Cool Cat Creates Dog Testing Program At Muttville Senior Dog Rescue

Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in San Francisco was struggling to match senior dogs with adopters who already had cats — about 40% of potential adopters — because the rescue only knew the cat-compatibility of a handful of dogs at a time. Volunteer Missy Dominguez offered a simple idea that changed that: bring her calm, social cat Mustache into controlled meetings so staff could see how dogs reacted to a real feline in the room. Testing happens one dog at a time. A leashed dog spends two to four minutes with the visiting cat while Muttville staff, led by adoption director Kimberly Benjamin, read body language. Dogs that remain loose, briefly sniff and then look away are considered safe to place in homes with cats. Dogs that become rigid, stare and display raised hackles fail the test, and staff end the meeting immediately to protect the cat volunteer. The shelter runs 20 to 30 of these assessments every other Friday and reports only one or two failures most sessions. The practical result has been a faster path to adoption for senior dogs: hundreds have been cleared as cat-friendly and moved into homes they might otherwise have waited months for. Benjamin and others say the approach is easy to replicate and can meaningfully increase placement rates for older dogs by giving adopters confidence their new pet will coexist with resident cats. Mustache, who had been an office cat at Hopalong Animal Rescue before Dominguez adopted him three years ago, led the program until he died suddenly on June 10. He had been living as a hospice cat because of a large abdominal mass, but his temperament made him ideal for the role. His protégé, Little Dude, has been trained to continue the testing work and carry on Mustache’s legacy. The program has already produced success stories: a California couple adopted Subway, a 14-year-old miniature long-haired Dachshund mix, after she passed Mustache’s test and report she and their resident cat are living together peacefully. Dominguez hopes other shelters will consider inviting calm, well-socialized house cats to help screen dogs, and she encourages cat owners to consider fostering or adopting senior dogs, who are often calm, house-trained and likely to coexist with feline family members.