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- Hi, I'm Kristen Bell and this is my daughter Lola.

She is a one of a kind breed.

She's an American shelter dog.

I've adopted all of my pets and every single one has become a loving member of my family.

That's why I'm excited to share stories that celebrate shelter pets and that special bond we have with animals.

Everybody say meow.

1, 2, 3.

In this episode of Shelter Me, we visit a cafe that is also a cat adoption center.

Free range kitties.

This cafe has partnered with a local animal shelter to help showcase cats and boost adoptions.

We're getting cats adopted quickly, going to the shelter, getting more cats out.

We see a story about a dog that finds a new life after being given up at a shelter.

- Gimme a smile - And we follow Patrick McDonald, the creator of the Mutts Comic Strip, as he visits one of the nation's largest animal shelters to find inspiring stories.

- Are you guys adopting today?

- We are.

Yeah, we are.

You know, they clearly saw this little guy on the - street all by himself.

- The unconditional love was just all around this place.

Shelter Me.

- Give me that one second chance I need.

Ohh, shelter me - And you will have all my love and loyalty.

- Cat Town Cafe is first and foremost, it's an adoption center.

We started as a rescue and we're the first cat cafe in the United States.

The only one run by a nonprofit.

It's a real cafe.

The goal is that people will come in and feel relaxed and just get to spend an hour drinking their coffee, eating their food, and getting to know our cats.

I am Ann Dunn.

I'm the founder of Cat Town and the co-founder of the Cat Town Cafe.

It's our way of showcasing cats that we're getting from the shelter.

It's a great way for them to get to relax, to be themselves and for adopters to meet them.

- Cat Town is a cafe where you can play with cats and get to know them and maybe adopt one.

We're thinking about maybe adopting a cat today.

We'll, we'll see.

We're gonna play with a few more first.

- So the Cat Town Cafe is a cage-free adoption space that you can come in, grab a cup of coffee, and then come and meet our adoptable cats.

You walk in the doors and you're surrounded by really rad art, really cool murals.

And not to mention cats.

- Cat Town Cafe just celebrated its one year anniversary last week.

So we've been open for a year.

We've had over 300 adoptions, which is almost twice the number of adoptions we had in the previous year.

So it's been an amazing year.

Yeah, we're taking her home today.

- She's just really cute.

- We got Violet from Oakland Animal Services, the city shelter.

I mean, she was a little bit shy when she first arrived, so it's been fun to watch her get more confident.

- Yeah, Violet just seems so calm.

- Well, I mean, part of what you're seeing too, is being in the space.

The cats play so much, they get so much attention.

So part of it is she's tired.

- I know.

Perfect.

Yeah, because she was very energetic when we came in.

Right, right.

So there's a lot more to this picture than what you're seeing right now.

I mean, the truth is this is very intentional and it's part of a path that we've gone down and we started as a rescue focusing on the cats that were hardest to adopt.

Getting those cats into our foster home and also wanting to have a place where people could come to meet cats, knowing that that's an integral part of having a successful adoption program.

1, 2, 3.

Cats.

Cats.

Cats.

This has been an amazing week of adoption, so it means we're gonna Oakland Animal Services and getting a bunch more cats and that's the joy of what we do here is, you know, we're getting cats adopted quickly, going to the shelter, getting more cats out.

Cat Town Cafe is in Uptown, which is a really up and coming neighborhood.

So it's just been a really lucky break to be in such a great part of the city.

So one of my favorite things about driving around Oakland is just on this street, there are three Cat Town cats.

When I am looking at a map of Oakland, I just see how much Cat Town is part of this community and it's such an incredible feeling.

- We've had over 300 adoptions in our first year, just through the cafe alone, not including the foster program.

So we've become definitely the place to go to get a cat in Oakland and in the Bay Area, which has been amazing.

- You know, of course the, our work isn't done until the cats are adopted, but this is my favorite part of Cat Town, is having ability to go in with multiple carriers, identifying the cats who most need our help and being able to get them out and know that once they're in our care, that we can really guarantee that they're gonna find great homes.

- I am Rebecca Katz.

I'm the director of Oakland Animal Services.

Our work here is challenging because we have a huge intake for our population.

As far as the Bay Area goes.

Municipal shelters are generally open admission shelters.

That means we take in every animal that comes through our doors or that our officers pick up regardless of age, species, condition, behavior.

Given that we have to take everything in, we can't always get everything out, but we, we do try to get as many out as we can because saving lives is the highest priority for us.

We take in over 6,000 animals a year, that's about 20 animals a day and we adopt out on a really good day, five or six.

So we rely heavily on our partnerships like Cat Town and we rely heavily on transfers and other opportunities to get animals out of here.

- A lot of times people will talk about our work as if we're rescuing from the shelter, and I always like to clarify that we're working in partnership with the shelter, that we're doing this with them and we couldn't do it without their support.

I mean, the ways that they support us, they do spay neuter for the cats before they leave.

They, they vaccinate, they microchip and the really, the biggest thing they do is they give us the time that we need.

