Column: All the love you need is at HATS
Minnow the dog is pet by Ashleigh Steelman at the Humane Animal Treatment Society, in Mount Pleasant, Mich., Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Steelman is the Community Involvement Coordinator at HATS and helps organize volunteers for the facility. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
Spot the dog tries to lick Central Michigan Life reporter Masha Smahliuk's face at the Humane Animal Treatment Society, in Mount Pleasant, Mich., Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Spot would jump into the air and try to lick people's face even if they were standing. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
Spot, a 7-month-old Pitbull and Terrier mix, jumps tirelessly to reach my face, and gives me a big wet kiss. After she is successful, she wiggles her tail and runs away to play with her three siblings. They are a team that isn’t scared to bark at a dog in a neighboring play area or to tear that tennis ball to pieces.
This adorable gang were my friends for the afternoon that I spent touring Isabella County’s Humane Animal Treatment Society (HATS). HATS is a no-kill animal shelter that intakes stray, surrendered and transferred dogs and cats.
Ashleigh Steelman trains volunteers at HATS. She said HATS helps animals find their new homes and also combats the overpopulation of cats and dogs in the area.
“I love animals,” Steelman said, explaining why she chose this job. “But also it's a little deeper than that. (It is) to combat the overpopulation issue, because we have so many animals and not enough homes. There are animals like the cats that are living outside that just suffer.”
A cat lays in a bed inside a cage in the lobbying of the Humane Animal Treatment Society, in Mount Pleasant, Mich., Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Two cats live in the cage, Apollo and Artemis. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
Steelman said HATS relies on community support, and anything from volunteering, to fostering, to adopting animals, helps the shelter.
She said HATS have about 60 volunteers who visit the shelter weekly.
The volunteers’ main job is to take dogs for a walk or socialize with cats, Steelman said.
To become a volunteer, one can find a volunteer program suited for them and fill in an application on the HATS website.
“The feline socializing is really great for them, because it prepares them for meeting new people they haven't seen before and interacting, so they're not scared and hiding or running away from potential adopters," Steelman said. "It really helps them with their chances of adoption."
That’s when Steelman showed me around the area for cats who are ready for adoption. She said a pair of wobbly (neurological disorder that affects coordination) brother cats and seven more dogs and cats found their forever homes this week.
Tater Sauce, a black/brown tiger cat, lays down in a cage at the Humane Animal Treatment Society, in Mount Pleasant, Mich., Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Tater Sauce is housed with six other cats. Volunteers and visitors can go inside the cage to play with the cats or pick them up for adoption. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
In one of the crates, a sassy young lady cat named Hazelnut is still waiting for her forever home. When I came in to say hi to Hazelnut, she filled the room with her sweet purr, let me pet her, hissed at another cat and sniffed Central Michigan Life’s photographer Mark Hoover's camera.
There are usually about 60 cats and 30 dogs waiting for their families at HATS, Steelman said. To adopt a cat or a dog, one can view adoptable pets on the HATS website and fill out an application.
When pets are ready for adoption, they are spayed or neutered and have necessary vaccines, said Chelsea Tenwalde, HATS medical clinic supervisor.
“If you don't spay and neuter your pet, there are hundreds of animals that may be produced from that,” Tenwalde said. “One cat, unspayed, living outside, can produce hundreds in their lifetime. ... It becomes a cycle that's very hard to control.”
Panda the dog walks outside in the sunlight at the Humane Animal Treatment Society, in Mount Pleasant, Mich., Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. Panda was out playing with their brothers and sisters Splash, Minnow and Spot. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
And if you do come to say hi to pets at HATS, know that your heart will be filled with light and love, and you won’t be able to resist taking a new family member home. It is a special place with friendly staff who are always ready to help, and nearly 100 pets whose hearts are filled with hope.
To Spot, Hazelnut, Panda, Sohma, Flora, Bloom and other precious babies at HATS: Your families are going to be so lucky to have you.
Masha Smahliuk is Central Michigan Life's managing editor. She is a junior majoring in Journalism.
