The level of cuteness has never wavered inside the walls of People for Animal Wellbeing, but with the grand opening of its new cat space, the level of comfort has skyrocketed.
“By demolishing our old kennels and installing a new and improved caging system, we were able to triple our capacity in the room, but also through improved use of space, through the use of vertical space, we’ve been able to improve the living conditions of the cats,” said executive director Heather Smith.
The upgrades were all part of a cat room campaign which Smith says started off with an idea last January.
“Cats are the most received animal at the shelter, with about 70 adoptions a month. We had an idea to renovate an adoption room with a goal of improving animal welfare and accessibility to the community,” she said.
While the entire project saw a lot of improvements, the three main areas include a new kitchen space with a dishwasher, larger vertical cages and, for the first time ever, a communal and accessible cat room.
“The community cat room, to me, is the highlight of this whole project,” said Smith.
“It’s created a warm, welcoming space where not only are the cats living in, they’re able to move freely about, but also the community and adopters can come in and interact with them.”
From start to finish, the upgrade cost around $60,000. Smith says roughly $20,000 came from the Betty White Campaign last year, $35,000 came from community grants and corporate sponsorships and the rest was made up by the community.
GFL Environmental helped sponsor the room through its program called the Full Circle Project, which allows donations to local charities.
“It’s such an improvement from what they had before,” said operations coordinator Debbie Chapman.
She says throughout the renovation process, PAW kept GFL up to date on how their money was being spent.
“I volunteered here when it was the SPCA, a few years back, and that was one of the things. There’s such a turnover with the cats and the accommodations were, you know, it was what they had, but since PAW took it over, it’s so fantastic. The cats look so happy.”
This is the first time that Moncton’s GFL Environmental has used the Full Circle Project and Chapman says they picked PAW because it’s a charity close to their heart and their business.
“We’re actually their neighbours, first off, and it seems that a lot of animals end up at our doorstep, mainly cats,” she said.
“People seem to drop them off thinking that they’re going to make their way here, but they don’t and then we end up feeding them and coaching them in to get ahold of them so we can bring them here.”
On average, PAW says around 1,000 cats come through its doors annually and around 70 cats and kittens are adopted each month.
“A happy cat equals a healthy cat,” said Smith.
“So improved ventilation, improved living quarters, should increase adoptability accessibility for the public to come in and interact and hopefully will help them meet their perfect match and want to take them home.”
