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Maple Ridge News Britsh Columbia
Katie's move to new place purring along
Simone Ponne/THE NEWS
Brigitta MacMillan, holding a cat named Peter, in front of a new portable that will house Katie's Place, next to the SPCA shelter in Albion.
By Phil Melnychuk
Staff Reporter
Aug 08 2007
With any luck, by the end of next month, Stitch, who lost her tail in a car accident, will have a more comfortable place to doze.
And so too will Lucas, a former street cat, until he broke his leg, and Bootsy Boy, who suffered an injury that had sheared the side of his head when he came to Katie's Place.
The volunteer-run animal shelter is moving in to its new digs in September, now that the two portable buildings are on site, next to the SPCA on Jackson Road.
The trailers have each had one of the sides removed, allowing them to be placed beside each other and creating a spacious corridor. Along each side of the hallway, eight or nine communal rooms will be built that will accommodate about 15 cats. Each room will have cat-walks and resting pads on the walls, allowing use of the vertical space to maximize occupancy.
"It's a huge relief, a huge relief to actually see the buildings on site," said Brigitta MacMillan, with the shelter.
Organizers have been looking for a new home and raising money for it for a year and a half since learning the owners of a donated farm building on 240th Street, at 115th Avenue, their present home, needed the building back.
"It really has been asking a lot . to ask them to live with that, so I'm sure they'll be delighted to have their building back," said MacMillan.
So far, the charity has raised $133,575 for the move and has about $47,000 remaining for the project.
The new Katie's Place will have hot, running water - indispensable when in an animal shelter, but one their previous building didn't have.
There also will be more room, with each of the communal chambers being able to hold 15 cats, allowing the shelter to care for about 135 cats at a time. The shelter finds homes for about 200 cats a year.
Volunteers met Saturday to check out their new digs and brought along Pete, a cat who was brought in with a serious paw injury. Vets thought he'd lose his paw, but it's since recovering nicely.
Once the utilities are hooked up, several more mundane chores remain: painting and landscaping has to be done; outdoor signs have to be made to tell people it's not the SPCA; while finishing carpentry inside, building the cat-walks is also needed; as well, vinyl flooring has to be installed as well as lighting, so trades people would be welcome.
Even the old building needs to be cleaned up after accommodating 100 or so cats a year for the past half dozen years, before it's returned to its owner.
MacMillan hopes that if enough volunteers show up, everything should be done by September.
Anybody who wants to help can call 604-463-7917.