FAQ’s

  • We take in animals from multiple places including Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control, animals living on the street, and occasionally, owner surrenders.

  • Thrifted Kittens relies solely on donations from generous supporters to save the lives of vulnerable animals. We do not receive any government funding and could not do this without you!

  • All animals are seen by a vet, spayed/neutered*, up-to-date on age-appropriate vaccinations, microchipped, dewormed, given a flea/tick preventative, and will go home with a bag of the food they have been eating. Additionally, dogs over 6 months will be tested for heartworm, and cats over 6 months will be tested for FeLV/FIV.


    *The only time an animal will not be spayed/neutered prior to adoption is if they are a large breed puppy under 6 months. They will be sent home with a spay/neuter contract, and the rescue will schedule and pay for their surgery once they are old enough (between 6 months - 1 year depending on breed/size).

  • Applicants who live within 6 hours driving distance of Milwaukee, WI are welcome to apply, regardless of which state you live in. However, you must be able to travel here to meet the animal, we are not able to transport pets.

  • Depending on our capacity, we are sometimes able to accept owner surrenders of kittens and puppies, as well as animals of any age in critical condition. If you need to surrender your pet and believe they fall under our parameters, you can send us an email at thriftedkittens@gmail.com -or- for urgent matters if the animal is in severely ill, text (414)376-8060*. We cannot guarantee we will be able to take the animal in, but we can always provide alternative resources. 

    *We will do our best to respond in a timely manner, but advise taking the animal to an emergency veterinary clinic if they are in critical condition and you do not hear back from us right away. Please only text us in truly emergent situations.

  • If you have found a kitten, puppy, or animal in critical condition without an owner, we are sometimes able to help. You can send us an email at thriftedkittens@gmail.com -or- for urgent matters if the animal is severely ill, text 414-436-9332*. We cannot guarantee we will be able to take the animal in, but we can always provide alternative resources. 

    All found animals that are healthy and friendly should be brought to Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC).

    *We will do our best to respond in a timely manner, but advise taking the animal to an emergency veterinary clinic if they are in critical condition and you do not hear back from us right away. Please only text us in truly emergent situations.

  • We choose adopters based on order of application and best fit. That means, if we have several applicants who would all be good matches for the animal, we go in order of who applied first.

  • We have an open adoption process, which means we do not require home visits, vet checks, references, etc., as we believe those barriers make it unnecessarily difficult to save a life. Our adoption counseling is conversation-based, so we will walk you through everything you need to be set up for success.

  • Typically, yes! We believe that responsible owners come in many forms and don’t judge people based on past decisions they’ve made. In fact, some of our team members have even rehomed pets because they weren’t able to provide an animal with what they needed at the time.

  • We strive to find a good match for anyone interested in adopting from us, but there are select circumstances in which we would deny an application after having a conversation with the potential adopter. Some examples include: unacceptable handling of an animal (after we have advised how to properly handle them), history of animal abuse, and intentionally providing inaccurate information on the adoption application.

  • Thrifted Kittens never euthanizes animals for time and space, so technically we fall under that category. However, we do not call ourselves a no-kill rescue because it is somewhat of a misnomer. “No-kill” simply means that an organization does not euthanize for time and space, it does not mean that animals are never euthanized. We exhaust every resource to save every animal in our care, but in some situations (ex. animal has a poor quality of life, is actively suffering, or is considered a danger to the public), we will proceed with humane euthanasia to prevent unnecessary suffering.

  • Our federal EIN is 99-1704675

  • Our rescue was previously named Emilie’s Foster Crew Inc. (aka Emilie S Foster Crew Inc.), and it can take awhile for the IRS to update their records. We have legally changed the name of our rescue to Thrifted Kittens Animal Rescue Inc. and it is reflected in the state of Wisconsin.

Stylized illustration of a dog's paw print with four toes and a pad, featuring a striped pattern in shades of green and gray.