400-square-foot cat room planned for Jackson County Animal Shelter

Veterinarian Cathy Anderson's dream for the Jackson County Animal Shelter was an open, natural living space in which cats could roam around.

After hearing this, Nancy O'Keefe, vice president of Friends of the Animals for the Jackson Area, told Anderson the group could help her realize that dream.

Due to a large donation from the late Mary Flannery to the Friends of the Animals group, this dream project became feasible. A 400-square-foot addition to JCAS for the cat room is being planned.

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Cat Room Addition Offer Accepted

The Friends Of The Animals For The Jackson Area, Inc. offer of financing and constructing an estimated 400 square foot addition to the Cat Room is timely. JCAS has made great strides over the last several years by increasing the standards of care for animals in its possession and reaching out to the community at large with off-site and on-site adoption events. Our volunteer base has been growing and JCAS has developed in-house programs to assist our volunteers in there service. This State of the Art addition to the existing Cat Room will provide a simulated “living room environment” for the confinement and sheltering of cats. Not only will this sheltering arrangement help decrease stress levels for the cats, but an added benefit of the lower stress levels will be decreased disease infection rates. The adoption process is also anticipated to be enhanced as this addition will also have a central sitting area for adoption counseling services.

The Jackson County Animal Shelter has benefitted greatly due to “Friends” donations of financial support for large scale projects that would have not occurred otherwise.

"This would give the cats a more natural living space that's more stress free," O'Keefe said. "People can view the cats better and then they can take them out and interact with them in a nicer environment."

Read the full press release here (PDF)