So where a lot of municipal shelters would say, you know, time's up and, and they will say, if we have the space and you have an end game, we're gonna let you take those cats.

So sometimes it takes longer than we hope, but we couldn't do it without their support.

- I've identified six cats that we're gonna pull today.

Three are very outgoing, confident cats that are gonna go straight to the Cat Cafe.

Great.

Hey guys.

Hey, how's it going?

- Good here to get some cats.

- Great.

I was just going over the list with Rebecca.

- Okay.

- We're gonna pull three very confident cats who can go straight to the cafe.

And then I've got a few others that definitely need to go to foster.

We've, we've got a medical case, so, - Okay, perfect.

We're all set.

Awesome.

So I'm gonna go back to my office, but if you need me, come get me.

Okay.

Thank you for taking them.

- Thank you.

Thanks Rebecca.

See you later.

- I think cats that are shy do much better with Cat Town than they do here.

You know, they'll stay at the back of the cage in the shelter and aren't appealing to somebody coming through or walking through.

Whereas at the Cat Town they could be lying in a piece of furniture.

You see how they'd be in the home.

It looks much more like a home environment and I think people have found that appealing.

So it's just so many opportunities for them to be seen where they might not be seen here or might not catch somebody's eye here.

- So in this ward we have two cats.

I think they'll be great candidates for the cafe.

There's Electra.

Yeah.

Super sweet, super confident, very outgoing.

And then over here we have Coral.

She's just under a year.

Right.

I think she would love it at the cafe and I think people will love seeing her.

Yeah, no, they both seem perfect.

- When we're at the shelter and we're making decisions about which cats to help, we also wanna look at who's a cat, that there isn't an alternative, there isn't a way out.

One guy that I mean just really reached out to me is Levi.

I mean he's kind of a perfect example of what we do.

- He's been here for about a month.

He was pretty shut down at first, pretty shy, couldn't quite figure out who he was.

He was pretty much in the corner and hissing - Actually.

Oh, hissing.

- Yeah.

Oh my goodness.

He's so gentle.

because he started out shy here.

I'm not sure how he's gonna do once we get there.

Right.

He may regress a little bit, but I think after a couple of days adjustment, I think it's worth trying him.

- So yeah, he seems perfect.

Let's get him in a carrier and get him outta here.

- Okay buddy, today's your lucky day buddy.

You wanna go to the Cat Cafe?

Oh my goodness.

It's okay.

You just hold the back end for me.

- Yeah, there you go.

I think the, the greatest strength of our partnership with Oakland Animal Services is we are the resource for them for cats that they're not able to place.

So cats that aren't gonna do well in that environment, cats that they don't have the resources to help.

If you know cats that come in with broken legs or some kind of serious medical condition, they know that we're gonna help those cats.

You know, we can see it in the actual numbers that when Cat Town started, the euthanasia rate at the Oakland shelter was 42% and that's 2011 and it's 7% now because we're really focusing on the hardest to place cats.

The other piece is through the, the cafe has so increased our capacity so that we're able to pull so many cats every week.

And that just means that we're creating space at the shelter for new cats that are coming in and we're, we're making sure that the cats who are there are getting more attention from volunteers.

They're more likely to be healthy, they're more likely to get adopted.

- Welcome to the Cat Zone.

It's been really interesting seeing people's reaction when we tell them that we pull cats from OAS.

And what we've seen is that if we have a, a ratio of about 65 or 70% like confident outgoing cats and then 25, 35% of the shy guys that those shy cats in seeing the interactions with the confident cats come out a lot more and just sort of get out of their shell and realize that this is a safe place.

- What we do when cats first come in is give them an opportunity to have some privacy.

Just be able to take in the smells and watch the other cats before they actually interact with them.

So she'll have a night just to sit and watch and see what's going on and then when she's ready tomorrow she'll come out.

Here we go.

One cat that we pulled is a 10-year-old.

He's got a mouthful of rotten teeth.

So, you know, as soon as we can get a vet appointment for him, we're gonna get in and get him the dental work and then he's gonna go to a foster home.

He's obviously more relaxed here, but he needs that medical attention to feel better.

- So the Cat Town Cafe operates under the umbrella of being a nonprofit.

So we basically just treat the cafe as like a permanent fundraiser for Cat Town.

So all coffee sales, food, merchandise, all of that stuff goes towards helping the cat rescue.

So we're just trying to come up with some like, fun ways to use the space outside of just being a place where you come and go get coffee and come into the Cat Zone.

So we've started doing Cat Zone movie nights where we'll screen cat-centric movies in this room full of cats.

We do Cat Zone yoga.

We held our first cat drawing class this past week and it's, just trying to come up with fun, interesting things to do in a room full of cats.

- Super stuff.

So this is Lexi, her first morning in the Cat Zone after coming from Oakland Animal Services last night.

When we got here, we could see she'd already eaten her breakfast, she'd used her litter box.

She just seemed really relaxed.

And so that's what we wanna see before the cats come into the Cat Zone is that they're ready.

