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In 2008 The Lost Dogs' Home saw a 40% increase in cat admissions compared to 2007. This was mainly due to Melbourne’s cat over population crisis which saw more strays collected of the streets and brought to the Home. The main reason for this increase in cats and kittens on the streets of Melbourne is longer periods of warmer weather enabling cats to produce three litters of kittens each year instead of the usual two. As cats can have litters of up to six kittens, this results in far more unwanted animals than our current facilities can cope with. In addition, there has been an increase in cat surrenders, mainly from people who have been forced to move into rental accommodation without their pets as a direct result of the global financial crisis. This is a dramatic rise compared to the previous year and one which has put a serious strain on our resources.

As a consequence, the Home’s must build new cat accommodation and has developed plans to build a new Cat Shelter where cats will be housed in custom-made cat condos. These plans are part of the Home’s intention to upgrade its older facilities overall. Current cat facilities are outdated and do not provide an environment where the risk of contracting cat flu is minimised.

Cat flu is an ever-present concern for the Home as it is highly transferable between cats. Infection is passed from a sick cat via eye, nasal and mouth discharges. Tragically, if left untreated, cat flu can be fatal. One of the things which aggravates cat flu is a stressful environment, which is exactly what a stray, lost or injured cat may experience on the streets before coming to the Home. Further, our current cat accommodation is in close proximity to dog pens, so the cats hear the constant barking and noise which can add to their stress.

The proposed purpose-built condos will be easy to clean, more quiet and allow litter trays to be kept separate from the cat’s living area. Stress on the cats will be significantly reduced. Importantly, state-of-the-art ventilation systems will not only keep a constant temperature within the condos, but lessen odours and prevent the spread of cat flu.

Within the Cat Condos, the adoption and stray areas will remain separate, each with a dedicated ‘isolation’ room. This means that any cats showing signs of cat flu can be immediately moved into these rooms to lessen the chance of them getting worse and infecting other cats. The new facilities will be a larger and more comfortable area for the thousands of cats and kittens we care for. There will also be ‘get to know you’ adoption rooms and special play areas for the cats.

You can view plans of the proposed Cat Condos here.

It is expected that once the new Cat Condos are up and running, the Home will be able to double and maybe triple its cat and kitten adoption rate. This is a very positive outcome for the cats of Melbourne!

The Home’s other future building plans include the construction of a Sick and Injured Shelter, a new Veterinary Clinic and an Education and Training Centre. These capital works are made possible due to the generosity of the Home’s donors and supporters.

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Our new facilities will help cats like Elroy

At four months of age, Elroy was brought to the Home by our Animal Ambulance, after being found by a member of the public.

When he arrived here at the Home, Elroy looked outwardly healthy – but when the Home’s veterinary team looked him over and gave him his vaccinations, they noticed he had a strange gait. They took X-rays, which showed that Elroy’s sore hip was a result of an old fracture. This had displaced the ball of the hip from the joint – the poor little fellow must have been in quite a bit of pain, not to mention the fact that he couldn’t run around and play like a normal kitten.

Photos of Elroy the Cat

The Home’s vets decided to perform surgery to make sure Elroy didn’t suffer any more discomfort, or develop arthritis in his later years. The operation went really well, and while recovering from his surgery, Elroy was housed in our current stray cat facilities. This usually has at least 20 stray cats in it on any given day, so can become cramped and is not ideal for cats recovering from major surgery. In addition, controlling the spread of cat flu is a constant worry.

Staff members regularly visited Elroy and he proved to be very popular because he was always up for cuddles and attention. Unfortunately, he soon began sneezing - an early sign of cat flu, so we moved Elroy to our cat isolation room, which he shared with other cats with flu. Luckily, cat flu does not affect humans, so our staff were still able to visit him for those cuddles.

No doubt this helped Elroy recover quickly, and soon we were able to put him up for adoption. He was adopted by one of our staff members, Jaimi, who became smitten with him from day one. It was lucky for Elroy that he did recover from cat flu but unfortunately, not all cats do. If Elroy had been housed in a custom built cattery, there would have been little chance of him contracting cat flu. We could have put him up for adoption much sooner, and used our precious resources to care for other cats in need.

This is just one reason why a new, custom-built Cat Shelter is such an important part of The Lost Dogs' Home’s future. We know that with new cat facilities, we will be able to provide a higher level of care to vulnerable cats and kittens, and see many more cats just like Elroy rehabilitate and find new, loving homes.

Support our Capital Cat Shelter Appeal