Cat Transport Program

Our transports move 40-80 adoptable kitties at a time from South Florida to shelters in the Northeast. It’s expensive, a ton of work, and we don’t make any funds back on it. So why do we do it? Because it’s amazing for saving lives!

  • They just do not have the amount of cats and kittens in the Northeast as we do here in Florida. They don’t suffer from the same cat overpopulation problem that we do, meaning people who want to adopt cats there can find it a challenge even while cats are being euthanized for space in Florida shelters.

    Why is that?

    #1 - Spay/neuter programs
    They were quick to adopt spay/neuter programs and laws years ago, meaning they were able to stop litters from being born before overpopulation ever became a problem.

    #2 - Weather
    While we have a kitten season here in Florida just like they do in the Northeast, their kitten season stops when the weather cools. Ours just slows down, meaning we have kittens being born all year round.

    When we send kittens up, it’s news when they hit the adoption floor. The shelters there often have lines waiting out the door to adopt our kittens. When we send 40-80 kittens up, it’s rare that any of them are still waiting for homes after just a couple of weeks.

  • Good Karma has been transporting for several years now. We started out in 2013 doing 10-14 cats at a time relay-style, as in they would get from our area to the Northeast through 10+ different legs/transporters. Although time intensive, we realized how absolutely miraculous cat transport is early on. Cats that would sit in foster homes here for six or more months got adopted their first day in Vermont and New Hampshire. One of our foster moms, Tiffany, had a cat for another rescue for three years. We invited her to send the kitty on transport, and she was adopted in Vermont within a week! Moving kitties into transport partners gives them their happy-ever-afters right away, so we can rescue another life here in Florida where the need is so great.

    From there, we scrounged together money to buy a small used transport bus, which broke down on both of the transports we attempted to take it on. We were able to upgrade to a Sprinter van with the help of a local dealership, which allowed us to take many more cats each time, eventually up to 80 cats, both from Good Karma and our local animal control when we have the space. 

  • We transport to small private shelters in the Northeast who share our values. We have developed relationships with several of these no-kill facilities and have been sending kittens to them for years.

How you can help!

  1. FOSTER: The cats going on transport need foster families to keep them safe and get them through the vetting process before they travel. Please apply to foster if you’re interested in helping save some lives while getting to play with some adorable kittens in the process!

  2. DONATE: Operating our transport program is expenssssssive. It’s worth it due to the lives we are able to save, no question, but footing the bill can be difficult! We fully vet our kitties before they leave us, meaning they get spay/neuter surgery, microchips, vaccines, testing, deworming, and any other care they need. Our vehicle requires expensive maintenance. Each transport incurs costs to pay our drivers as well as gas, tolls, and hotel costs. Yes, it surely adds up! Please donate if you can to help us with transport costs. If you keep an eye out on Facebook, before transport time we usually post cats who need sponsors for their travel fees. You can donate there too!

  3. DRIVE: Are you interested in driving on one of these transports? If you love cats and long drives, we’d love to hear from you! Apply here.