Shelter pets get more room to roam – Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON People hoping to add a cat or dog to their households got their first look Tuesday at new and more comfortable quarters for felines at the Mercer County Animal Shelter.

We started the remodeling last Monday, Assistant Director Stacey Harman said. We finished up last night and today were reopening.

The remodeled cat facilities gives the felines more room to roam and interact. Enrichment items such as shelves for lounging and cubes they can enter are part of the new arrangements.

Weve made all the cats in there cage free, Harman said. We have eight cages in there, but only for those that dont get along and everyone else is free to run.

Getting the cats out of cages decreases the chances for them to get sick, decreases their boredom and keeps their stress levels down, she said. There are plans to give the shelters cats even more space.

We didnt get to do this today because our supplies didnt come in, Harman said. Were going to have an outside patio area.

A pet door in a window will allow the cats to go outside and into a caged area. The cats wont be able to get out, and nobody except for shelter personnel will be able to enter it, she stated. Plans call for starting the patios construction this week and finishing it by next week. A donation from an estate helped fund the remodeling projects.

Dixie is held up by new owner Kim Smith as she waits for her new family to finish adoption papers at the Mercer County Animal Shelter Tuesday. The animal shelter hosted an open house where they encouraged the community to come and check out their remodeled facilities and look for a new pet.

We also have the dog play park that didnt get finished, Harman added. It will be started this week. Theyre actually getting an exercise/play yard. The whole goal behind this is to get them some exercise and out of the cages. What we see happen a lot of times is if they stay in kennels day after day, they get kennel aggression. This will give them exercise and fresh air.

The animal shelter currently houses about 47 cats, but the goal is to get this number down to 30. Between 40 to 45 dogs were at the shelter as of Tuesday.

We put a fresh coat of paint on everything, Harman said. We try to make the shelter more appealing to the public. Its really been amazing, what weve been able to do.

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Originally posted here:
Shelter pets get more room to roam - Bluefield Daily Telegraph