Animal Welfare Professionals

According to current ASV guidelines primary enclosures must allow animals to sit, sleep, and eat away from where they defecate and urinate, leading to double kenneling or extra long kennels being the ideal enclosure for cats. This can be done by using portals between kennels. Having the ability to move around and choose where to be in the kennel leads to happier cats and safer staff. While this is ideal, not every shelter or rescue has the resources at the moment to portalize all of their kennels, so while working towards gaining those resources we do the best we can with what we have.

In these images you will see there are perches in the kennels, this allows a place for the cats to perch or hide. The ones at our shelter are usually made out of PVC material. You can use old cardboard boxes with holes cut in the side, or this is a great project for local scout troops or eager volunteers.

Using perches covered in towels or blankets in single kennels allows for that necessary separation of sleeping/lounging and using the litterbox. In this set up it is ideal to be able to place the food in bowls mounted on the kennel front, but if this is not possible then placing in front of the perch area keeps the food and water away from the litterbox. We do what we can!

#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment