New Beginnings for Cats

New Beginnings for Cats Welcome to New Beginnings for Cats, a place where we believe every cat deserves a second chance. We believe every cat deserves a second chance.

For donations, you may click on our “Donate” button on the main page or donate through PayPal by clicking this link:
paypal.me/newbeginningsforcats We are a no-kill sanctuary with 2,000 sq ft free-roaming home- like environment cat shelter in rural Bourbonnais, IL. The complex includes a totally protected environment for feral cats and a facility for the care and support of FIV and Feline Leukemia

infected cats. We lovingly call our shelter Cat-Landia and our human friends are our Catizens! Follow us daily to see the ongoing adventures of Roy, the Rebel of Cat-Landia. Stop in and meet Spirit--the sweetest girl in the world. Welcome to our family Catizens!

Hansel (our cute, blind leukemia positive kitty) wants to remind you of the birthday party celebration for the FIV+ and ...
04/26/2025

Hansel (our cute, blind leukemia positive kitty) wants to remind you of the birthday party celebration for the FIV+ and leukemia positive kitties. It's happening tomorrow, Sunday, April 27th from 1 - 4 pm at the Bourbonnais Municipal Center building.
We will enjoy an ice cream sundae bar and cake! We will also have raffle baskets at this event.

(NOTE: Hansel's birthday is actually July 4th. He will turn 5 years old this year! Hansel has been leukemia positive since he was a young kitten, and sadly, most of them do not live past the age of 1 or 2. We are blessed to have had Hansel outlive the expectations. We never take this for granted! He is a joy to be around!) 😻 🥰 💕

Just a reminder that our birthday party celebration for our beloved FIV and leukemia cats will be next Sunday, April 27 ...
04/20/2025

Just a reminder that our birthday party celebration for our beloved FIV and leukemia cats will be next Sunday, April 27 from 1 - 4 pm at the Bourbonnais Municipal Community room!
On a daily basis, we care for nine feline leukemia positive kitties and 13 FIV positive kitties. Although our goal is to find loving adoptive homes for each of them, we do realize that many of them will live out their lives in our care. We are blessed to have them and we are committed to making them feel loved, wanted, cared for, and spoiled! They truly are some of the nicest cats on the planet! 😻
We hope that you will consider joining us in our celebration next Sunday. We want to celebrate these wonderful cats' lives and we are so grateful that we got another year with each of them! 💕🎂
(Pictured below are a few of our amazing cats!)

Hi! My name is Flow and I'm a sweet FIV+ kitty who just arrived to New Beginnings on March 30. My journey is quite a lon...
04/08/2025

Hi! My name is Flow and I'm a sweet FIV+ kitty who just arrived to New Beginnings on March 30. My journey is quite a long one. You see, I was found on the streets of Miami by a wonderful lady named Brenna. She knew I didn't belong in a feral colony so she found someone to temporarily foster me. She took me to the vet and I had a few health issues going on (including being FIV+).
Brenna began reaching out through social media to try to find a shelter that could give me a home. My time in foster care was running out and no shelter could take me. Jenn from New Beginnings happened to see a social media post about me and contacted Brenna and said that I could have a nice home with them! So, Brenna and I took an airplane ride from Miami to Midway airport!
I was a little nervous on the plane and nervous when I got to the shelter, but I'm fitting in very nicely! I have a nice, soft bed and plenty of food to enjoy! I'm even starting to make friends with the other kitties!
I'm a lucky guy that someone as kind as Brenna would work so hard to find a shelter that would take me! She is my hero! ❤️

SAVE THE DATE! We're having a birthday party celebration for all of our FIV+ and leukemia positive kitties on Sunday, Ap...
04/02/2025

SAVE THE DATE! We're having a birthday party celebration for all of our FIV+ and leukemia positive kitties on Sunday, April 27, from 1 - 4 pm, at the Bourbonnais Municipal Center building.
This event is to celebrate the lives of these extra special kitties! We are so thankful that they continue to survive their diseases and are happy and healthy! We love caring for this group of kitties and never take their birthdays for granted!
Please see the flyer below with all of the details and consider joining us for the best birthday party ever! (Note: the pictures below are some of our wonderful FIV+ and leukemia positive kitties).

