Catvando

Kaitlyn Corbett

2023-11

I can not say enough great things about Ellen & CatVando! What she does for these cats is beyond selfless and her knowledge is top tier. I was lucky enough to adopt my baby Kenny from her & had zero worry about anything during the adoption process. Ellen goes above and beyond for these cats & I couldn’t imagine adopting from anywhere else!

Nicole Britton

2024-04

I had a bad experience when applying to adopt an adult cat here. The application process is simple, it became difficult when they had to do their part. 2 of my 3 references were contacted via phone quickly!! I have not heard from this shelter anymore. I assume my references/sisters' urban accent caused my application to be auto-reject or led to me being GHOSTED!! I sent follow-up emails, I even called Ellen Miles, she answered the phone, but was dismissive and blamed Lee for problems. It was not only a weird convo but I felt very unwelcomed, like I was a bother. I was blown off, Ellen Miles said she would call me tomorrow and she still has not called me back. I wanted to save an older cat give it a home. But CATVANDA is not interested in allowing African Americans in Oak Park to adopt animals from their nonprofit animal shelter. Trying Catcade in Chicago or PAWS next.

Sarah Mills

2022-05

Ellen is just fantastic. She has a sincere dedication to the cats who come under her care. A lot of other shelters disallowed me from visiting the cats and thought I should pick one based purely on the photos on their website- Ellen understood how important it was for me to interact with the cats before adopting. She raised the sweetest litter of kittens I had ever met, and I think their temperament was in no small part due to Ellen’s effort to socialize them well when they were young. I ended up adopting a pair of absolute love bugs, and when one of them showed potential signs of a health problem, Ellen was extremely helpful in getting him cared for, and she was very generous with her time and effort. I can’t speak highly enough of her experience, generosity, and dedication to the cats who are lucky enough to be in her care. Catvando is an operation rooted in an honest, caring spirit, and supporting them over other shelters that are more polished and profit-based felt like a very good decision to make

Sam Alhaddad

2024-04

Is there is a Cat Lover up For a Mission is Ellen, She is Dedicaged to our Feline Feral and Domestic Loved Puuuurloveones....Do Anything You Can To Supporr Them...The True Fave of Pure Altruism.....You Go Ellen......Thousands of Anjmals will be Waiting for You at The Crossing Rainbow.

Thomas Hay

2023-09

Catvando is wonderfull rescue and Ellen in her selfless pursuit of caring for cats has devoted years of her life to this. I can say first hand as a former volunteer at Catvando that this is a caring loving rescue for cats.TNR is one of the porposes of this rescue ,besides taking in kittens, stray cats, and teaching life lessons.Unfortunately not everyone that wants to adopt is suited to give cats the care that they need. Many times people are hesitant to " get with the program" and as a result street cats will suffer.This results in negative reviews when people don't get things their way.I have never experienced any talking down to people at my time at Catvando.Many times kittens form bonds especially as they progress in age , and it would be detrimental to seperate a bonded.pair some have been rescued from more than ideal conditions. That is why they are adopted in pairs.This is an all volunteer rescue .Ellen helped me immensely and now as a Cook County feral cat caretaker have harmony in my colony of feral and stray cats. I was helped with trapping, spay ,neuter, and health issues.Thankyou Ellen for all you have done for me and my "Community Cats"

shampoo centipede

2023-09

Unfortunately this shelter is not reliable. I adopted two kittens from this shelter (which was mandatory by the shelter because they didn’t allow single kitten adoptions). After a few days a family member of mine had allergies and couldn’t be around the kittens anymore. I responsibly called the shelter and was treated horribly as if I had committed a crime for not being able to keep the kittens. I also felt discriminated against, as I was not treated with the same friendliness as other clients or the foster parents. I’d recommend a more reliable shelter in Chicago.

kerry skrine

2023-05

Ellen was fantastic and knowledgeable on what was going on with my feral cats. People at CatVando will help as much as they can if you are in their area of Cook County. She saves and helps over 80 cats a month. That shocked me. People need to fix and nutter their cats!! It's so sad how many cats have no homes. If you're interested in adopting a kitten/cat, check online for pictures of fur babies that need forever homes. Kerry 🐈‍⬛🐈

