Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows Times

Cat shelter finds new home in portables
The Times
Published: Friday, July 27, 2007

The new buildings for Katie's Place animal shelter have arrived on the site prepared for them behind the SPCA shelter on Jackson Road.

It's been a long wait for the volunteer-run organization, which received notice 18 months ago that the owners of their current building needed it back. The municipality agreed to lease property to the group, and the volunteers found sturdy portables that were affordable and provided enough space.

The portables arrived in two halves, which will be connected by a central hallway over the next few days. Rooms down both sides of the former office building will be converted into communal rooms for the more than 100 cats currently living at Katie's Place.

"This is so important," volunteer Brigitta MacMillan said. "It's a turning point for us. We've been an ad hoc little group of animal lovers working out of a borrowed barn. Somewhere along the line we were recognized -- and recognized ourselves -- as a bona fide shelter. But now, with a real facility designed for our purpose, we've taken another step higher. It will be a huge boon to us to be in this new place."

Establishing a new facility has been a slow process with unexpected twists and set backs. A survey was delayed by snow and storms. A foundation suddenly had to be prepared when a new location on the site was set for the building.

Utilities can be connected, renovations made and the animals finally moved in. The volunteers said they hope the animals can move in by the end of summer.

"It all depends on the availability of workers and expertise now," MacMillan said. "The group is hoping that everyone who has offered to help when the time comes will be able to come out now."

The connecting hallway and other modifications to the portables will be done by the company from which the buildings were purchased, Williams Scotsman. One unexpected twist is an upgrade in code requirements which requires strengthening of strategic points to meet new seismic standards. That will mean some juggling of priorities in the volunteers' budget. Then carpeting needs to be removed and linoleum laid, new windows need to be installed, and outside porches for each room will be added along both sides of the building with doors added for access.

Fortunately, a grant from the Vancouver Foundation provides for the porches. Security fencing will then enclose the whole shelter.

Indoor plumbing and hot running water will be luxuries for the volunteers, who used an outdoor pump for cleaning since they opened in January, 2001.

The shelter has helped more than 1,800 animals since then.

To date, 1,256 animals recovered their health and trust and have been adopted into new homes. Other animals live in foster care or have been altered and returned to where they came from. For 201 animals, the volunteers could offer only love and palliative care at the end of their lives. Through donations, Katie's Place has spent $223,123 on veterinary care.

w For more information on Katie's Place, call 463-7917, or visit http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/BC136.html.

© Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times 2007