Etobicoke Humane Society - Etobicoke, Ontario

Josie C.

Eight Years Overdue – A Long, Honest Review Full of Gratitude

It’s hard to know where to begin when you’ve received years of incredible support, guidance, collaboration, and responsibility-sharing from an organization like the Etobicoke Humane Society (EHS). This review is long overdue—eight years, to be exact—but it’s filled with nothing but honesty and immense gratitude.

We are Hamilton Street CATS, a small, dedicated trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) organization. Around eight years ago, we hit a major wall. We had no resources in the Hamilton area willing or able to step up and help us with many of the cats we were trapping—cats who could not be returned to the streets due to a variety of circumstances:
• They were adoptable but scared.
• They had health issues we simply couldn’t afford to address.
• There was no identified feeder, meaning releasing them would be the same as re-abandonment—and a gamble with their survival.
• We had no space left within our small team to take them in.

That’s when Etobicoke Humane Society stepped in.

Let’s pause and recognize something: EHS is entirely volunteer-run. Every single time I’ve had the honor of meeting a new volunteer or working with one of their seasoned team members, the experience has been the same—without exception. These individuals are like-minded, compassionate, well-informed, thoroughly trained, and entirely committed to the wellbeing of the animals in their care. They’re everything you could hope for in a rescue organization.

On average, we reach out to EHS a couple of times a year. We understand there’s often a waitlist, and we work closely with their intake team to assess urgency. But we also know—and respect—that if a cat is on death row at a shelter, they will always be prioritized. We’ve never felt anything but support and understanding, even when things are delayed. Because at the end of the day, it’s about saving lives and giving the cat the best!

EHS has the most thorough, consistent, and well-documented processes I’ve ever seen in animal care, adoption, intake, and rescue. Their procedures aren’t just red tape—they’re what ensure that every single animal is given the best possible chance, the best care, and the best future. Their standards are high, and rightly so, lives depend on it.

I estimate that over the years, at least 50 cats from Hamilton Street CATS have been taken in by EHS. Not once have I had to worry about their wellbeing. Not once have I questioned the level of care they’ve received or who they’ve been placed with in their forever homes or foster home.

To the volunteers, the leadership team, and everyone behind the scenes at Etobicoke Humane Society—thank you. From the bottom of our hearts.
Your compassion, dedication, and unwavering support have not only saved lives, but have also given us the strength to keep going when things felt impossible.

You are our heroes.

Attaching some pictures of just a small group of cats who all made it to their forever homes!

With heartfelt gratitude,
Hamilton Street CATS
Josie, Cindy, Sandi

Vishwa S.

We had the most wonderful experience adopting our cat, Sirius from Etobicoke Humane Society! 🐾 Sirius is an eight month old, full of energy, super active and lovely kitten. From the moment we visited the shelter on January 26, we fell in love with our little guy 😻. The entire adoption process was seamless and incredibly well-organized—we were amazed at how quickly everything moved, and we were able to bring him home in just a week! 🏡✨

A huge shoutout to Volunteer April and Adoption Coordinator Barb—they were absolutely amazing and so supportive throughout the process! 💕 The volunteers were super active and incredibly responsive via email, answering all our questions promptly and keeping us updated every step of the way. Their dedication and passion for animal welfare truly shine through! 🌟🐾

Thanks to EHS, our cat is now thriving in his forever home, and we couldn’t be happier! 😻 If you’re looking to adopt, we highly recommend Etobicoke Humane Society—they genuinely care about their animals and go above and beyond to match them with loving families. 🏡🐾

Thank you, EHS, for bringing so much joy into our lives! ❤️🐱✨

Mariya L.

We adopted Bean from Etobicoke Humane Society a little less than a week ago, and the whole process was smooth and easy. The team was incredibly helpful, answering our emails quickly and making the experience stress-free. We had a great impression from start to finish.
Along with our new family member, we received food for the first few days and some toys, which was a lovely touch.
A huge thank you to Etobicoke Humane Society, Caitlin, and everyone who gave us a tour while we were choosing our cat!

The K.

After our last cat passed, we decided to adopt again. We prefer to give older cats who are often overlooked another chance at a happy home for their remaining years. EHS volunteers were fantastic...friendly, accommodating, understanding, and thorough. We found their online bios for available pets to be much more detailed and accurate than other organizations we looked at, and written in a very friendly tone. The adoption process was the most detailed we've ever seen and it's apparent that the staff really care for the animals rather than just focused on getting them out the door. Even though they were on the opposite end of the city from us, if you're looking to adopt, we highly recommend using EHS!
As a result of our time dealing with them, we landed the dapper gentleman Billy!

James Q.

Had a great experience with EHS - they take the health and care of their animals very seriously and make sure that their new forever home guardian will give them a safe and comfortable life. Truly blessed with the little cat I've adopted from them.

玟

This shelter possibly hoard their cats. They do not want their cats to be adopted by perfectly capable adopters. Poor cats need homes, they’d rather cage them up for God knows how long. They straight up manipulated me into thinking I was the insane one. I was going to adopt one of their cats that I’ve set my heart on for MONTHS. On the cat’s profile, it was written that the cat would love going in a carrier outside, which led me to say that I’d take him outside in a carrier during our phone interview. My application was refused because they didn’t agree that I should take the cat outside, I obviously told them that his profile stated otherwise, and they’re the ones who wrote the profile, weren’t they? After that, they SHAMELESSLY changed his profile, removed the part where it says he wanna go outside and had the audacity to say “I understand what you said about his profile, but we already updated it.” WHAT? My answer was based on the profile ALONE, which YOU wrote YOURSELF. This is 100% your responsibility, you shouldn’t have written that in the first place.
I know I would be a great pet parent, and this cat is disabled. They know perfectly well how hard it is to find adopters for disabled cats, yet they rejected me when it’s 100% their own fault. I don’t even know why except they probably hoard their cats. I shared this story on a social media platform which gained 27k views and people were furious, you guys should be ashamed of yourselves. And you call yourself a loving shelter? Bullshit.

Judy M.

I had a wonderful experience adopting from the Etobicoke Humane Society. Everyone I had contact with was very kind and helpful throughout the entire process. They do such good work ensuring the animals they obviously care so much about are going to a suitable home. I am extremely happy with my cat Poe. He is an absolute delight!

Nicole D.

We recently adopted a sweet cat named Fred from the Etobicoke Humane Society, and it was a great experience! The volunteers were very friendly and knowledgeable about the cats, helping my family to find a good match. The adoption process took some time, but we appreciated their dedication to finding good homes for the animals. They have also taken time to follow up with us since we brought Fred home, making sure that the process went smoothly! We appreciated all their help! 🙂