Got to do it.

Good girl.

And then the goal is for her to come out on her own and then as soon as she came out, just seeing her find her place.

So this is what this is all about.

Good morning Coral.

How'd it go last night?

Come on out.

There we go.

So as, as we expected, Coral did beautifully.

I mean she just seemed, when she was at the shelter, she seemed really confident.

So we assumed that she would be able to be confident here.

What are you thinking Levi?

Are you ready for this?

You wanna sleep a little bit more?

If he is not doing well here we have a space next door, which is really quiet.

It's a nice place for the cats to really relax and, and and adjust.

Our goal is for the cats to feel in control.

So we don't want to yank him out and force him beyond his comfort level.

So we're gonna leave the door open and just see what he chooses to do and if he's not ready then we'll, find the right place for him.

We're not tossing cats in a room and hoping for the best.

I mean, we're really doing a thoughtful process of selecting the cats, wanting to make sure the cats aren't going to be stressed here.

Giving them time to settle in, having multiple places for them to go and feel safe.

Awesome.

- All right, Levi.

Didn't even phase him.

Still asleep.

So when we announced we wanted to do the cafe, we were just sort of inundated with people who wanted to help.

It went from a small group of like 12, 10 or 12 core people of Cat Town and a network of foster homes to like, I think now we're over 200 people who volunteer for Cat Town.

And then our staff is amazing as well.

They're here every morning doing really hard work and doing really deep cleaning.

- Everybody saying "meow".

1, 2, 3, meow!

Because we're really popular, we encourage people to make reservations to make sure that they can get in when they get here.

And we let people in on the hour.

We let about 14 people in per hour so that we don't overtax the cats.

And people come in, they, you know, they get whatever they want to get from the cafe and then they have an hour to come in and spend time with the cats.

And we always have volunteers here to greet people, to help them get to know who is in the space.

- There's Birdie.

She's adorable.

She's lovely.

Yeah.

She came from Oakland Animal Services like most of the cats from Cat Town.

And she had an injured leg that had to be amputated and she's just doing fine.

She doesn't care.

You know, she gets around, she hops around, jumps, plays and has a lot of fans.

Here she is your quintessential, fluffy, cute kitten.

- I think it's a wonderful thing that what Cat Town is doing is giving these cats that normally maybe wouldn't get adopted and maybe sadly would be put to sleep, instead, are given a chance to meet, to meet people and to meet other cats.

And I think that's just a wonderful thing.

- So one of the main parts of our mission is supporting shy and under socialized cats.

We want those cats to have the same visibility as the other cats.

And so working with cat behaviorists to kind of figure out how the cats are gonna feel safest, we've created a small room with a bunch of cubby holes so that they're not all together.

We want them to have privacy and we want the potential adopters to be able to see them where they feel safest.

Please come on here, come on.

- Well, we decided to come down to Cat Town 'cause we were looking at various shelters.

Once we got here, we started talking with the adoption counselors and they really filled us in on the story that some of these cats were maybe more difficult to adopt and that's how they ended up here.

So that was, you know, we wanted to help out as much as we could and find a, find a nice cat.

- When we pulled Clyde from the shelter, everybody was afraid to even touch him to get him into a carrier.

We spent a week with him in, in our transition space, just touching him, getting him comfortable with that before bringing him in here.

And then we let the process happen.

- Although he's pretty timid right now, I think that there's gonna be a major shift in his personality once he gets around our other cat and they start to build that bond and really become friends.

- Good job baby.

Good job.

And the other nice thing is that we find people who know shy cats.

And so the people who adopted Clyde have already done this with another cat and so he's going home with a companion.

It just seems like a perfect fit.

- Thank you.

Well I think it's, you know, how the cat makes us feel is, you know, when we get to take him home and play with him, it feels less like we're doing something for him and more like he's doing something for us.

I think anytime you get an animal, you, you know, benefit or you know, there's some sort of rewarding experience that you have as you build a relationship.

So - We're always focusing on kind of who's the underdog or the under cat, if you will, who really needs our help.

- Free range kitties.

It is nice to be able to just go up and pet a cat and get to know them more personally, I guess, than if they had just been in a cage.

You have to stick your finger through and pet them.

So yeah.

- So another big piece that I do for Cat Town is a lot of the social media of the cafe page.

Our social media has just like blown up over the last year.

We've had people from all over the world find out about us through the internet.

I mean, today we had people from Sacramento who who follow us on Facebook and Instagram, saw Clarissa and Cody, and came in.

When that happens, it's really, really awesome.

- So these two are from Oakland Animal Services, the municipal shelter at Oakland.

They are shyer cats.

So they just weren't really doing very well in the cages there, which is why we decided to bring - 'em here.

Every summer the shelter fills up with kittens.

It's a huge problem.

The overpopulation.

And the, you know, kind of the ideal kitten to easily adopt is a two month old kitten who's well socialized, healthy.

Those cats are gonna be fine.

What I didn't realize is there's a, a group of kittens that are three, four months old who haven't been socialized.