Fatcat Shnikclefritz

2023-05

They removed my review because their business ignored me trying to treat kittens I was saving and they ended up dead from flea medicine. It was all put on by the book but I knew I should get fda approved sent messages to everyone explaining feral cat mom and kittens had fleas and I also filled out a cat colony paper but they are embarrassed because they are frauds. Not only did they ignore me but so did paws, the remaining kittens were surrendered to anti cruelty after dupage county reached out to them trying to help me very disturbing they remove negative reviews.

Brittany Wilson

2023-08

Ellen is an absolute sweetheart & helped as much as she could & has a beautiful home for all the kitties. You can tell they are all so well taken care of!

Vic Reid

2023-05

I'm so grateful to Ellen at Catvando for taking my calls and taking the time to answer my questions and help guide me in the right direction as I tried to help a neighborhood cat. Truly compassionate and so much easier and better to get help this way. This is as real as it gets and I cannot say enough good things about someone who listens and cares.

Roxanna Hernandez

2023-05

I found a kitten under a car in bad shape. Very sick and I didn’t know what to do. I called Ellen and asked her what I should do with him. He needed medical attention. She didn’t hesitate and told me to bring him over. I was so happy she was able to help this poor little kitten. Hopefully he can recover and be adopted.

Paulette Finnegan

2023-05

Catvando is a wonderful, all volunteer organization. They have saved countless lives of cats and kittens. The founder of the organization has a heart full of compassion which is evident in her 24 hour a day work on behalf of feral and injured cats and kittens.

Victoria Ledesma

2022-05

Do not waste your time trying to adopt from here, because they will waste your time and the time of your references. They called my references first before calling me and asked extremely inappropriate and invasive questions, such as how my marriage was. Questions that are none of their business. Then they called me and told me they only adopt kittens in pairs. Why bother calling my references if you weren't going to adopt to me anyway? Their logic makes no sense. When you adopt kittens in pairs, especially from the same litter they are bonded to each other and will not bond to their humans. They don't seem very interested in adopting the cats/kittens out and therefore it's a big waste of everyone's time. My advice is go some somewhere else, there are a ton of great shelters that actually want to find cats a good home.

V A (V A)

2023-07

Reached out in regards to trying to TNR cats in my area following proper steps of application, received a short response. Explained situation & was ignored. Was just trying to save these poor mama’s & babies overpopulating…

Krystle Pyrzynski

2022-05

Catvando is a godsend to the neighborhood and surrounding area, as the only TNR organization in the western suburbs they are responsible for low cost spay and neuter of the local feral cat population, thus reducing over population, disease and unnecessary euthanasia. The operation is run with dedicated volunteers who have committed their lives to bettering the lives of stray/feral cats. Thank you, Catvando!

Tina Marie Stovall

2021-05

I call this place, in hopes of finding a safe place for the kitten I have. I was insulted by a woman for no longer wanting the kitten. Here I am thinking I’m doing the right thing, yet was belittled. Then after I hung up the phone, she text me......to explain herself. She was rude even in text message. Ended her conversation with, we’ll take the kitten, call me in the morning...then said Cute smh. Terrible....

Ericka Diehl

2021-05

Ellen was great! My cat (LC)is back to her normal shenanigans after 2.5 days and never needed a come of shame. Extremely happy! 😻

Sharron Rivlin

2022-05

They caught 4 cats from my neighborhood and fixed them and brought them back. I truly appreciate what they did so no more kittens will be born outside. Thank you

Deidre Como

2022-05

They are awesome at getting local cats spayed and neuteted. This prevents overpopulation.

Susan Cole

2023-10

Such a wonderful organization 🐈😻🐈‍⬛🤔

Sam Holmes

2022-05

Do not take kitten here or cats

rosa espinoza

2020-05

People please come and adopt