Cat Adoption Bellingham

The shelter is at 2172 Division Street in Bellingham and is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and closed Mondays. Adoption counselors stop starting new sessions one hour before closing, and completed applications stay on file for six months, so you do not need to reapply each visit.

Since the summer of 2021, WHS has placed healthy semi-feral and feral cats with people who want cats for barns, stables, warehouses, wineries, and churches instead of indoor homes. If your property has no resident working cats, WHS asks that you adopt the cats in pairs.

Main Street Mutt (and Meow) Rescue and The Alternative Humane Society of Whatcom County are both foster-based groups with no public facility or regular hours. Their animals live in volunteer homes across Whatcom County, and meetings happen by appointment or at adoption events, so start with their application or statement of interest forms.

Yes, and a live Kittens Available counter on this page tracks Bellingham kittens hour by hour, including baby kittens as spring and summer kitten season brings each new litter. At the Whatcom Humane Society, kittens under six months of age go home for a $175 adoption fee rather than a sale price, a pair adopted the same day costs $275, and every kitten fee includes spay or neuter surgery, initial vaccinations, feline leukemia testing, and a microchip.

It's too early in this tracker's Bellingham history to say with confidence: of the 16 tracked Bellingham cats that have left local listings with a published coat color so far, 6 were black or tuxedo and they waited an average of 6.2 days to be adopted, versus 4.0 days for the 10 cats of other colors. The site treats a cat leaving its listing as adopted and does not trust averages from samples that small, so for the bigger Seattle-area picture see the <a href="/resources/black-cat-syndrome">Black Cat Syndrome data page</a>, which updates as more adoption records accumulate, and black cats available near Bellingham appear on this page.

Start with the Whatcom Humane Society, the county's open-admission shelter, which takes in owned cats by appointment. It asks owners to first list their cat on its Home To Home rehoming site for 10 to 14 days, then call (360) 733-2080 ext. 0 before coming in. Surrenders are taken Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and fees run $50 for an adult cat from Whatcom County ($100 from outside the county) and $50 for a kitten litter ($100 outside). This site's <a href="/resources/surrender-or-rehome-a-cat">surrender or rehome a cat guide</a> covers Whatcom County options and what to prepare before calling the shelter.