The shelter environment is terrifying for them.

So we created what we call the Forgotten Kitten Project.

And it's a focus just on those cats, the cats that are older, that are more challenging to socialize.

And one of the things that we realized is we can bring those kittens into the Cat Cafe, and there's so much more a cat can learn from another cat than we can ever do for them.

And so we call the Cat Cafe now like a bootcamp for these under socialized kittens.

It's just magic how quickly they get adopted.

- As you can see, Clarissa's still a little shyer.

So once you get these guys home, if you decide you wanna adopt 'em, she's gonna just thrive and she'll start getting more and more confident every day.

Do you wanna get them?

- Yes definitely.

We're getting both of them.

Alright, 1, 2, 3, cats.

- One of the things that we really focus on as a rescue is matchmaking.

If you're gonna reach out and you want to adopt a cat, we wanna help you do that, but we also wanna help you find the right cat.

So we really start with, and as I say, as a rescue, operating from a place of trust.

And once you earn their trust, what you see is, you know, just this incredible companion that's gonna bond intensely with you.

So here's Lexi.

Eight hours into her first day after we opened.

She's conked out.

She has expended her energy.

She is ready to sleep.

She started her day full of energy.

We saw her hour after hour getting visits from kids and people who wanted to play with her.

For me, one of the favorite things about Cat Town Cafe is that cats get to expend their natural energy in a way that they just really can relax here.

She gets to have fun until she gets her permanent home.

So there's no reason that she shouldn't enjoy herself while she's waiting.

I love this.

So this is Levi.

This is the cat that we took from the shelter less than 48 hours ago.

When he first got here, he was pretty freaked out, hiding behind his bed, eyes dilated.

Just clearly pretty unnerved to be here.

So we knew we just needed to give him some time to settle in.

So here he is settling in.

He's eating.

He's obviously enjoying Jenna, petting him.

And he's just ready to move into the adoption center.

And I'm sure he'll get adopted in no time.

Yeah, you're gonna go home, I'm gonna come with the news, you're gonna go home.

Initially there were five of us that were doing this work and now we have over 250 volunteers.

So to have this huge community of people that are as invested in getting these cats into great homes, it's amazing.

So to create an environment for them where people are lining up to spend time with our shelter cats, it's a dream fulfilled Seeing those cats go home, and the stories, I mean the... 'cause we do keep in close contact.

So hearing who these cats become and the way that they're so loved, I mean that's why we do what we do.

That's the gift that we get out of this.

I can't even really describe the joy that I feel.

It's so enormous.

- To the cats.

- I was in the game I was born to play.

Can't say what went wrong.

Or what gave way.

Never thought about giving up.

Or how it would end.

But here I am, starting over again.

It's the darkest down of a brand new day.

And it's hard to see, but I'm finding faith.

Never thought I'd be so lost and alone, and yet, here I am, starting over again.

Follow the river back to the bend.

I'm starting over again.

when I'm looking back I'll be glad I'm home I'll be thankful for every winding road.

Never thought about what I would miss.

And no regret.

Here I am starting over again.

Here I am starting over again.

- Award-winning cartoon artist and author Patrick McDonald has been celebrating the human animal bond for more than 20 years.

As the creator of the Mutts comic strip, Patrick delights readers with the adventures of Earl, Mooch and their neighborhood friends.

Seen daily in more than 700 newspapers, Peanuts creator, Charles Schultz called Mutts, one of the best comic strips of all time.

Patrick has created numerous bestselling children's books, including "Me... Jane", which is about the childhood of naturalist Jane Goodall.

A dedicated advocate for animal and environmental awareness, Patrick blends humor and compassion in his work.

His ongoing Mutts comic series, Shelter Stories, has given a voice to homeless pets everywhere.

Patrick lives and works in New Jersey with his wife Karen and his dog Amali.

- I wanted to be a cartoonist since I was five years old.

I think all kids have a compassion for animals and an empathy.

I always found a joy in reading comics and, and the best comics, Peanuts, obviously.

And also another comic I really loved was a comic strip called Krazy Cat.

Underneath the gags and the humor and the, the fun of the strips, I think both those strips have a really deep spirituality and a kindness that there's a joy and comfort in comics.

And I got that as a, you know, a kid.

And you know, I always felt if I could give some of that joy and comfort back, that's what I really wanted to do.

But I didn't have a dog.

It was a dream of mine.

And you know, it's funny, when I finally got a dog many years later, a Jack Russell named Earl, and that was the inspiration for the comic.

You know, it was a combination of my two loves: my love for the dog and the love for the art of doing comic strips.

Basically, just about every strip that has Earl and Ozzy in it are autobiographical of me and my own dog, Earl.

I was really blessed.

Earl lived to 19 years old, so I knew this dog was going to be the star of the strip.

Trying to see the world through his eyes and trying to capture some of his joy on the paper.

I thought, well you know, it could, it could be fun if he had a cat next door.

And I thought that was gonna be good for about two weeks worth of jokes.

But just like the way cats are, at least all the cats in my life, they kind of come into your life and then stay and take over.

