Not looking for a lap. Looking for a job.

Not every cat dreams of curling up on the couch.

Some cats are happiest with other cats. Some prefer people at a distance. Some may never enjoy being picked up, cuddled, or treated like a traditional house pet—but that doesn't mean they don't deserve a safe place to call home.

The TIPS Working Cat Program connects appropriate non-social and independent cats with barns, workshops, garages, warehouses, farms, garden centers and other suitable properties where they can live safely while providing natural rodent deterrence and companionship on their own terms.

A working cat isn't disposable labor.

Every working cat needs:

• Daily food and fresh water
• Permanent, weather-appropriate shelter
• Veterinary care when sick or injured
• Protection from unnecessary hazards
• A safe acclimation period before being released
• A lifelong commitment from their caretaker

Catching mice is a bonus—not the price of admission.

The Working Cat Program is intended for cats who are not good candidates for traditional pet adoption.

Potential candidates may include cats who:

• Consistently avoid human interaction
• Become significantly stressed in a traditional household
• Prefer the companionship of other cats
• Tolerate people but do not want physical affection
• Have remained in foster care because their personality makes traditional adoption difficult
• Cannot safely return to the location where they were originally found

Working Cat placement is not intended as an alternative to TNR simply because someone doesn't want community cats on a property.

Whenever it is safe and appropriate, healthy community cats with an established territory should remain in that territory through Trap-Neuter-Return.

"Not cuddly" doesn't automatically make a cat a working cat.

TIPS considers the cat's behavior, history, relationships with other cats, comfort around humans, previous environment and overall welfare before deciding whether a Working Cat placement is appropriate.

Our goal isn't simply to find somewhere for a difficult-to-place cat to go.

Our goal is to find the right environment for that individual cat.

Working cats placed through TIPS will be appropriately vetted prior to placement, including spay/neuter, vaccination and microchipping.

Whenever possible, cats who are bonded or strongly dependent on feline companionship will be placed together.

Working cats cannot simply be brought to a new property and released.

Cats strongly associate safety with territory. Moving a cat and immediately releasing them can result in the cat attempting to return to their former home, becoming lost, or disappearing.

Every placement therefore requires an appropriate acclimation period in a secure enclosure or enclosed area at the new property.

During this period, the caretaker provides food, water, litter, shelter and consistent daily care while the cat learns:

This is where I live.
This is where I'm fed.
This is where I'm safe.

Only after the acclimation process is completed should the cat be released into the approved environment.

Taking in a Working Cat means agreeing to provide that cat with a home for life.

Working cats aren't expected to become affectionate.

Some eventually surprise us. After months or even years of seeing the same caretaker bring dinner every evening, a cat may decide that humans aren't so terrible after all.

Others may always prefer to admire their people from ten feet away.

Both are successful placements.

The goal isn't to turn a working cat into a house cat.

The goal is to give a cat who doesn't fit the traditional adoption mold a safe place where they can simply be who they are.