Shelby County Animal Shelter: Cat Castles Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

The Cat Castles were used at the shelter to provide a place for the cats to escape to while they were in the shelter. These castles allowed for the cats to hide, sleep, and go when in their cages. When the cats were adopted, these castles were then used to transport the cats home. The castles also helped acclimate the cat when it got to its forever home.

The grant was awesome in providing a place for our cats to call their own. Here at the shelter, we take cats to help with the overpopulation issue that exists in our community. We are limited in our cage space but still attempt to help out as much as possible. These castles allowed for us to have a place for the cats to go and escape to when things were getting loud or they wanted to be left alone. Cats had a place to escape to which they all seemed to enjoy.

How many pets did this grant help?

Currently, this grant had helped close to 80 cats. This number is still growing as we have several more cat castles that we will be able to use!

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

One specific case involving cats that were assisted by the castle grant were Amy and Andrea. Andrea came into the shelter with her sister Amy. Both cats were fairly shy upon arrival to the shelter. In their cages, they were cornered back in the back and afraid of every sound. The shelter staff placed cat castles in both of the cats cages. Instantly, both cats ran into the castles as if discovering a safe haven. As time progressed, both Amy and Andrea began to come out of the castle and explore. They would come up to the cage door and greet people before wandering back to their castle. Both Amy and Andrea were adopted to two separate families. Both adoptive families commented that the box was extremely helpful in transporting the animals home as well as providing a safe haven for the cat to go to in their new environment.