Please read the information below carefully before submitting an intake request.
Harmony House for Cats is a non-municipal organization which prioritizes intake of cats from the City of Chicago and Cook County, operating with a managed intake policy. We are frequently at capacity with our animal population. Submitting an intake request does not guarantee acceptance.
If your cat was adopted from a shelter or rescue, your first step should be to contact that rescue. Many rescues and shelters require that their adoption cats return to them and will take them quickly as adoption returns.
A list of other area shelters that may be able to intake can be found here.
Resources for Keeping Your Pet
If you are unable to keep your pet due to the cost of routine medical care, please consider One Tail at a Time’s Pet Mutual Aid’s directory of services.
If you are considering surrendering your pet due to behavioral issues, please contact us at 773-293-6103 to discuss behavioral recommendations or consider contacting Anti-Cruelty Society’s Behavior Helpline.
Sick or Injured Stray Cats
If the cat is experiencing illness or an injury and needs immediate intake and you are a Chicago resident, we recommend that you surrender to Chicago Animal Care and Control at 2741 S. Western any day between 3:00-6:30. If you do surrender to CACC and want us to consider transferring your cat, you are welcome to fill out our Consider at CACC form. While CACC does not intake healthy outdoor cats, they will intake sick and injured outdoor cats.
Kittens
If you have found kittens, and they appear to be under five weeks (this guide can help you determine that), their best chance of survival is with their mother. Leave them onsite with their mother. If they appear to be alone, the mother is likely looking for food and return. We recommend not seeking shelter intake unless she has been gone for an extended period of time.
Healthy, Friendly Stray Cats
We cannot intake stray cats unless the finder has exhausted all avenues for finding an owner since friendly stray cats are often a neighbor’s indoor/outdoor or outdoor cat. Here are the steps that need to happen before shelter admission is the best option for the cat:
- Put physical flyers on the block where you found the cat and the surrounding area.
- If this is a cat that seems to come and go from your yard rather than one you are holding in your home, place a loose paper collar around the cat’s neck with your phone number or email address asking any owner to contact you.
- Have the cat scanned for a microchip. If the cat is friendly and you can pick it up and put it in a carrier, any veterinarian’s office will scan the cat for a microchip for free. All animal shelters and some police stations will also scan for a microchip. Chicago Animal Care and Control has a free microchip station that is accessible to the public 24 hours per day at 2741 S. Western Ave. We are always happy to help you research a microchip – email info@hhforcats.org if you scan a cat for a chip and want our help using the chip number to identify an owner.
- Post to Facebook groups for Lost Pets on Facebook (Chicago Northside Lost and Found Pets, Lost & Found Cats & Dogs on the South/Southwest Side of Chicago, Illinois Lost & Found Pets, Chicago Lost and Found Pets) and your local neighborhood group on Facebook. Similar posts should be made on Nextdoor.
Once you have done these steps, if you are unable to identify an owner, seeking shelter admission would be the next step. Our Stray intake form can be found here.
Possibly Feral Cats
We recommend getting any outdoor cats you are seeing TNR appointments at Anti-Cruelty, PAWS Chicago, or Tree House, depending on your location.
Here are the trapping guidelines – this will give you a sense of next steps.
Here are the places that have traps to loan out to the public. We also have traps we loan if you are located near our adoption center located at 2914 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL.
Here is a list of the spay/neuter clinics in the area.
Here is info about a monthly workshop that covers Trapping 101. It will give you a great sense of how to proceed and a chance to ask questions.
Surrendering Your Pet
Harmony House for Cats is committed to the animals we have adopted into our community. If you adopted your cat from Harmony House for Cats and need to return them, please contact us at 773-293-6103 to arrange their return.
If this is a cat not adopted from Harmony House for Cats and you have exhausted all avenues to rehome the cat yourself, please fill out our Owner Surrender Form.
All other intake requests must be submitted using the appropriate form on this page.