Anyone can volunteer with us! We offer a great way for teens, adults, and students to give back to their communities and earn volunteer hours for work, school, or religious reasons.

We are committed to encouraging young people to volunteer to help animals and welcome those under 18; we base our volunteering on a maturity and animal handling level.

Young kids must have a parent or guardian with them when volunteering.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering! There are several ways you can get involved with TAILS. Many of our volunteer opportunities are ongoing, so you can get involved at any time!

Become a cat caretaker at Petco! — Our adoptable cats are currently at Petco in Westport (1850 Post Road East) and Norwalk (650 Main Ave and 431 Westport Ave) locations. Caring for these cats involves feeding them, cleaning their cubbies, and giving them time and space to stretch their legs and play. Training is provided and required in the form of an initial 45-minute orientation. We offer flexible volunteer shifts both in the mornings and evenings. We ask for an hour or two of your time per shift as often as you would like to. Volunteers manage their own time via our online volunteer calendar.

To get started, sign up to attend a 45-minute orientation at your preferred store. If you don’t see your preferred store listed, check back soon or contact us — we will notify you when we have new opportunities posted.

Foster with us! — Fostering cats or kittens is critical to our ability to continue to save animals from a short, harsh life on the streets. Fostering enables animals the opportunity to be in a safe, home environment while getting socialization. We get a tremendous number of cats and kittens through our spay/neuter activities who we would love to help, but cannot without foster homes. All they need is a spare room. Duration of fostering typically lasts a few weeks, potentially longer if you are able or willing to continue. All fosters are supplied with food, litter, toys and bedding, as needed. Apply here!

Trap with us! — Our feral cat trapping program is the single biggest program we have that saves cats. Also known as "TNR" (Trap-Neuter-Return) — we assist people with catching cats outside and getting them spayed/neutered and vaccinated. Feral cat sites are throughout Fairfield County and trapping is typically at night or on weekends. Training is provided.

Help us with cat transport or recovery — We need help with transporting cats to and from veterinary appointments, foster homes, and helping house a cat one or two nights during their post-surgery recovery period.

Join our fundraising team! — TAILS saves animals by raising funds through our events and newsletters.... and we need help because we are all out doing the rescue work! Whether you want to help plan the events or volunteer at them — this is the team for you.

TEAM TAILS is our walk/run fundraising team. We need help organizing, soliciting for members, posting information and (if interested) participation. Team members walk or run a short distance in a local race and get pledges or make a donation for their participation.

View our opportunities and events for everything we have coming up! If you are interested in volunteering with us and do not see a training opportunity listed, or want to get involved in some other way, please contact us.

Thank you for your interest in fostering!

Please fill out our online fostering application here. Someone from our team will be in touch!

All you need to foster is a spare bedroom, bathroom, or miscellaneous temperature-controlled room in your home, and some space and love in your heart! Our cats don't need much, but they do need YOU!

All fosters are supplied with food, litter, toys and bedding, as needed.

Of course! Consider taking care of our cats at Petco in the Westport (1850 Post Road East) and Norwalk (650 Main Ave and 431 Westport Ave) locations. These cats rely on our volunteers to provide for them.

To get started, sign up to attend a 45-minute orientation at your preferred store. Check out our opportunities and events. If you don’t see an orientation listed, check back soon or contact us— we will notify you when we have new opportunities posted.

Young kids must have a parent or guardian with them when volunteering.

If you are interested in helping with office or administrative tasks, please fill out our volunteer form here.

We do not allow anyone to just play with the cats without providing further care. Signing up for a volunteer shift at Petco involves more than just play. Volunteers must clean the cats’ cubbies, provide fresh food and water, and scoop litter boxes for all cats that reside at that location.

Cats can be played with once everything else is done, and if the cat is interested in playing.

We base our volunteering on a maturity and animal handling level. Young kids must have a parent or guardian with them when volunteering.

Yes, they can! We are committed to encouraging young people to volunteer to help animals and welcome those under 18. We base our volunteering on a maturity and animal handling level.

Please check our response above for all of our volunteer opportunities.

Young kids must have a parent or guardian with them when volunteering.

Please check out our opportunities and events for volunteer orientations, volunteer meetings, adoption events, and more. As we are all-volunteer, we do not have any paid staff.

If you are looking for more information about volunteering, please contact us.

Follow us on social @TAILSSpayNeuter to stay up-to-date on all things TAILS!

For all other inquiries not listed here, please visit our contact us page.