And that was Mooch.

I've been doing Mutts now for 21 years.

One of the things that was important to me when I started Mutts was, I really wanted to capture that special bond we have with our animals.

So basically I was trying to see the world from their eyes, and in particular, after doing the strip for a few years, you know, I realized Earl and Mooch has such great homes and loving guardians.

And I thought about all the dogs and cats that don't and are just sitting in shelters waiting Shelter Stories.

Bowser: I was the first pick from my litter.

My family thought I was the cutest little thing.

In a year I was gone.

It was a matter of size.

I got big and there hearts got small.

I drew a week for National Animal Appreciation Week of Shelter Stories.

And boy I enjoyed doing it so much, and I got such a good response, that I now do it at least two weeks every year to tell the stories of animals that would like a home like Earl and Mooch.

Although with this particular batch, these were all true stories from my experience in Manhattan.

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of spending the weekend at Animal Care Centers of New York City.

There I volunteered to help out, meet their staff, get to know some new mutts and tell their shelter stories.

Hey!

I arrived early in the morning and first met Risa Weinstock, the animal care center's executive director and Summer Dolder, the manager of the Manhattan shelter.

- So Patrick, why don't we get you started and take a quick tour.

I'd love to see it.

Great!

We used to be known as Animal Care and Control of New York City and very recently we changed our name to Animal Care Centers of New York City, because we are all about care.

This is our Manhattan location.

This is the largest of the five facilities that we have.

- So how many animals are here right now?

- 381.

Wow!

Yeah.

And sometimes it could swell to 450, which is not ideal for animal welfare.

But we don't, we don't turn any animals away.

So sometimes the population will really build.

ACC has a contract with the city of New York to take in every animal.

We are the only open admission shelter, which means we never close our doors.

So animals are coming in here day in, day out, every homeless, surrendered, abandoned, any animal that's in need.

Our contract with the city says we must take them in.

- This is Sawyer.

- Sawyer.

Gimme a smile.

- What we do when people bring in animals that are stray, we'll scan them for a microchip to see maybe that they have some identification.

We look for their collar to see if they have a license.

The best thing we could do is reunite a pet with their, with their family.

Oh yeah.

But if not, we'll take very good care of Sawyer and try and find him a loving home to go to.

- Well you can see in his eyes they're so expressive, you know, so longing and you know, just, you can see a little bit of wondering where he is.

But also, you know, happy to be in her arms and hopefully be in new arms soon.

This dog had a home and now looking for a new one.

- So when an animal is being surrendered, the process is that they'll come in, they'll sign in, they're gonna meet with an admissions counselor.

Try to assess the reason that the animal is being brought in, determine if there are any resources we can offer that client so that they don't have to surrender their pet.

If ultimately they do, we'll then gather as much information about that pet as possible so that we can find an appropriate home for it.

So this is Angelhare, and he just came in.

- Oh, and do you know his story?

- He was actually left at his finder's doorstep with a note - Angelhare.

- The really amazing thing that Patrick has done for shelters and raising awareness is, he really brings a personal touch to each and every animal in the shelter that he's sketching.

He brings out the true personality of the animal.

I think one big misconception about shelter pets is that they're broken and unwanted, but we have a lot of really amazing animals in the shelter that make wonderful pets.

And he really focuses in on the wonderful aspects and characteristics of each animal and brings them to life for people to understand that shelter pets are really wonderful members of your family.

- I think he likes to get his picture taken.

I think so too.

What a cute rabbit.

Boy, you can't go wrong going into your shelter 'cause there's just so much love there.

I mean, you know, the animals themselves, you know, looking for a new home.

But people that work in shelters really have big hearts and you just feel it as soon as you walk in the place.

- So we are up in our cat adoptions area and we get thousands of cats a year.

They come from lots of different backgrounds.

We get lots of strays, we get lots of owner surrenders.

They're moving, they're unable to care for them anymore.

But cats react really strongly sometimes to an environment like this.

Sure.

New smells, new sights.

Cats don't always feel comfortable around other strange cats.

So they come in and it's overwhelming.

- Jen Abrams heads up our behavior enrichment team, which she's been in this field for years and what's been great is she's been able to open up playgroups as well as cat enrichments.

- A lot of these guys are new, are newer arrivals.

So this is often what we start with when we are coming up with our enrichment plans.

So we may have a cat like this lady up here, her name is Mia.

Sometimes they're just sleeping and sometimes they're actually hiding.

So I wanna say hi to Mia and see if maybe she's one that we need to focus on for enrichment.

We just kind of say, Hey baby.

Hey hi.

Really what we wanna show her is that being around people is a good thing.

You know, she can relax, she can play, she can rest for real.

Rather than this like forced, oh, I don't wanna be here.

Like, I'm, I'm, I'm not here.

I'm not here.

Nobody sees me.

- Hey.

So why is it so important to catch this when the cats first come in?

If a cat really isn't willing to interact, they're not gonna get adopted, most likely.

And unfortunately then they may end up being euthanized.

