Photograph by Claire Lefton
In 1873, SPCA Cincinnati (then called the Ohio Humane Society) was established in the heart of the city as the center for animal rescue and pet resources. In the over 150 years of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ presence in the Queen City, the organization has moved around town, eventually settling into its permanent Sharonville campus—but when current SPCA CEO and President Chris Seelbach took over in 2025, he knew that one shelter in the suburbs wasn’t enough for the amount of animals in need.
Photograph courtesy SPCA Cincinnati
“It was clear that we had to reduce the length of stay that our dogs are staying in the shelter,” says Seelbach. “My board chair and I were having dinner in OTR with a leader from Dogs Playing for Life talking about ways we could do that. The guy—who’s not from Cincinnati—was like ‘Look around this neighborhood! This is where life is happening and where people live and work and play. You need to bring dogs and cats here for people to adopt.'”
The new facility at 1312 Main St. functions as a more intimate adoption experience with room for six dogs at a time, including a storefront viewing area that replicates a living room setting and puts the adoptable pups in view of passersby. Cat lovers can come and check out both a quiet room for older felines and the raucous Kitten Colony up the front where both guests and the public can watch a gaggle of energetic kittens playing around in the window.
Despite being open for less than a week, the 1,795 square-foot facility has already garnered excitement amongst downtown’s animal enthusiasts and local celebrities. At the adoption center’s opening day, you could’ve run into Sam Hubbard, Andrew Abbot, and Seelbach’s internet-famous cat Pumpkin. The animals, of course, were the real stars of the show with one dog being adopted less than two hours after the ribbon cutting.
Photograph courtesy SPCA Cincinnati
“To be able to see people out on the street looking in the windows and just seeing the smiles that automatically come when looking at these dogs and cats who need homes has brought me so much joy and happiness,” says Seelbach. He hopes that the central location and shop-like displays will benefit both the animals that need homes and lonely city-dwellers who could use a furry friend.
“We want to be part of the community and help match families into peoples’ lives. It’s tough for a lot of people right now and animals provide an immense amount of happiness,” he says. “They’ll both provide each other so much comfort. That is our goal. To get these animals out of the shelter and into homes and I think this is going to be a great way to do that.”
Photograph courtesy SPCA Cincinnati
You can visit the adoption center any day of the week between noon and 6 p.m. at 1312 Main St. If you’re interested in volunteering with SPCA Cincinnati, you can sign up here.
