For Bonne VeVea, co-founder and director of Kirkland’s Meow Animal Shelter, taking care of critters has always been second nature. 

VeVea credits her mother with instilling in her a deep love and respect for all living things. “I remember helping her care for injured birds, stray cats and an abandoned dog tied to a tree,“ says VeVea. 

“As a child I would make piles of acorns at the base of our oak tree so that squirrels wouldn’t have to work so hard,” she remembers. “I’ve always felt that it was our job as humans to nurture animals. I still can’t walk past an animal without talking to it.” 

For VeVea, it’s simple.

“Animals just make me happy and I’d like to do the same for them.” 

VeVea said the idea for Meow grew out of an experience she had at a pet supply store.  

“I came upon a cat rescue organization conducting an adoption event there. I stopped in my tracks when I saw the cats in cages," she says. "The reality of homeless animals could not be denied. That was a pivotal moment in my life.”  

VeVea spent the next few years volunteering for that rescue organization and learning about the magnitude of the issue of homeless animals in the area and around the county. 

“Eventually I was talked into the monumental task of creating a new organization with the support of a few others who shared my no-kill philosophy,” she explains. 

Since the shelter became a registered nonprofit organization in 1997, “Meow has grown into a strong organization with a small hands-on board of directors, a very small paid staff, and hundreds of volunteers who give of themselves in whatever ways they can,” says VeVea. 

Part of her role at the shelter is finding ways to spread the word about preventing animal homelessness before it starts. While many regions are challenged by an influx of kittens in the spring, that isn’t the case here in the Northwest. 

“While we’d like to think that Mother Nature takes a break in winter, the fact is that births slow down only slightly in our area,” notes VeVea. 

“The most responsible thing any pet owner can do is to have their pets spayed or neutered and also report free-roaming cats so that they too can be altered," she instructs. "There will never be a shortage of kittens.” 

Many kittens, cats and the occasional dog get help from the people at Meow. Currently, there are nearly 200 felines in Meow’s care — 65 at the shelter and 135 in foster care. Twenty dogs are also being tended to in foster homes. 

In Kirkland’s Houghton neighborhood, it is a unique respite for pets waiting to find new homes.

“We are a no-kill shelter. Every cat that comes to Meow gets to stay with us as long as it takes: whether it’s a day, week, month or year,” explains Marilyn Hendrickson, director of donations and marketing. 

“Working together we have saved the lives of well over 16,000 animals and enhanced the lives of the people who adopted them,” says VeVea. 

When it comes to adoptions, the humans at Meow make sure their four-legged friends go to good homes. People interested in adopting fill out an application that must be approved by an adoption counselor and the shelter manager.  

All the cats are spayed/neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and more. They even leave the shelter with a free wellness check-up voucher. 

The payoff from adopting a pet can be great.  

“I’m a sucker for happy endings,” says VeVea. “We all work so hard to save lives and to facilitate the very best matches. We often hear from adopters, sometimes years later, sharing stories of their beloved Meow cats or dogs.”