It was 2021. A cat was being placed on the euthanasia list at the Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha.
“They said she couldn’t be handled,” said Mel Kleverova Zilliox, an animal well-being officer for Almost Home Cat Rescue MKE in Milwaukee. “She was very vocal and swatty and she didn’t bite, but she lunged.”
Kleverova Zilliox said when Almost Home Cat Rescue MKE took her in, they found she had an upper breathing infection.
“She was almost at the stage of pneumonia and so she was very stressed,” said Kleverova Zilliox.
But after 8 months in foster care with Kleverova Zilliox, whatever altered.
“She became a little love bug, would sit in my lap, you know, would love to get her chin scratched, but it took a while,” Kleverova Zilliox said.
In August, an older female embraced the cat, called Poe, and took her along for among her journey, snapping images she sent to Kleverova Zilliox along the method.
It’s a story that highlights the heart of what the Almost Home Cat Rescue MKE has actually been attempting to attain considering that they initially began in 2021 and now, in their brand-new in-person place on Ogden Avenue downtown.
From taking cats off euthanasia lists throughout the Midwest to acting as an essential resource for the cat neighborhood to altering preconceptions, it’s an objective individuals at the volunteer-based shelter are enthusiastic about.
A kitten in a yard
Nancy Duwe didn’t understand what to do when she discovered a cat caught in her yard. She had actually heard some rumblings of a group launching their own rescue, so she chose to rely on them.
“I called up… I said, ‘did you guys start up yet?’ And they said, ‘Well, we’re not taking any in’ and I said, ‘Well, I’ve got this kitty in my bathroom. What do I do with her?’ You know, I don’t want to put her back outside,’” said Duwe.
That’s the minute Duwe said Almost Home initially started. After hearing her call, the group chose to start taking in cats. And that cat in Duwe’s yard, called Cricket, ended up being the very first rescue for the group.
As president of the shelter, Duwe said she’s been cultivating cats since.
Many of the cats at Almost Home originated from surrenders, or individuals discovering cats in poor condition outdoors, such as in the cold snow. Others originated from rescue partners like HAWS.
A kitten at Almost Home. (Spectrum News 1/Rachel Ryan)
From there, cats enter into foster care households related to Almost Home. When cats are at foster houses, their foster family will deal with them to prepare them for adoption.
Before Almost Home opened their physical shelter, adoptions occurred at the houses of the foster households. Now, they can occur at the shelter.
Since the not-for-profit begun, they’ve performed over 100 adoptions. Duwe said they had 7 within one weekend after opening the Milwaukee shelter.
A shelter that doesn’t ‘say no very easily’
Anyone that steps foot into the shelter on the Lower East Side can inform that it’s various. Meditative music uses the overhead speakers, a television in the corner shows wildlife scenes, platforms for cats to climb up rest on the walls and toys are spread over the floorings.
It’s a photo of how the shelter intends to focus the cats and their lives in all they do.
Kleverova Zilliox said the shelter credit the Five Freedoms for animals, which declares that every living being deserves to gentle treatment. It’s a set of requirements that was established by the Britain Farm Animal Welfare Council in 1965.
Five Freedoms for Animals (Spectrum News 1/Rachel Ryan)
One of those includes permitting animals to do things that are natural to them. That’s why cats are free-roaming in Almost Home’s space, simply as in a home or outdoors.
From the minute cats are brought into the shelter, volunteers like Kleverova Zilliox, likewise stick with them over night to get them adapted to the space and the other cats — a procedure she calls “cat camping.”
“Everything that we need as sentient beings, kitties need too,” said Kleverova Zilliox.
Part of their work includes assisting the unsocialized and those that have substantial medical concerns. Kleverova Zilliox said numerous shelters wind up euthanizing cats for these factors due to the fact that they don’t have the resources to resolve them. About 530,000 cats are euthanized each year in the U.S., according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
In the in 2015, the Milwaukee rescue took in 4 cats from HAWS that would’ve face this fate.
“We will try everything until the doctors tell us that quality of life is no longer possible,” said Kleverova Zilliox of cats with medical conditions.
For them, that consists of taking in cats that are favorable for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus and raising them up for adoption.
“We are trying to get rid of the stigma that, you know, those are death sentences and they really aren’t. Long ago the vets used to say, ‘oh, they’re not going to have quality of life,’” said Duwe.