- Yeah, I'm sure your rate of getting them adjusted is really high because everybody here looks so happy.

- Yeah, we have a, a really outstanding live release rate and we are able to get the vast majority of them to come around.

And we have great rescue partners, we have great adopters, but there is still the reality of the fact that we are an open admission shelter and we need cats to be able to go into adoptions to get a chance to get adopted.

'cause if they're sitting downstairs, you know, there's, there's only so much we can do and this is not the way that cats are meant to live.

- You can imagine.

I mean, cats are pretty keep to themselves as it is, but boy in a strange place in the little cage, you know, a lot of cats when you go to shelters just hide in the corner and, and they're hard to adopt.

I mean, people go to a shelter and they wanna fun cat that's gonna play with them and you can't blame the cat for, you know, sort of hiding away and just shutting down.

- One thing that we're hoping will encourage adopters to look at cats is if they have a special skill, like a trick and a high five is something that we've started with.

If you wanna put the end of the Popsicle stick right in through the bars, and then as soon as she does it, there we go.

As soon as she touches it with her foot, I'm gonna click and I'm gonna give a, give a retreat.

This program is really about more than just teaching 'em tricks or than you getting every single cat in the building to give a high five.

As wonderful as that would be.

Yeah.

This is our time to interact with them and, give them that, that human attention that they often want and need.

- Yeah.

- You know, they are companion animals and they need that human companionship.

- He was a very good student.

He was high fiving, God, within a minute or so.

Then he would get a treat and boy, I'm sure Wisteria is gonna find a, a new home.

- My name is Reginald.

I started volunteering here in February.

I enjoy working with animals.

So when I heard about what they do here and volunteering, I was excited.

- And I'm really enthusiastic about how shelters are going from the fringe of the community to the, the heart of the community.

There's just so many volunteers and I think people really want to give quality time back.

There's volunteers who help walk the dogs.

You know, help clean the cages, and just do anything that the shelter needs.

I walk dogs, and basically, a commitment's about 8 hours a month.

To come into the shelter, you know, just walk 'em, keep 'em happy, give 'em a few treats here and there.

- So I think a lot of people, you know, when they think of dogs in the shelter, think that these poor things are in crates, you know, for days and they don't, you know, get to be a dog.

But you know, they take 'em outside.

They get to see Manhattan.

- And the volunteers are just super important.

Some of them have been volunteering for over 10 years.

And what's great is, every dog gets out at least once a day.

It's a great way to give back.

So these dogs get a chance to come out.

They interact with people, which eventually helps with their adoption.

And it's just a win-win all around.

- Ah, it's a beautiful fall day in New York City.

And today we're heading back to the shelter.

And from what they tell me, we're gonna start off the day with the playgroup with dogs.

So Jen, who do we have here today?

- This is Queen.

She is one of our brand new dogs.

She just came in yesterday, she's an owner surrender.

So we're gonna introduce her into playgroup today.

Playgroup, working with our volunteers, seeing all the care that goes into it, That's really essential, to making sure this animal ends up in the perfect home for that animal's personality and temperament.

- Wow.

She's really enjoying play.

- So this is looking really good, I think.

- Are we all comfortable introducing Queen to the bigger group?

Okay.

Thanks.

Queen is meeting this new group of dogs that's been playing successfully and we've had these guys for a couple of days.

They've all been playing together already.

And what we're really looking for is that reciprocal play.

That everybody's having a good time.

That no one's getting - targeted.

Hey, you.

So I get a little playtime too.

- So one of the great things about this playgroup program that we have is that it really gives us an ability to help these dogs overcome some of the challenges they have.

being here in a shelter.

It's an artificial environment.

It's scary.

It's loud.

- So out here they get to be dogs again.

- Yes.

They see other dogs and they get an opportunity, they thrive and it's wonderful and it makes us so happy and it makes them so happy.

- Queenie, you know, it was her first day to play and she just seemed so happy and energetic.

And then again, you know, that was just one dog that we had a chance to be with.

And by the end of the day I was back where the dogs are kept and was looking at Queenie, and a couple came over and I said, are you, and they, you could tell that they were really enamored with Queenie and Queenie was just a gorgeous dog.

And I, I asked, I, you know, I was hoping and I said, geez, are you thinking about adopting Queen?

And, and they were.

Queen was making the, the greatest little dog whimpering happy noises.

It's so funny when you make that magic connection, the animal knows, and the person knows that.

Yeah, this is, this is the one.

So to be there when this couple realize that Queen was the one for them was, was nice to see that magic in all of their eyes.

- So happy right now.

Yeah, it's the first like big step for us, if we could have the dog together.

- And, God, a half hour later I got to see Queen go home to the new home.

I think they said the new name's gonna be Basil.

So these were some of the drawings I did when we were up in the, the rabbit section of the, the shelter.

And boy that was something I didn't know about.

What a great program it was called Bunny Speed Dating.

Basically with that is, you know, people that already have a rabbit, you know, you wanna make sure if you're gonna adopt another rabbit that they're compatible.

