Feral Cat Commission

Dear Civic Board,

     I have been appointed to the newly formed Feral Cat Commission which is comprised of many local,state, county, federal reps. Our first meeting was last week and the next will be May 1st. We will meet every 2 weeks and meeting minutes will be posted on the Animal Shelter web site.

     Any ideas please mail to Rita and they will be presented to the Commission. Our first agenda was Cedar Beach but we are responsible for plans for all of Suffolk County.

     I submitted a request for a sanctuary with a main building, gates, gatehouse(manned) open 24/7 with a no questions asked drop off of cats.

     I was put in charge of coming up with an idea for a building, layout, square footage and costs to build. It has to conform to the current green building ideas( I like using recycled items too- great for grant money). My appraisal background will allow for certain input on the plans but not enough to submit for a resolution and a grant. I spoke to Lori Murphy and Jane Bonner about this and they said go ahead and try to get someone with a building background like an architect or engineer or builder. I of course thought of Mike Guido as our resident architect. Mike if you or any Board Member have come across any buildings in the past or in your textbooks, on line companies etc that could be modified for a shelter with no cages. Rooms are to be glass enclosed on the hall side walls with furniture acceptable to animals to train them to exist in a household setting wihtin each room. Each room should house no more than 10 cats and be totally washable. There should probably be a sink in each room and possible a water hose hookup and floor drain.Climbing ramps, walkways and shelf type areas for the cats to sit on are needed in each room.WIndows for the cats to look out of can be bay windows so they can also sit in the window; Cubbies for them to hide in are needed. The building should be two stories- barn like in appearance to blend in with area architectural concerns . We probably need to house about 500 cats in all. We need play areas indoors and out(outdoor ones to be totally enclosed like a large pen and to be accessible from the living areas of each pet room); 2-4 operating rooms; 2-4 diagnostic rooms; x ray room; MRI and sonogram room; Recovery room; education room for children and adults with movie capabilities,tables, chairs; main greeting area; 2 bathrooms for staff; 2 bathrooms for guests; as well as 1 or 2 bathing areas for pets;lunchroom for staff; 4-6 sleeping areas for staff; all rooms to be air conditioned and heated; venting to remove odors; garbage area (state of the art), Refrigerated area for meds with storage cabinets and separate refrigerators for bodies awaiting pickup by the Regency Memorial Park; laundry room.

     At this point all services of the deisgners and planners need to be donated. The people involved in the planning will get their names on a plaque in the lobby and maybe even get the building names after them.

     This is not my pipe dream but a very possible reality as the Commission is seriously considering this need. Please help.

See you soon
Rita