Welcome!

Cats Cradle Toronto was started in 2020 by a mother-daughter-daughter trio who saw a space within the existing animal rescue community for a kitten-specific rescue in the east end of the city with top-notch fostering support, engaging purr-fect matching efforts (kitten Tinder anyone?) and conscientious adoption facilitation.

While Cats Cradle started in 2020, we have been welcoming animals in need into our lives for much longer. People found us. They knew we were suckers for the kittens. And we’ve been foster successes, and a few times a foster fail... the first being a sweet girl who took 6 months to mend from an accident and stayed for ten years. Now we each have our own foster fail from Cats Cradle joining our family lineup. Only one each though! We promise!

We have learned so much already in our first years of formal kitten rescuing, and we are always eager to learn more and work with everyone in the Toronto animal rescue community. We are dedicated to providing the BEST care possible to kittens who come our way. We do everything we can to train, support and honour our fostering partners so they are able to raise kittens, preparing them to be their BEST little selves in their new homes. We do our BEST to prepare our adoptive homes to make a life-long commitment to our kittens. And we are committed to telling our kittens’ stories to the BEST of our ability so they are able to go into their new homes as quickly as possible. 

We also know that working with kittens is expensive and exhausting (physically and emotionally). Kittens often need kitten formula and always need specialized food. They need specific kitty litter, they need vet care. And they need these things at all hours, day and night. Kinda like human babies. All the money, all the time. So we lean on our community and supporters for help. Donations keep us going, and we are very thankful for all the support we have received so far.

Ok, one story before you go...

One of our founders (Heather, the mother in the founding trio) first foster kitten came about by word of mouth, as is often the case. An old friend from high school’s had a barn cat go missing, with a litter of tiny kittens left behind. She found them too late and was heartbroken. But at the very bottom of the nest, was one alive and making a lot of noise. She brought that baby into the house and it yelled all night. By morning the friend was pleading for help.  Heather went and picked up the kitten, who turned out to be around three weeks old (and also had a lovely tea visit with her old friend). Baby Boo took to the bottle like a champ and spent the next few weeks travelling around with Heather hidden in scarves around her neck. No one knew Baby Boo was there...except the people who caught them warming bottles in the sink of public bathrooms and bottle feeding in corners of public buildings. Baby Boo went on to be adopted by friends of friends, as is also often the case.