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Cat Housing in Shelters
- 1. Cat Housing: New Directions in Creature Comforts
- 2. Cat Housing: San Francisco SPCA
- 3. Cat Housing: Nebraska Humane Society
- 4. Cat Housing: UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
- 5. Cat Housing: Animal Humane New Mexico
- 6. Cat Housing: Animal Friends, Inc.
- 7. Cat Housing: Cat Care Society
- 8. Cat Housing: SPCA of Central Florida
- 9. Cat Housing: Humane Society of Sedona
Cat Housing: UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
The following is from the Summer 2010 issue of Protecting Animals, American Humane's quarterly journal for animal welfare professionals. Used by permission. To learn more, visit www.AmericanHumane.org.
From the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
Colony Housing
Group housing needs to be done with care. It is not
appropriate to simply "dump" cats into groups, nor is
it a good idea to continually mix and match. Housing
groups should be kept as stable as possible (i.e., avoid
constantly adding new cats to replace cats who are
adopted).
A minimum of about 19 square feet of floor space
per cat is recommended to avoid high stress levels in
group housing areas. Vertical space can be used in the
space calculation/allocation for cats (assuming there
are shelves, etc., for them to use). No more than 10-12
cats should be housed in each colony room, regardless
of the size of the room. The one reason not to have
only colony housing for cats in shelters is that it has
been shown that single cat housing is less stressful
during the initial shelter stay. There is scientific data
indicating that group housing can relieve stress during
long shelter stays, but may increase stress for cats
that are put into group housing in the first few days
of their shelter stay. Importantly, some cats are never
comfortable in group housing, so shelters need to have
single cages for them as well.
Single Housing
The UC Davis recommendation for singly housed cats
is that they have at least 10.8 square feet of floor area.
The typical shelter cat cage is barely half this size. If
this cage size is not practical, shelters should aim to
at least provide enough housing space so that each cat
has:
- Enough space to stretch to full body length
- At least a 3-foot separation between feeding,
resting and elimination areas
- Room for an adequately sized litter box and a
hiding box
- Sufficient floor space for locomotion and play
For more information on cat housing and other
topics, visit the Shelter Health Portal at
www.sheltermedicine.org.
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