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    Touched by an Animal

    4.6 (20 reviews)

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    On our way home...
    Kathy C.

    I came to this cat haven to find a new kitty after I lost my cat of 24 years. Needless to say I was devastated, but also extremely used to a particular cat personality. The dedicated staff there were extremely patient in explaining the personality & behavior of many cats they thought would be a good match for us. We were touched by the care and concern of the staff as well as the animal we adopted ! I LOVED that the cats were living in a normally furnished & decorated home already. Highly recommended to adopt or just go and pet the adorable cats ! Seriously, they (& the cats) appreciate frequent visitors!

    Violet S.

    WONDERFUL shelter! I found my baby Solstice on the street and traced her microchip back to this shelter. I am so happy Sol is in my life now, she is my baby. Touched by an animal also accepted a mother cat and her newborn kittens that appeared on my back door step. I would 10000% recommend considering Touched by an Animal for adopting or even just supporting. Melanee and her staff and volunteers are SO SO sweet! 10000/10!!!

    Pepper, adopted February 2013.
    Lisa C.

    I came across Touched by an Animal/Cats are Purrsons too through Petfinder. We found a posting for one of their cats that we wanted to inquire about adopting. Upon visiting the rescue, we were amazed to see their incredible operation. Imagine an entire house filled with cats. As others have mentioned. it's a no cage shelter that gives cats run of the house...they even have a fully screened in back porch for when it's warmer outside. We were introduced to Pepper and the rescue ladies were able to give us a thorough rundown on her personality and also questioned to make sure our home was the right fit for her. Living with the cats in an open environment is a great way to really know them and I can't say enough how impressed I was with how they run their rescue. Pepper was a little bit skittish at the house but once we took her home with us she transformed into exactly the cat they had described. She's incredibly loving, playful, with just a dash of mischief. TBA has been working in Chicago for a long time. I highly recommend them for adoption services...they surely have just the right kitty to send you home with. They are run by a small number of volunteers so please consider donating to them as well!

    Rhen-Elyse shortly after coming home :)
    Caroline W.

    Last January my fiance and I adopted our little angel Rhen-Elyse (who they called Annie) from Touched by an Animal. When we first walked in we were surrounded by happy cats running free and playing--unlike many other places where I walked into crying kitties in cages. These people take such amazing care of the cats and are completely dedicated to finding them all forever homes. I said I was experienced with animals and that I am home often because I am an online student so they took me upstairs to see our little Rhen who was very very shy and stayed hidden from the other cats. They said she was full of love but needed somewhere with less commotion where she could get a lot of attention from her owners. We didn't get to interact with her much at the shelter because she was hiding, but I trusted the amazing women who work there and we took her home. She came out of her shell quickly after coming home and is a happy, healthy, cuddly little girl. It is very impressive to me they way they pair people with animals based on what both the person/family want and can provide, and what the kitty will need.

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    Ask the Community - Touched by an Animal

    Review Highlights - Touched by an Animal

    It was my first time adopting an animal, and Melanee (the amazing adoption counselor) walked me through every step thoroughly.

    Mentioned in 3 reviews

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    Red Door Animal Shelter

    Red Door Animal Shelter

    4.5
    (71 reviews)

