Chitta Makes History As First Graduate of New Cat Isolation Area

Chitta with his new forever family.

Shortly after arriving at the Arizona Humane Society, Chitta, a 1-year-old domestic shorthair cat, developed a nasty kitty cold that required some special medicine, a little extra care and a whole lot of love to nurse him back to health.

Two weeks after coming down with the sniffles, Chitta made history.

The beautiful male tabby found his forever home in Scottsdale after serving as the first-ever resident of our new cat isolation space at the Nina Mason Pulliam Campus for Compassion.

Chitta is the first of an additional 600 cats that we will be able to save each year thanks to this new isolation space. The space will house cats who are suffering from Upper Respiratory Infection (URI) – a highly contagious kitty cold – or other illnesses that could easily spread throughout our shelter. The isolation wing will help decrease the chance of a shelter outbreak while also allowing for staff and volunteers to continue to socialize these ill cats while they recover.

The cat isolation space is adjacent to a new behavior modification area where our trained specialists can work with shy, fearful and high-arousal dogs in an air-conditioned space free of distractions.

Last year, our Behavior Team worked with 787 dogs—and a staggering 95 percent were eventually placed in homes. This new area will allow us to work with even more dogs and save even more lives.