Hi! We want to give Kaden, from Boy Scout troop 361, a big thank you for all of your hard work on our kitchen renovation...
03/30/2025

Hi! We want to give Kaden, from Boy Scout troop 361, a big thank you for all of your hard work on our kitchen renovation project! Kaden and his amazing team spent all day and evening on Saturday putting in a new kitchen for his Eagle Scout project. (They are even coming back to put in a new back splash)!
It turned out so wonderfully and will make it much easier to help us stay organized, serve up our kitties' food, and prepare our med treatments! From the bottom of our hearts, we sincerely thank you and are very grateful for you!
And, lobby cat Pollyanna is happy to report that it passed all inspections! She approves! 😻

Hi! We wanted to give a happy update on our three new kitties that were surrendered a few weeks ago. If you recall, the ...
03/28/2025

Hi! We wanted to give a happy update on our three new kitties that were surrendered a few weeks ago. If you recall, the man who surrendered them shoved the stroller they were in at one of our shelter techs and stormed out. The kitties were so frightened at first. But after a couple of days they realized that we were there to help them feel comfortable. We promised them that they would only know love from here on out.
Below are a few recent pictures showing them settling in. They seem to be very good friends and love to be with each other, so we hope that when it comes time for adoption, a special person or family would be willing to adopt all three of them! They have been through so much together and we intend to let them stay together for life!💕
PS... We also want to thank everyone who donated towards their care or shared their post. We were able to get all of their vet work done and they are healthy, happy kitties! 😻

Hi! We wanted to let you know that our shelter will be closed this weekend, March 29-30. We have a local Boy Scout comin...
03/28/2025

Hi! We wanted to let you know that our shelter will be closed this weekend, March 29-30. We have a local Boy Scout coming out to refurbish our kitchen area, as part of his Eagle Scout project!
Our shelter kitchen has been in a desperate need of repair for quite a while and we are so thankful for his help! Below are some of our before pictures. (Our sink leaks and our cabinets are breaking). We will post the "after" pictures on Sunday!

Hi! A few weeks ago, a wonderful young lady named Nicole came into our shelter looking for a senior cat (knowing that se...
03/26/2025

Hi! A few weeks ago, a wonderful young lady named Nicole came into our shelter looking for a senior cat (knowing that senior cats often get overlooked when it comes to adoption). She met two bonded senior cats named Penny and Annie. She knew that they needed to come home with her! Penny is about 15 years old and Annie was just getting ready to celebrate her 19th birthday!
Not long after Annie's 19th birthday, she started to suddenly have some health issues and Nicole was with her as she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. As sad as this was to Nicole and all of us, we were so happy that Annie was blessed with her forever home, even if for just a short time. In that time, Annie was able to enjoy many meals of cooked chicken (her favorite!), a spa day at the groomers, and she had a fun 19th birthday celebration! All cats should be so lucky!
Penny continues to thrive in Nicole's home, and recently she adopted a new friend for Penny, our very own Midnight Muppet! (Midnight was a senior kitty dumped on our shelter road a few months ago and it took us a couple of days to find her and get her to the safety of our shelter). While Midnight will never replace sweet Annie, Nicole knew she wanted to give another older cat a chance at a family!
We appreciate adopters like Nicole, who see the beauty and value of senior cats. Thank you, Nicole, for being a friend and family member to these senior cats - may your example of kindness and compassion inspire other people to take a chance on a senior cat! 😻 💕

Hi! My name is Munchie, and I am the leukemia positive kitty who had my dental surgery on Tuesday. I am back at the shel...
03/22/2025

Hi! My name is Munchie, and I am the leukemia positive kitty who had my dental surgery on Tuesday. I am back at the shelter and recovering well! I am able to eat soft foods very well and I am purring all of the time! ☺️
Because of amazing supporters like you I am able to live a healthy, happy and pain-free life!
Thank you to everyone who donated towards the cost of my dental surgery and to everyone who shared my post! I am a very lucky kitty to have people who care so much about me! 🥰

03/18/2025

Our March fundraising campaign is just around the corner. This inspiring email and online fundraiser will help support medical expenses for our beloved companions. Every donation, no matter how small, brings us closer to our goal.

03/18/2025

We extend our sincerest gratitude to Texas Roadhouse for hosting our event and providing exceptional support. We appreciate everyone who participated in our Dine to Donate fundraiser yesterday and are deeply thankful for your contributions. The winners of the baskets are as follows: Men's - Micki M, Women's - Mo M, Children's - Addison.