“At other shelters, those would be kitties that either would stagnate, you know, that wouldn’t either get promoted or the help that they need, or, you know, potentially euthanized,” included Kleverova Zilliox. “Those kitties might not even have ever had a chance.”
If there’s a cat that requires conserving, they’ll wait, she said. They even have emergency situation foster households on deck who constantly have a space open for any cats with medical or behavioral concerns.
“We don’t state no really quickly,” said Kleverova Zilliox.
(Spectrum News 1/Rachel Ryan)
There’s an unique method this genuine objective spreads throughout Almost Home’s huge network of foster households and volunteers.
As a “fear free shelter,” everybody in their organization goes through an online course that information how to deal with animals, read their body movement and more. It’s an action Kleverova Zilliox said you don’t see at every shelter.
They likewise take actions to help fosters determine cats’ characters to guarantee they go to the right family.
Support beyond the adoption
Not just do they train volunteers, however Almost Home likewise opens their doors to adopters well beyond the real adoption date.
“A lot of shelters, they just they do the adoption and then, you know, you’re on your merry way,” said Kleverova Zilliox.
Online, the not-for-profit deals a number of guides — such as cat-to-cat intros, dog-to-cat intros, enrichment activities that make cats happy and more — that help assistance adopters after they’ve gone home with their animal.
“We like to be a resource for the community,” said Kleverova Zilliox. “We also want to show people that, you know, what we’re doing here you can easily do in your home.”
“Our biggest thing is we want to help them (cats) stay in a home where they’re loved,” she included.
(Spectrum News 1/Rachel Ryan)
One of the other services Almost Home provides to cat owners is something called safe keep.
“A lot of people, because of the economy and things, have been losing their homes, or they can’t find something that will take pets and they don’t want to give up their pets,” said Duwe. “We will take them in on a temporary basis and live in my home until they get back on their feet and then they’ll come and collect their kitties and get to keep them.”
Duwe explained that she typically opens her home in these circumstances.
Nothing without volunteers, contributions
But none of this can occur without contributions.
As a not-for-profit, Duwe said Almost Home relies greatly on contributions and volunteers.
Adoption charges for a kitten are $175, however Duwe said they don’t make their money back on that. Often, expenses for the shelter go beyond far beyond the adoption cost so they can spend for cats’ healthcare. Within the previous year, they’ve likewise needed to spend for some extreme medical treatments for their cats.
A check out to the space is totally free (a waiver is still required), however they typically recommend a $5 contribution. Duwe said numerous have actually offered above that to support their objective, with some offering things like money and cat food prior to they opened their doors.
(Spectrum News 1/Rachel Ryan)
Kleverova Zilliox said a $10,000 Bounceback grant from Wisconsin Economic Development Coporation and the City of Milwaukee is what assisted them boost the space downtown, however that they constantly require more.
That’s particularly real for volunteers too. Currently, Almost Home has about 35 volunteers who serve regularly.
Both Duwe and Kleverova Zilliox highlighted that they constantly require more individuals to help, whether it’s somebody to assist with fundraising or to physically fraternize the cats in the space.
“Any way that a person would want to be involved, we’ll have something for them to do,” said Kleverova Zilliox.
“Even if they can only give us an hour or two hours a month, it’s something that takes a burden off of the people who are taking three or four jobs at a time,” included Duwe.
You can learn more about offering on Almost Home’s website. You can likewise find out about how you can support the shelter, here.
An area of happiness in the community
As both ladies anticipate the future of their business, they said they’re thrilled to have a space like this.
Not just has the space already accelerated adoptions, however it’s had individuals dropping in their tracks as they stroll by.
“When we had, I think eight kittens in that window — was the most kittens we had — you would see people just like stop in their tracks and just be like, ‘oh,’ and then they would come in and then you know, we got a few adoptions from that,” said Kleverova Zilloix.
(Spectrum News 1/Rachel Ryan)
Their space is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s a restricted timeframe, however enough to make a huge distinction.
“We really want to be a little gem, as this part of Ogden, and ya know, this part of Milwaukee, ya know, to really be joyful. There’s so much bad stuff out there in the world that watching people go by and see kittens and just smile,” said Kleverova Zilliox. “We just want to be a little spot of joy.”