So they actually have speed dating for rabbits where you bring in your rabbit and you pick three or four other rabbits in the shelter and each one gets a turn to be in a pen with your rabbit.

- You ready?

Look, there's a pretty girl down there.

We don't, we don't wanna put them down right in each other's faces.

I prefer to put 'em down in opposite corners.

- You know, they can tell fairly quickly whether they're gonna be friendly or you know, maybe not get along.

- You just have to pair them off and see who works.

Now that's something you have to watch for in the fight's about to break out.

Oh really?

When you see head to toe circling like that, that is aggressive.

We don't want two alpha bunnies in the same household where ever gonna back down, - You know, there's a big return rate with, you know, bunnies not being compatible.

So they, they bring them back to the shelter, but this way with the speed dating, they can learn right up front that this bunny is probably gonna be compatible.

So it very helpful.

- We'll see how she reacts to a fellow bunny.

She's a little more hesitant now.

Watch, see the way her tail is up a little bit.

That's a little bit of a sign of of agitation.

Oh, we might have a little humping going on here.

We've got one more little bachelorette.

We're gonna go through that process one more time.

So we're gonna put the boy in the opposite corner, which of course he promptly runs out of.

Alright, this is good.

Okay, I like the way she's sniffing around his ears.

What I would love to see is if she would give him a little lick.

You almost never see that with an initial introduction.

She looks like she's thinking it over.

Little more easygoing.

But I would say of the three, this one is the most promising simply because of the level of calmness on her part.

Well this is also a doable match.

- So we had the pleasure of seeing Bess.

He got to have three dates with three cute rabbits and it was the last one, Autumn, looked like it had a little white sweater on.

And she won the date.

Actually, I got to see another adoption.

There was a lot of joy.

I mean, people have a misconception that there's a lot of sadness there, but I, I saw just joy.

There was such a great community vibe there.

Looks like you guys can use some help.

We love help.

So many people wanna help at the shelter.

But then, you know, it's hard to get to a shelter and spend time.

But there's so many different ways.

I mean, shelters are always looking for donations of blankets or food.

And this particular group that I got to meet: Pillows For Paws.

So what goodies do we have here today?

- So we have all of our toys that we make in our group.

They're all handmade.

Pillows For Paws is a non-profit, 100% volunteer run organization.

And we donate comfort and enrichment items to New York City shelter animals.

- Volunteers are the backbone of what we're able to do.

We have hundreds of volunteers that work inside the shelter, but then we also have a whole legion of volunteers that work outside the shelter that do things like have sewing circles together where they sew beds and they make toys.

I mean hundreds of toys every month.

- Probably have about, I would say a good 50 solid volunteers that are helping.

They're just excited to be involved and to really help give back to these animals.

Can we bring everything in?

Yeah, let's bring it in.

- I think what makes it special is that really we are holding New York City's animals and people really feel an affiliation to the animals here.

And that's what makes them wanna do so many things like make beds.

I mean, it's really great to walk around the shelter and you see these homemade beds that someone's actually just made with this kitten in mind.

So it's a real community effort and I think it just makes everybody feel a lot closer and a big city of 8 million people, you really feel like there's this community of ACC supporters and it really feels great.

- Another great way to help a shelter and volunteer is, and they're always looking for fosters, you know, for someone to take a dog or a cat into their home and let the cat and dog have, you know, a life there until someone does come adopt them.

- Cindy is a 7-year-old chihuahua, unfortunately, she came to us because her owner passed away and we couldn't find any friends or a family.

She has been through so much.

So we thought sending her to a foster home would do a lot just to get our self-esteem back up.

And it will go a long way to find her a really good home.

- Oh, that's great.

So shall we go meet the foster?

- Yeah, absolutely.

Let's go.

Okay.

- My name is Brenda Loughlin and I'm a volunteer foster at ACC.

I fostered a hundred cats over my time with them.

It's been a lot of fun.

So I'm ready to start with dogs now.

Where is your mom?

Hi Brenda.

- This is Cindy.

I got to meet Brenda who has fostered over a hundred cats.

I mean that's, that's a lot of fostering.

And, and she's, and she's been doing it for three years, so you figured that's, that's a lot of cats, but I'm sure every one of those hundred cats found a new home, you know, you know, thanks to Brenda's work.

So what do you think of your first dog so far?

I think - She looks pretty comfortable right now.

She sure does.

- He looked so sad and kind of shy, but then once he went on the ground and he was with Brenda, he just kind of became a different dog and just perked right up and he wouldn't eat the treat when he first came in and then he was eating the treats like crazy and just became his normal self.

Yep.

There you go.

Oh no.

The people that do the fostering work are just saints like Brenda.

I mean, to take in a hundred cats and now her first dog.

You think about it, it's such a tough thing.

You bond with the dog, but then knowing that it's gonna go to a permanent home.

It's, you know, just a, just fantastic that we have these people that have the compassion to do that.

- Everyone who volunteers at the shelter, whether it's in a home environment fostering or on-site as a volunteer, we all feel like we're part of the same team to help each individual animal in New York City get the best possible care and home that they can.