Hi! All of the kitties and humans want to say a great big THANK YOU for all of the love, support, post shares, and donat...
03/10/2025

Hi! All of the kitties and humans want to say a great big THANK YOU for all of the love, support, post shares, and donations for our three new kitties and for Munchie, who desperately needs dental surgery. We are humbled by everyone's generosity and concern, and are so blessed to have a community that supports us, as we try to save as many cats as we can!
Our three new kitties are settling in nicely and are so comfortable with us. They purr when we pet them and enjoy socializing! They are quite friendly! 😻 We are naming them Lucky (black kitty), Shamrock (orange kitty), and Clover (brown tiger kitty).
Thanks, again, for helping us care for these beautiful kitties! 💖

LONG POST! Some days are extra tough in animal rescue. Yesterday, a man came into our shelter with three adult cats in a...
03/06/2025

LONG POST! Some days are extra tough in animal rescue. Yesterday, a man came into our shelter with three adult cats in a stroller. He told one of our shelter techs that he was leaving the cats at our shelter. Our shelter tech told him that we had no open cages for any intakes at this time. The man proceeded to shove the stroller at our amazing shelter tech and then proceeded to use some vulgar language towards her. He then walked out, got into his car, and sped away. We do have pictures of the vehicle and we have filed a police report for animal abandonment, as well as aggression towards one of our shelter techs.

These poor kitties are scared to say the least. Their entire world has been turned upside down in a matter of moments. We will make sure that these kitties have a great life with us and our hope is that we can find them the home that they certainly deserve!

We were not expecting to take in three more kitties who need to be fed and vetted. But, this is what you do for animals in need.

I know it seems that animal rescues are always asking for donations. The truth is we get no funding, besides donations. We humbly ask for any help that the public may give us to take care of these new kitties. Our budget is stretched very thin right now as we have a leukemia cat named Munchie in need of a dental and much of our emergency funds are going towards her dental surgery.

Please consider even a small donation, because everything helps. Sharing our post and spreading awareness about what animal rescues do can also help tremendously.

We have included pictures of Munchie as well as our three new kitty friends. We think it's important for the public to see who they are helping. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for all of the support you show to our kitties. There is no possible way to do what we do without your help!
Sincerely, Jenn (19-year New Beginnings volunteer) 💕

It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our founder, Harry Carpenter. Visitation will be held on Mond...
02/06/2025

It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our founder, Harry Carpenter. Visitation will be held on Monday, February 10th, from 10am until the memorial mass at 10:30 at St. Rose of Lima in Kankakee. For full details, please refer to the Kankakee Daily Journal.

Hi! Hansel, our sweet blind leukemia kitty, wanted to let you know that our shelter will be closed tomorrow for the New ...
12/31/2024

Hi! Hansel, our sweet blind leukemia kitty, wanted to let you know that our shelter will be closed tomorrow for the New Year 's Day holiday. (He had a meeting about this decision with his friends, Sully and Jesse, and this is what they decided)!
Happy New Year to everyone and, as always, thanks for all of your support of the kitties residing at New Beginnings! 😻 🥰

About a week before Christmas a nice gentleman named Tim came in looking for an older kitty. He stated that he was looki...
12/26/2024

About a week before Christmas a nice gentleman named Tim came in looking for an older kitty. He stated that he was looking for a senior kitty, who was on the calm side, and just wanted a nice couch to lay on. Tim spent quite a long time here looking at our different senior kitties. He went into one of our cat rooms and fell in love with a 15-year-old kitty named Whiskers! Tim knew he had found his purrfect buddy! Just a couple of days before Christmas, Whiskers got the ultimate gift of a forever home!
We are so thankful for people like Tim who see the beauty and joy that define senior kitties! They are some of the most overlooked kitties in shelters and they still have so much love to give, if people are just willing to give them a chance! Thanks, Tim, for giving Whiskers that chance! ❤️ 😻

Hi! We will be closed on Christmas Day so that our staff can take care of our kitties and celebrate Christmas with them!...
12/23/2024

Hi! We will be closed on Christmas Day so that our staff can take care of our kitties and celebrate Christmas with them! We will be open today (Monday, Dec. 23) from 10 - 2. Feel free to stop by; the kitties would love some visitors! Thanks for all of the support you've given the kitties this year - we couldn't do this without you! Merry Christmas! 😻🎄🎀 🎁

Address

7701 E 3500N Road
Bourbonnais, IL
60914

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 1:30pm
Wednesday 10am - 1:30pm
Friday 10am - 1:30pm
Saturday 10am - 1:30pm
Sunday 10am - 1:30pm

Telephone

+18154724734

Website

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