When you adopt from a no-kill shelter, you save two lives. The animal you adopt and the one that replaces them.


General Membership Meeting

March 26th, 2024 7:00pm

Historical Society

6727 174th St.

Tinley Park, IL 60477

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

 

Upcoming General Membership Meetings

Last Tuesday of February, March, April, September and November

Tinley Park Historical Society

6727 174th St

Tinley Park, IL 60477


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AVAILABLE CATS

We are currently experiencing issues with our online Petango applications.  You can complete the application below and email to adoptions@pawstinleypark.org.  Please make sure to list the cat you are applying for.  Please be patient as our applications are taking longer to process.

PAWS Cat Adoption Questionnaire

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Cats for Senior Laps

 

Senior Cats for Senior Laps is a program for both senior citizens and senior cats with a goal to provide loving companionship for seniors looking to share their homes with a friendly, gentle animal, and to find permanent homes for wonderful, overlooked cats in need. Our program places senior cats who are 9 years or older with senior citizens who are 65+ years older. We waive the adoption fees for senior adopters who participate in this program.

We understand our kittens are so cute and entertaining, how can anyone not want to take them all home!? We definitely do. But we also see firsthand what happens when our kittens are grown and suddenly lose the only home they have ever known. We also see how these older cats lose their homes due to moving, babies, divorce, loss of job/home, but more often than not, due to the loss of their owner, and end up in a metal cage, in a crowded, noisy shelter. This is where they spend months of confinement only to be overlooked again and again – because everyone passing by wants that oh-so-cute kitten. Senior-aged cats can be hard to place since many families are looking for a pet to last 15 – 20 years and grow with their children.

We know these fabulous, loving animals deserve a second chance. We hope you won’t turn them away either.

Benefits of adopting a senior pet

  • They help improve your mental and physical health – lower blood pressure/stress and reduce depression
  • They provide you with constant companionship
  • They are often calmer companions and are already trained to use the litter box and scratching posts
  • Their personalities have already developed, so you’ll know if they are a good fit for you

Before you Adopt

P.A.W.S. realizes that adopting any pet, as we approach our golden years, is a big decision. We’d like our senior adopters to please consider the below statements and questions before adopting and understand that we’ll be going over these before placing a cat in a senior home.  We will match a cat to your abilities and environment.

  • Your new pet will require vet visits. Do you have transportation?
  • Do you have the financial resources for the lifelong veterinary care your new senior cat will need?
  • Your senior cat may need medication, which should be clearly marked and stored in a separate location from your own.
  • Your senior cat may need to be cared for should you fall ill or be injured. Who will care for your pet if you are unable to?
  • All of our cats must be kept strictly indoors, and that requires litter boxes that need regular cleaning, which means having the ability to bend /stoop over and scoop litter.

Ready to Adopt?

Our experienced volunteers take many things into consideration when deciding about placing any of our cats in their new home. Every situation is different, so please understand our goal is to find the perfect home for our animals.

KITTENS

It is our policy that kittens under 6 months go in pairs when another young cat is not in the home.  We have done our research and strive to provide the best possible homes for our animals.  In turn we will provide out adopters with the newest studies and information.  Below is a what we have found on why we feel it is in the best interest of our kittens.

Single Kitten Syndrome

Most people have not heard of Single Kitten Syndrome but as we learn more about cats and their behaviors, we can understand how to make their lives more fulfilling and in turn our lives better.

Single Kitten Syndrome is actually a collection of unwanted behaviors that may never go away as the kitten ages.  A single kitten will become bored and seek attention with behaviors that may include, destructiveness, picky eating, being rambunctious at night, not using the litter box, biting, excessive energy and scratching.  I’m sure we’ve all seen the videos of cats attacking ankles or hands or knocking things off tables, these are some indications the cat is unhappy.  You may think cats are solitary animals but the are incredibly social and neither you or another pet (dog, gerbil, etc) can replace the companionship of another cat.

You might ask why a cat needs another cat when dogs don’t.  All you need to do is think about what you do with a dog verses a cat.  With a dog they are let outside to use the bathroom, you take them on walks and visit dog parks.  Here they will interact with other humans and dogs.  It is not safe to let cats outside, so they do not get this interaction.  Even when dogs are taken to the vet they are on a leash, cats are put in a carrier where they don’t get the same interaction and socialization.  Dogs will even get attention when company come to your house.  (Again, it is not safe for cats to be let outside so this is not a good alternative.)

The recommendation is when kitten is under 6 months, they should be adopted with a litter mate another kitten close to their age.  This may deter people from adopting at all but know that 2 kittens are easier than 1 and they do not cost much more. Two kittens will teach each other to use the litter box, they focus their aggression on play with each other and they are much more entertaining.  Over the years we have seen many cats returned to us as young adults with behavior problems only to find out they were adopted out as single kittens.

P.A.W.S. does not place a single kitten under the age of six months into a home without an appropriate cat/kitten playmate. This is not because we want to adopt more kittens, it’s about the future of our kittens, their habits and their happiness. Many people have been skeptical about adopting two kittens, only to thank us later for sticking to our policy. The rewards are great. We’ve never had anyone tell us they wished they had only adopted one.

If you feel you are not prepared financially, physically and emotionally to provide a loving home to two cats please consider adopting one of our older cats (who are often overlooked).  Many are still playful, loving and have a lot of years left to provide you excellent companionship, but because they are older and have been around other cats, they have already learned proper cat manners.  Remember cats live a great long life of 15 – 20 years.

More information about Single Kitten Syndrome can be found online.

Single Kitten Syndrome – Is it Real and How Do You Treat It? (catvills.com)

Why Two Kittens Are Better Than One — Kitten Lady