About Us
Our favorite pic - mama cat and kitten
We're Kittenville, a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal welfare organization based in the western suburbs of Chicago, IL. We specialize in saving homeless mama cats and their kittens (with the occasional litter of motherless kittens). We take care of these felines until they are healthy enough to be adopted into the perfect loving home and share their journey through kittenhood through nightly livestreams.
Our Mission
Kittenville exists to create a safe and welcoming environment for abandoned and neglected cats by caring for them in foster homes before they are adopted. We are dedicated to transforming feline animal welfare by setting higher standards in the way cats are treated through science-based methodology and technology. We strive to end the overpopulation of homeless cats through compassionate solutions and practices, advocacy, and education.
We accomplish our mission in the following ways:
- Foster Care - we take in cats and kittens from crowded shelters and care for them in volunteer foster homes until they are adopted. We tend to our fosters cats' medical needs including attending to pregnant mama cats while giving birth, giving vaccinations and medication, and spay/neuters so that when our felines are ready to go home they are healthy.
- Animal Rescue Evangelism and Education - we Facebook livestream our current foster cats every weeknight. We talk about the ups and downs of fostering and show that people only need a spare room to save lives. We use technology to tell the story of homeless cats and kittens and bring attention to their plight.
- Overpopulation Control - we spay and neuter all pets before adoption so that they do not contribute to cat overpopulation issues. We evangelize the benefits of spay/neuter programs and work extensively with Spay Illinois to promote low-cost spay and neuter services.
- Veterinary Best Practices - we participate in the animal welfare community by actively seeking the latest information in feline veterinary care. We follow the latest science-based standards for shelter medicine. We participate in the feline welfare community by participating in continuing education, sharing information, and connecting other volunteer fosters to available resources.
Our History
Our President and Director, Susan O. started cat fostering in 2012. She found The Critter Room on Facebook and was inspired to share her own foster kitten adventures with the world through her own live videos of scampy kittens. Kittenville was born to showcase her foster cats.
Soon after she started fostering, she found her niche with the most overlooked cats: pregnant cats, moms with babies, and orphaned kittens. Neonatal kittens are one of the most at-risk pet populations and most animal shelters are not able to raise them through kittenhood to an adoptable condition.
Susan took on tough challenging cases and has had much success in this time volunteering as a foster parent for A.R.F.-Animal Rescue Foundation with more than 300 adoptions, and then Starfish Animal Rescue in Plainfield, IL.
Kittenville ended 2021 with more than 442 lives saved and a new vision: become an independent non-profit organization to continue to bring attention to the plight of orphan neonatal kittens and their mamas by providing transformative care, evangelism, and education. We had our 500th adoption in October 2022, and we are looking forward to another 500.
We are excited for the future including receiving our official non-profit designation (along with the doors which it opens), upcoming educational apprenticeships through Maddie's Fund, and of course, more mamas and kittens to rescue.
The Hawaiian Connection
You'll hear that our mama cats all have unusual names - Kamaya, Lanakila, Makanui, Kala, and more. We named our first mama cat Ali'i (which means chiefess in Hawaiian) and ever since we've given all our mama cats Hawaiian names. We love Hawaii - the warm weather, the friendly people, and more - and we want to share that wonderful feeling to our foster work.
Our passion for all things Hawaiian extends past the mainland too! Hawaii has a large number of community cats that need caring for. We are a proud sponsor of the "Kittenville Ohana" kitty house through the Lanai Cat Sanctuary to provide shelter for the community cats of Lanai. We look forward to many inspection trips!
The island feeling continues through to our Kittenville Creations sister shop which sells tropical themed, cat themed, and tropical cat themed bath products and cat toys. Proceeds benefit the cats of Kittenville. Follow them on Facebook.
Our Staff
Susan O.
Susan O. is the founder, president, and Director of Kittenville. She's been a cat and kitten foster since 2012 and contributes thought leadership to the animal welfare community.
Darcie H.
Darcie is Kittenville's treasurer and cat health expert. Darcie has been volunteering in the animal welfare industry for more than 10 years, focusing on ensuring the health of even the tiniest and most vulnerable kittens.
Susan V.
Susan V. is Kittenville's secretary and marketing extraordinaire. She loves fostering bottle-fed kittens and taking all the cute pictures she can. She brings more than 20 years of marketing technology experience to her work at Kittenville.