American Humane, the United States' first national humane organization, created Adopt-A-Cat Month in 1974 as a June campaign to push shelter adoption over buying, timed to the height of kitten season when shelters fill with new litters.
CHAPTER 01
From broad welfare work to a specific problem
By the 1970s, the organization had nearly a century of welfare work behind it. It also faced a recurring shelter problem with a clear seasonal shape: cats arriving faster than homes could take them.
That gap is what a national campaign could close. An established group with a national voice could ask the public to do one concrete thing at the right time of year.
