Black Dog Animal Rescue (BDAR) and the Laramie County Sheriff’s department are teaming up on a brand new initiative, Meow Mates.

This community service will provide a meaningful program for inmates at Laramie County Detention Center (LCDC) to participate in and provide adoptable cats with basic social skills before they are available for adoption.

The program starts this week with Sully, a three-year-old orange and white male cat, as the very first enrollee. Sully and all future cats in the program, will live in the housing units at LCDC with the inmates who are responsible for caring for them.

“After months of planning, the cats and inmates at LCDC can finally benefit from the Meow Mates program. We are thrilled it is underway!” said Kaitlin Whitman, Development and Marketing Manager at BDAR. Whitman continues, “Meow Mates will benefit cats that are transferred out of high-volume shelters into our care. They will have the opportunity to decompress outside of a tiny kennel while being cared for and loved by the inmates that participate in the program. As a Socially Conscious Animal Shelter, programs like this perfectly align with our principles to create shared responsibility for the pets in our community. It’s great for the cats and it’s great for the people!”

Lieutenant Stephens with Sully, Wyoming Tribune Eagle

Lieutenant Jennifer Stephens added, “We are so excited to start a partnership between BDAR and the Laramie County Sheriff’s department. It is our belief that everyone will benefit from this partnership especially the inmates and the cats. Jail can be an extremely stressful place and studies show that simply petting a cat can have a calming effect. Our hope is that having the cats in the facility will take a little of the stress away from both staff and inmates while providing a great environment for the foster cats.”

After cats spend a period of time at LCDC they will become available for adoptions and meetings at Black Dog Animal Rescue. Applications to adopt a cat, or a dog, from BDAR can be submitted online at BDAR.org/adopt.

Read the Wyoming Tribune article.