Community Corner
Cat Wing Opens for Adoptions at San Clemente’s Animal Shelter
The San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter opens its Cat Adoption Room to the public.
The San Clemente-Dana Point animal shelter Saturday unveiled the latest addition to the facility: 1129 square foot cat room including eight “kitty-friendly” suites, a Shy Cats room and a kitty kitchen.
The suites house up to five adult cats, pre-screened for their ability to play with one another, and offer the inhabitants a large window for sunning, catwalks and towers, as well as a private bedding area. The Shy Cats room is a secluded wing allowing less-social kitties their privacy from the public and noises of other animals.
“The idea wasn’t so much to get more cats here but rather to make a better quality of life for the cats that are here,” said Diane Leonard, the Pet Project Foundation Chairman.
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The project has taken the shelter three and a half years and a host of donations to complete. Lorie Hoenow, a previous volunteer of the shelter, left her estate for the welfare of cats as did Jeanne Lockett who adopted her cat from the shelter before she passed away.
The cities of San Clemente and Dana Point together contributed $150,000 as well.
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The layout for the new cat wing came from architect Todd Skendarian of Laguna Beach and Burge Construction of San Clemente. The design of the kitty-suites is thought to be “adopter friendly” to provide adopters a space to view and interact with the cats.
The shelter, a no-kill facility, can hold up to fifty in the public cat rooms and house about five hundred a year.
Before the wing, the average adult cat waited three months before being adopted. Shelter employees hope that the latest design will reveal the cats’ playful sides to potential adopters and thus find more cats permanent homes in coming years.
