Within the occasion you watched the Season 8 finale of My Cat From Hell, then you definately positively observed Jackson and I, along with the unimaginable group from GreaterGood.org‘s Rescue Rebuild program, makeover the Santé D’Or Foundation cat adoption center in Los Angeles, CA. We reworked it from a ho-hum cage-filled room to a vibrant and pleasant Catified home. I wanted to current you a behind-the-scenes check out exactly what we did and the best way the design modified the shelter right into a spot that every cats and folk can now take pleasure in.
After we arrived, the first room of the adoption center was filled with wire cages. It was clear and setting pleasant nonetheless not inviting to company and potential adoptees. Moreover, there was little or no room for cats to roam and practically nothing for them to climb on aside from the tops of the cages and a few cupboards proper right here and there.
As with all shelter catification duties, there have been quite a lot of goals: 1) current the cats with what they need — areas to climb, leisure, scratch and play along with entry to meals, water and litter, 2) make it easy for workers and volunteers to wash and care for the cats, and three) create a welcoming home that invites company and potential adopters to come back again in, have a seat and spend time attending to know the cats.
One factor for All people
As a result of the cages wanted to maintain for code causes, we modified the wire cages with pretty new kennels from Mason Agency and Shor-Line and moved all of them to the perimeter of the room. This left a large open home inside the center of the bottom the place I designed two huge rolling platforms. Each platform has seating for company, climbing platforms and cubbies for the cats and storage beneath the seating. See how we hit all three goals there? One factor for the cats, one factor for the company and one factor for the shelter employees. Win-win-win!
Cozy Cat Cubbies
The cat cubbies on the rolling platforms are my favorite half. After we first arrived, all the cats had been of their cages sitting in materials hammocks that had been added to the cages. The cats beloved these hammocks so I wanted to mix them into the open home, to current them a well known and comfortable place to leisure with out having to cowl of their cages. I designed and made fleece hammocks for each compartment. You can see that the compartments are all linked so cats can switch freely between the cubbies. This trend no one feels trapped nonetheless they’ve a cushty hideaway the place company can nonetheless see them and work along with them.
The hammocks join with clips to sturdy rings mounted inside each cubby. Staff can merely take away the hammocks and throw them inside the washer then dangle them once more up after they’re clear. It’s a very good suggestion for shelters to have two or three full items of hammocks like this so you’ll on a regular basis have a transparent set out and as a minimum one set inside the laundry.
You can see that the cats now have giant open areas throughout the rolling platforms to run and play, plus it makes it less complicated for company and employees to maneuver by the use of the home. With seating all through each of the platforms, quite a lot of people can sit and play with the cats on the same time.
Grand Entrance
There have been quite a lot of totally different gadgets of the enterprise that we addressed as properly, along with the small entrance. This home serves as an airlock, one factor that’s important to include in any establishing that properties free-roaming cats. People enter into this home from the sidewalk, then there is a second door into the room the place the cats are, stopping any cats from escaping. As you’ll see above, we redesigned the doorway to match the branding, setting the tone for the entire home. It’s now fulfilling and vibrant and supplies to the final experience of visiting the adoption center.
Together with Curb Enchantment
We moreover tackled the floor of the establishing because of curb attraction is so needed for drawing potential adopters into the home. Not quite a bit thought had been given to the look of the doorway of the establishing so we added shade and design components exterior.
We constructed a custom-made cat bench and added window decals, a model new awning and a sandwich board positioned perpendicularly to the doorway of the establishing to be a magnet for passersby. A latest coat of paint moreover helped spruce points up.
A Explicit Tribute
You can see from the aspect of the establishing a selected home that we moreover Catified. That’s the Orangey Memorial Wing, named after a beloved cat, Orangey, who was a favorite at Sante D’Or. A beautiful custom-made mural of Orangey by AllPopArt.com may be seen from the street.
The home consists of cat cupboards, scratchers and Kitty Kasa hideaways. The Hollywood Franklin Cat Tower is right for in entrance of the window since it is so delicate, taking over little or no room and by no means blocking the view, allowing cats to climb as a lot as the best cupboards.
Meet & Greet
One different small home on the doorway of the establishing serves as a personal meet & greet room the place company can spend one-on-one time with a particular cat. This home, along with the doorway, had been separated from the first room with a wall created from white metallic bars, giving the feeling of being in a jail. We modified the metallic bars with a divider wall created from corrugated metallic sheets and vibrant acrylic panels. The wall completely reworked the feeling of all the home, plus you’ll see it from the street and it really attracts you in.
On the wall exterior the Meet & Greet room I created a Who’s Who board the place the shelter employees can put up photographs of the cats which could be at current accessible for adoption. This is usually a fulfilling method for company to get to know all the cats.
Contained within the Meet & Greet room we added a vinyl wall decal inside the type of a tree and hung simple Ikea cupboards over the graphic to make it look like the cats are hanging out inside the tree. A CatWheel from CatsWall and two plastic lounge chairs from Ikea make the home inviting for every cats and folk.
Cat Superhighway
We moreover took advantage of the model new kennels throughout the perimeter of the room, using them to create a unbelievable cat superhighway. Beds, hideaways (along with my favorite, The Cat Ball) and scratchers on the tops of the kennels make it a trip spot for the cats, encouraging them to climb up and dangle round.
Cat cupboards and towers, similar to the Lotus Cat Tower from The Refined Feline that we custom-made painted to match the color scheme and one different Franklin Cat Tower, current easy strategies for cats to entry the best of the kennels. I moreover added yoga mats to the best of the kennels for a non-slip flooring that’s easy to wash and low-cost to change as needed.
Whole, we had been very pleased with the top results of this makeover and the second we let the cats out to see their new home we’d inform that that they had been thrilled, too!
Watch the overall episode of My Cat From Hell, Season 8, Episode 10 “A Brave New Cat World” on AnimalPlanet.com, Amazon.com, iTunes or YouTube.