in it was mostly a new batch of temporary tenants. I always left there beaming after my shifts, longing for the day when I own a house and can start fostering myself.

I’ve decided I’m not going to add the shelter cats to the Meet The Cats section, instead I’ll add them here. I could’ve spent a lot of time documenting all the cats while I was volunteering but my time there was better spent caring for them. If you want to take a look at all the cats currently up for adoption visit the Adoptable Animals section of the APL website, visit the shelter (in Tremont, Cleveland, Ohio) or the new affoGATO Cat Café also in Tremont.