Cat Housing for Animal Shelter Environment

mark kumpf

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I am looking for feedback on cat housing for an animal shelter environment. We currently use individual Shoreline stainless steel cages w/ approximately a 3x3 floor space. The litter box is a large sized paper food tray about 6"x4". The water bowl is a 4" stainless steel bowl. I have seen numerous configurations and ideas including open housing in cat rooms, cat condos and others. Our problem in a municipal environment is that we cannot afford to test for the various cat diseases so we could potentially mix cats with transmittable maladies. Any advice or suggestions would be welcome.
 

purrfectcatlove

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At our shelter and animal control ( they have to share the place together ) they do test , at least the shelter is testing the cats . But they also have no room for open housing for the cats . What they do is letting the cats out one by one on the times when it is closed for puplic visitors .There is a cat tree where they all can climp on and enough space to run and jump a little . I think the cages has the same size like yours do .But all cages has a few toys for the cats to play with and little blankets or towels to snuggle . Maybe this would be something to look into for you . Now they all gas the cats who come in and have feline leukemia , or other kind of sickness what they can not deal with . Also the dogs have toys to play with , like balls and things like that .
You could ask the puplic to donate toys and treats and ask for cat trees and other things in your local news papers .
I don't know if that was any help for you or not , but thats all I could think off .
 

hissy

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It's to bad you don't test the animals, because studies have shown that they do so much better in a cageless environment.

CWSI is Israel has cageless rooms for their long-term residents-

CWSI

But if I am to understand this side of your business, you have codes you must follow in order to house these animals am I correct?
 
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mark kumpf

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Originally posted by hissy
It's to bad you don't test the animals, because studies have shown that they do so much better in a cageless environment.

CWSI is Israel has cageless rooms for their long-term residents-

CWSI

But if I am to understand this side of your business, you have codes you must follow in order to house these animals am I correct?
Yes, the difference is what is desirable and best vs the minimum that is required. BIG GAP!
 

tnr1

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Mark...how is the ventilation in the cat room?? My understanding is that having good ventilation is key because as you know...cats can develop upper respitory diseases which are very easily spread.

I guess what you are asking for is some suggestions of "reasonable" changes that you could make in order to make the existing shelter better for the cats but does not require a huge investment in $$??

Katie
 
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mark kumpf

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Originally posted by TNR1
Mark...how is the ventilation in the cat room?? My understanding is that having good ventilation is key because as you know...cats can develop upper respitory diseases which are very easily spread.

I guess what you are asking for is some suggestions of "reasonable" changes that you could make in order to make the existing shelter better for the cats but does not require a huge investment in $$??

Katie
$150,000 HVAC w/ 6+ complete air changes per hour, filters, and additional fans to circulate air. Each animal area has its own system.
 
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