Today we’d like to introduce you to Ainat Margalit.
Ainat, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We were founded in 2009 when a University of Chicago employee started feeding cats in a Hyde Park alley and a friend started chronicling her efforts online. The goal was to fundraise in order to get the cats spayed and vaccinated and for their continued care. Very quickly however, community members began contacting them about stray cats found all over Hyde Park and it became clear that a high functioning cat rescue was necessary in the area.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
At the very first, because the initial plan was not to set up a cat rescue there were no protocols in place to place cats in homes, get cats medically ready for adoption, or help with strays, etc. Once we had those in place things went more smoothly. Because we are essentially, the only full service cat rescue in this area of the city, it has been hard at times to deal with sheer numbers of homeless cats on the South Side, especially because we are all volunteer and have no central facility were someone can simply “drop off a cat.” For this reason, we have been focused on empowering community members to help the cat they find. We provide support in order to get the cat medically ready for adoption and then we screen adopters so many of the cats we adopt out find homes directly from the homes of the person that originally found the cat! We have a small foster network and a long waiting list for those foster homes so we simply cannot take in every cat someone calls about.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Hyde Park Cats – what should we know?
We are an all-volunteer, foster based cat rescue. All of our available cats are housed in private homes. We specialize in helping people who have found cats help the cats themselves. We do this by providing info about how to get the cat medically ready which we usually pay for and then screening adopters to find a permanent home for the cat.
Our emphasis is quality adoptions over quantity. Our purpose is not to grow into a larger shelter but to help people on the South Side who have found a cat or have a cat they need to re-home.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Our loyal volunteers are our success. There is a core group of volunteers but also many community members two help boost our success.
We have great working relationships with PAWS Chicago, Treehouse Humane Society and also our local animal clinic, Hyde Park Animal Clinic and local pet store, Sprocket and Stone. Treehouse and PAWS have helped us get many cats spayed/vaccinated and microchipped. Hyde Park Animal Clinic has taken on our more complicated medical cases. Sprocket and Stone has a foster cat in the shop.
Pricing:
- Our adoption fee is $95 and includes spay/neuter, relevant vaccinations, FIV/FELV testing, anti-parasite treatment and microchip.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://hydeparkcats.org/
- Email: hydeparkcatsadoptions@gmail.com
- Instagram: hydeparkcats
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HydeParkCats/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HydeParkCats
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
