‘Working cats’ program gives felines a job and a home

Jim Trenter was fed up with the mice chomping into grass seed bags at his business’ warehouse — until he heard about the new “working cat” program of the Animal Humane Society.

Despite the fact that “cats” and “working” rarely appear in the same sentence, he adopted two felines. They now live and labor in the warehouse, which is suddenly mouse-free.

“Best employees I have had!” joked Trenter, manager at Ramy Turf Products in St. Paul. “And you feel really good about it. You’re able to give a cat that might be euthanized a good place to live.”

That’s precisely the goal of this program, designed to find less conventional living arrangements — and a full-time job — for cats that aren’t a success on the adoption floor.

While cats have been marketed to barns for some time, targeting businesses and beyond is a new strategy taking root nationally, said Katie Lisnik, director of cat protection and policy for the Humane Society of the United States.

“I haven’t seen the broader use of working cats until about a year or two ago,” said Lisnik. “You guys [in Minnesota] are definitely at the leading edge.”
Jim Trenter was fed up with the mice that kept chomping into seed bags at his business’ lawn and turf warehouse. That’s when he heard about a new “working cat” program from the Animal Humane Society. In spite of the fact that “cats” and “working” rarely appear in the same sentence, he recently adopted two felines. They now live and labor in the warehouse, which is suddenly mouse-free. “Best employees I have had!” joked Trenton, a manager at Ramy Turf Products in St. Paul.