Admissions
First and foremost, thank you for caring enough to be here, asking this question and reading this information. While we help many typical cats, our emphasis is on those with special needs and injuries, including neonatal kittens and geriatric cats. We’ve provided our answers to some frequently asked questions about our admissions process below. We highly recommend reading through this entire page before requesting admission.
Giving cats the lives they deserve.
At Tenth Life, we believe that every cat, regardless of emotional or physical limitations, deserves the chance at a fulfilling and happy life.
We provide veterinary care, foster homes, and adoptive placement to stray cats and kittens, prioritizing those with special needs. We work to end unnecessary euthanasia and cat homelessness through educational outreach, community programs, and collaborative partnerships.
Our policy on euthanasia is simple.
Only when our trusted veterinarians have determined that a cat is in a state of incurable suffering, does Tenth Life relieve them of that suffering through gentle and humane euthanasia. This difficult and thoughtful decision is never made in response to a lack of space or because a cat’s medical or behavioral needs are challenging or costly. For exceptionally challenging behavioral issues, we take our time and contract with an industry professional.
How can I admit a stray cat to Tenth Life and how does the admission process work? What should I expect?
Legal Requirements
By law, we’re required to collect surrender paperwork. You will be provided this paperwork and asked to complete it if space is available. Please be aware that a valid photo ID is required. These forms are only required and accepted at the time of admission but we want you to be aware of the information we are required by law to collect. There are unfortunately no exceptions to these requirements as they are set by the Missouri Department of Agriculture for our license to remain effective.
Once we’ve confirmed with you that space is available, these forms can be printed and scanned back to us using any means available to you but email is preferred (note: we do not have a fax number available). We will work with you to make it as easy as possible and you may be able to complete the forms via mail or in person, as needed.
How do I request admission at Tenth Life?
If you’re seeking placement for a stray cat, especially one with special needs or injuries, including very young or very old cats, please click the request button below to complete the request form and we will be in touch as soon as possible. If your admission request is not for a stray cat or kitten, please read on to learn more about how to help the cat for which you’re seeking placement.
When will I receive a reply?
Usually within 24 hours. We check our messages throughout the day and will reply just as soon as we can. We triage all messages so the most pressing matters will receive replies first. Please use our resources list to empower you to do all that you can for the kitty in the meantime. While we cannot take every cat, we will reply personally and compassionately as soon as we can.
What should I do in the meantime?
At Tenth Life, we believe in individual advocacy and we are here to help you help the stray cat you’ve found get care and live the life it deserves. We believe cats find people who care enough to fight for them for a reason and you are the best person to make sure that they get the help they need until they can find placement. Please visit our resources page to find other rescues to reach out to and additional placement opportunities.
Why do you ask so many questions on the admission form?
We ask questions that help our foster parents get a well-rounded picture of the cat so that they can determine if they are well equipped to handle the needs of the cat they’re offering to bring into their home. Each foster has a specific role and can handle different cases than another foster so it also helps us know who to reach out to for placement and help placement go as smoothly and as quickly as possible when space is available.
Admission Transfers
Are you seeking transfer from another organization? If you work for a local area animal welfare organization or advocacy group and are interested in transferring over a cat who meets our mission, you can complete our admission request form.
Do you work for a local advocacy group but cannot legally transfer a cat on your own?
If you work for a local advocacy group and cannot legally transfer a cat on your own, please note that we will need to be connected via email with the direct contact person who has ownership of the cat and is able and willing to legally release them to us. Depending on the circumstance, we may be able to transfer or we may be required to obtain individual surrender forms as linked in our admission requirements
Is your group located somewhere other than Missouri?
If you are writing from a state other than our home state of Missouri and will be transporting a cat over state lines, we are also required by law to obtain a health certificate from a veterinarian in the originating state. Please let us know if this will cause an issue and we will look into any available resources to assist you. However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to assist.
Admission decisions at Tenth Life
How do you decide who to admit?
Tenth Life prioritize cats in our local area with special needs and injuries and triage requests as such. Of course, we help many typical cats, as well. This simply means that our emphasis is on those with special needs and injuries, including neonatal kittens and geriatric cats.
Why can’t you take every cat?
Wouldn’t that be lovely? At Tenth Life, we do not have a traditional shelter. We have an adoption lounge that you can visit filled with couches and cats who live harmoniously together in a home-like environment. Most of our adoptable cats reside in foster homes. A handful of those cats, once temperament-tested and healthy enough, will move to our adoption lounge and will remain there until they are adopted, making room for more cats to move in. Regretfully, we are currently unable to accept any new admissions through our adoption lounge in order to protect the health and balance of the cats who reside there. We must typically have a foster parent available for a cat to be admitted. You can apply to become a foster parent if you’d like to help.
While we will reply as quickly as possible and will do whatever we can to help, it is sadly and simply impossible for us to help every cat who needs immediate help even though they’re all worthy and tug at our heartstrings. If we cannot help, it’s nothing personal and we will always do our best to support you in your search for placement.
We also often operate at (or very near) capacity.
We realize that many rescue organizations are often full but please continue to reach out! Circumstances at rescues tend to change from day to day and many will tell you if they have space available or might soon.
Veterinary bills are very real, indeed.
As you can imagine, special needs and injuries are expensive to care for. Tenth Life spends over $100,000 each year on medical care, much of it for emergent care. Like most, we must be able to afford to care well for all the cats we take in. If you’d like to donate, you can do so on our donation page or start a Tenth Life fundraiser on Facebook or at your place of business. There are other ways to help listed on our donation page, as well. Please send an email to donations@tenthlifecats.org if you have questions or want to set something up.
What should I do if this is an emergency?
Emergency? Don’t wait! Be an advocate as well as you can. Please do not wait to hear from us or any rescue before seeking help for a cat who is in need of emergency medical attention. Sadly, Tenth Life does not have an emergency medical clinic and we do not currently have a veterinarian on staff and must schedule with our partner veterinarians and emergency services.
How can I help if I feel a pet is not being cared for properly?
If you can talk with the person, start there with gentle but, when necessary, firm love and concern. If you need to, find a mediator. Ultimately, you should report suspected animal cruelty or neglect to the Humane Society and the police or other sympathetic local government professionals.
Before you submit the form
As a reminder, we prioritize strays in our service area, as well as cats with special needs, injuries, and those in high-risk situations and shelters. If you’re seeking placement for a stray cat, especially one with special needs or injuries, including very young or very old cats in need of extraordinary care, please complete the form at the bottom of this page. We will triage and consider and all stray and transfer requests.
Other options:
Resources
Before you submit an admissions request, please visit our additional resources. Check with each of them to see if there are other solutions or if there is a better way assist you with the cat you want to help.
What to expect after you submit the form
Confirmation Email
You can expect to receive a confirmation on the screen and an email letting you know that the submission was received. If you do NOT receive either confirmation after you’ve clicked the ‘submit’ button, please check to see if the form is indicating that you’ve forgotten to include a required bit of information (indicated by an asterisk). If you don’t have an answer to a required question, you can simply say so or enter N/A in the answer field.
An email with next steps and resources
Submitting your request will trigger an email containing quite a bit of information so that we may begin helping you right away. Please read it to help you advocate for the cat in your care. You can also peruse our website for more helpful resources and options.
Remember to check your spam folder if you don’t see an email. The email will be sent to the account you’ve provided when completing the form so please be sure that your phone number and email address are accurate before submitting your form.