    My experience here was as a volunteer. Every time I came in to help, I was made to do common room…read more(the main rabbit and cat room). It was always filthy, many of the fleeces were covered in so much fur that I was worried about the rabbits getting a blockage, water bowls were often fully empty or had literal soap suds in them. The volunteer coordinator suggests you "spot clean" the litter boxes, though often they are so saturated that the pellets they use as litter are disintegrated. It put a bad taste in my mouth that staff was not following the basic "contact time" instructions on the bottles of Rescue when they claimed they wanted to kill bacteria. They kept a sick cat with giardia in a cage first thing when you walked in. He had a sign that said not to touch him, but not what he had. I saw senior staff repeatedly handle iso animals with no gloves. I saw them put iso laundry right into a pile with the other laundry more than once. I found a wet pile of laundry with feces (or litter, according to the literal president -- not sure that's better) stuck to it sitting on top of the dryer. I was written up for making staff "feel bad" about not knowing how to disinfect stuff when they claim to have vet tech experience, and for not being nice enough about the "litter" on the wet pile of laundry. I saw other volunteers regularly mix in BnB laundry with shelter laundry -- with what I would consider a homeopathic amount of bleach. They were not chastised for doing laundry incorrectly. In fact, they were allowed to train me on laundry. I tried to report a possible historical ringworm infection to the staff just so they knew to be mindful to check themselves and animals for sores, but instead got met with bizarre legalistic stuff about how I might as well be suggesting that I could have gotten it from "invisible space aliens" (that's from the president directly). Look at these photos and tell me if you think it's insane to think someone could catch a fungal infection here. I was then banned -- again, the stated, written reason being that I disagree with their veterinary practices and they've been doing this for 26 years blah blah blah. Ok. I'm really worried about how much else has been swept under the rug in 26 years, then. The president was so cruel to me when banning me that I immediately went to urgent care for medical clearance. The NP was grossed out and suspicious when I told him I got yelled at for trying to let them know about a possible exposure. Staff here does nothing but bully people if they trust you enough to let their true colors show. I have personally heard them do it about sexual orientation, weight, and ethnicity -- they even had rabbits with antisemitic names they got from Seinfeld (they are not Jewish themselves). They stood silently by while a senior volunteer made fun of my sexual orientation the first time I met her, even. They do not have a pride flag hanging anywhere. I wish they would change that, because maybe there would be fewer homophobic and transphobic comments. Though everyone here reflexively "punches down" so much due to their low self esteem that it seems they can't even keep track of what they say. Just know that if you have a certain skin tone, everyone here older than 40 with a sensible haircut has an opinion about your hair being "unprofessional" if you do anything but make it as straight as possible. I grew up in a hoarded house, and I have to be honest. That's what this shelter feels like and part of why I wanted to help. They cannot keep up with the animals at all, especially not while running HareBnB. Over the holidays, for maybe 3 full cumulative weeks of the year, volunteers handle everything in the shelter except paperwork and isos. No one is properly trained -- in fact, I trained several people after doing common room only ONE time. But these photos were taken when BnB wasn't busy. This is what their performance looked like when they had one more staff member than they do currently and very few BnB guests. And I heard the president and VP talk about buying more BnB space as a potential for the future! I don't have a rabbit currently, but if I did, I would not trust BnB. I am telling everyone I know with rabbits not to board at BnB. For a while, they were the only game in town, but now you can do better. I had already stopped finding joy in volunteering, because as soon as I would come in, the volunteer coordinator would sit at a computer and pretend to look at spreadsheets. That would devolve into hours of me hearing her talking and laughing while I did what would've been her assigned work. No thanks. As you can see, there's clearly enough to be done that we both needed to be working at the same time. I would love to see them change ownership and find a crew really dedicated to the mission instead of dedicated to doing a bit less than the bare minimum. It seems like this shelter used to be good, but maybe it was just the quirkiness of a bunny shelter.

    I take my bunny here for nail clipping. Recently I learned that there is a spa package. I tried it…read moreand bunny seemed pleased ;) I also enjoyed the bunny yoga, made it for the first time. Great for yoga beginners.

    Paws And Claws

    Paws And Claws

    4.3
    (13 reviews)

    I volunteered here briefly, and having seen the behind-the-scenes side of things, I can attest that…read morethey are extremely conscientious about the health and safety of all the cats and the cleanliness of the shelter. It is just as unfailingly neat and tidy in back as in the public-facing parts. And their leaders are very careful never to put any of the cats in harm's way. At this shelter, like other good shelters in the area, they make a concerted effort to match the cats with caring humans who are the best fit for each particular cat. But it's just inevitable that a small number of adopters will not work out. That's not a reflection on the shelter. I never heard shelter management badmouth adopters who returned cats, even if some of them may have deserved it. When you adopt a shelter pet, you're making a commitment. It's supposed to be about doing right by the animal.

    I have been volunteering for more than a year now, and it is the warmest, most loving and involved…read morecommunity of people, and one of the greatest volunteer experiences of my life! First of all, the staff is absolutely amazing. Completely dedicated to the health and well being of every cats that comes through the door, cheering on milestones, assessing and discussing how best to treat each cat. There are lots of ways to get involved- there is an AM and PM cleaning crew, which might not sound like fun- but I love getting the room clean, the cats fed, and creating a beautiful space for them with toys and blankets. And of course the reward- you clean, but then you get to play with cats! There's lots of other ways to help, too- from stuffing envelopes to writing profiles to taking cat photos to fostering- if you love cats, love a caring staff and meeting/working with wonderful volunteers- this is your place. I fostered one cat *successful adoption soon after!* and just went through my first adoption, which was easy and thorough and just a pleasure. The protocol was outstanding, and my new cat has successfully integrated with my old girl. It is a place filled with goodness, and a glorious addition to Evanston!

    Touched by an Animal - animalshelters - Updated August 2026

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