Imagine a cat help desk. You might picture floofy kitties sitting patiently behind a desk (or on top of it), ready to lend a paw. While that image might just be a dream for now, this particular help desk is very real — and it’s staffed by humans. Parked outside Dallas Animal Services (DAS), one of the largest municipal shelters in the country, the cat help desk has a full-time person dedicated to saving cats’ lives.
That person is there for people who show up to the shelter worried, overwhelmed, or just unsure what to do next about a cat or kitten. Some arrive with tiny kittens in a box or carrier, assuming the shelter is the only option for them. Others have neighborhood cats in their yard and need help caring for them — or they want help reducing nuisance behaviors. At the cat help desk, those conversations slow down long enough to talk through what’s really going on and what options are on the table.
On average, DAS sees around 700 cats and kittens come through its doors every single month. That’s why the SPCA of Texas and Best Friends Animal Society came together to help.
“I realized the biggest impact we could make was keeping cats from entering the shelter in the first place,” says Sarah Sheek, SPCA of Texas director. “I remember telling friends at dinner that I wished we could just sit outside the DAS front door — and then I thought, why not?”…