The free-roaming playrooms enable the cats to have social lives of their own -- making friends & soul-mates, as well as choosing favorite cat tree perches and places to nap -- while awaiting forever homes.
Maya, a beautiful Bengal who is improving from a near-feral condition, watches visitors carefully to decide which ones to charm and shower with her affections.
Besides permitting a substantial degree of safe, indoor freedom, the playrooms enable the cats to showcase their individual personalities with visitors and volunteers and staff in ways not possible if they were confined to small cages.
Bucky, a pygmy goat, needed great help recovering from extreme neglect. Thankfully, the cats share their space with him, or at least allow him to wander around the lobby areas outside of the cat rooms, so he can socialize with people between his feedings and treatments. Other surprising recent tenants included pot-bellied pigs, numerous fish (including a piranha), and a hedgehog.
Adjusting to a new home environment may just be that much easier when the cats's living areas seem like home. Visitors frequently say the Cat Condos remind them of their grandmother's house.
The open playrooms also help us determine which cats enjoy children and which ones need to be only with adults. When young people enter the room, some will race to them for affection while others seek a good hiding place.
Toodles has her own favored resting places. Others tend to congregate in groups and stick together, feeling more reassured in the company of friends. Those who become soul-mates with very strong bonds will be adopted together in pairs.