- I think what was extra special about going to the, the New York City shelter was, that's where I got my, my new dog, Amilee.

She was a stray and she was brought to the animal shelter and a rescue group took her from the shelter and put her in a foster home.

- We cannot do it alone.

The success of ACC and animal shelters depends on the community working together.

And we have over 300 rescue organizations that work with us and take animals, cats, dogs, rabbits from our shelters and help find them homes.

- So much has changed even in the past year, but I'd say even going back five years, you know, our placement rate was low.

It was in about 65%.

Right now we're on the verge of nearing 85% placement rate for over 34,000 animals.

That's a pretty big deal.

And I think that the community has just gotten more involved.

We've grown our social media presence, which has been really helpful because now our animals are getting more exposure.

- Wow.

Nice sweater.

Thank you.

It's cute, right?

Are you guys adopting today?

We are, yeah, we are.

Yes.

Wow.

What's the dog's name?

Sweetness.

Well, we actually saw her online.

We're from Vermont.

Vermont.

Oh my god.

We saw online, we saw this sweater.

And you drove all the way down here and you fell in love with her?

Anything for the pups.

- So we have a two and a half year old pet Kaya.

- She needed a buddy.

We kind of fell in love, so.

She was a cutie.

Yep.

Yeah, yeah, she was.

Alright, come on mommy.

Come on, come on.

Let, - Let's go, let's go.

Let's go home.

Boy, this shows the power of the internet.

I mean, you don't expect someone from Vermont coming to the Manhattan Animal Shelter.

- We have a community inside New York City, but like we have a community in Vermont as well, because they came and drove all the way up to adopt a dog.

Online has made our community huge.

Bye!

Going to the shelter, looking for inspiration for the shelter story comics I draw, it was amazing how many stories there were in, in the, the little time I was there.

And it was also amazing to me that some of the stories had beginnings, middles and ends.

I thought I would have to wait weeks to find out what happened to a certain dog or whatever.

But one in particular was Little Orzo, who was this great little black dog who a good Samaritan found tied to a pole somewhere on the upper west side of New York City.

- You know, they clearly saw this little guy on the street all by himself and knew that that wasn't quite right.

Brought him into us, and now we're gonna do everything we can to try to reunite him with his mom or dad that he's strayed away from.

Or try to seek placement and find him a new home if need be.

So we will follow up with every lead we have.

- It always amazes me that the sweetest little dogs can be tied to a pole.

You know, and just lucky that good Samaritans come along and know to come to a shelter and find a dog, a new home.

But a dog like that, you know, like just the friendliest, sweetest dog, it's amazing that, you know, someone would give that up.

Give him up.

And I thought it would be a while before I would learn what Orzo fate was.

But boy, just like a comic strip with a three panels a beginning, middle, and end, you know, he was in the shelter and the next day, sure enough, they had put his picture up on a website and a family, from what I heard, they were visiting relatives two hours away from their home, and somehow their dog got loose.

- So she went outside, she showed his picture everywhere and said that basically, you know, she doesn't know where, where he is.

So I'm like, oh my gosh.

I start freaking out.

Like I, I'm, I'm shaking.

- So, what's Orzo's real name?

- Ralphie - Ralphie.

Ralphie They got home, they, their dog wasn't there and they were panicked, but the first thing they did was go on the internet and they, the second dog, they said when they looked on the shelter's website was their dog, which I'm sure was a thrill.

God, to know your dog was safe.

- Oh, Ralphie.

There we go.

- What a wonderful, inspirational experience this has been.

You know, I knew the dogs and cats and all the animals were gonna be inspiring, but boy, the humans, the volunteers, the staff, the people that make the beds, the people that walk the dogs, just, you know, again, I knew dogs and cats had unconditional love, but what I really got from this was all the humans that have unconditional love and are the heart and soul of this place and make it all happen.

And all the humans that adopt, you know, all the people that came and, and took a chance on a new dog and a new cat.

I mean, the unconditional love was just all around this place.

And it was just a, a wonderful, inspiring experience.

As long as there's a Mutts comic strip, there'll be, there'll be Shelter Stories.

I think that's a message that always needs to be said.

There's so many millions of cats and dogs waiting for new homes that I think I'll be doing Shelter Stories as long as there's Mutts.

- I've been trying to do it right.

(Hey!)

I've been living a lonely life.

(Ho!)

I've been sleeping here instead.

(Hey!)

I've been sleeping in my bed.

(Ho!)

Sleeping in my bed.

(Hey!)

I belong with you, you belong with me You're my sweetheart.

I belong with you, you belong with me.

You're my sweetheart.

Love!

- We need it now.

Let's hope for some.

'Cause oh, we're bleedin' out.

I belong with you, you belong with me.

You're my sweetheart.

Hey!

- Petco Love Lost.

A National Lost and Found pet database can help using image recognition technology so every pet can be back where they belong.

Oh my baby!

Home with the families that love them.

Petco love Lost.