Animals and Shelters

birds

Congratulations Noodle! Fantastic work!

And also very nice to keep us uptodate, it may inspire others to do similar work.

Should you ever need any advice with the building of the cats house let me know as a Swiss friend of mine here in Goa is doing lots of work with stray cats and build two cat enclosures. I am sure she would be willing to share her experiences if you should need any.

Noodle

Thank you birds, I will keep it in mind!

I think at the moment we have it all covered - the fence will be 6 inches in the ground and cemented into place. It will reach up 8 feet and then turn 2 feet inwards at a 90 degree angle, so they won't be able to climb over it.

The other thing I'm now pondering is what kind of toys or climbing 'equipment' one can provide in this kind of climate. Does wood rot too quickly? I can't think of a material that would survive the moisture (not only of the air but also on the ground since the ground will be washed daily) and at the same time give the cats a suitable surface to dig their claws in and climb up. Would a large branch be suitable or would it start to mold and collect funghi and insects?

And any toy that's not plastic will certainly disintegrate too fast, I would think?

So if you have any ideas along those lines, that would help! All her cages are completely bare, cats and small pups are caged and have nothing else to 'play' with but newspapers (which also serve as 'toilets' and are replaced daily). It's really sad.

I think, once I come up with a good toy and entertainment idea for the cats and pups this is what I collect for next!

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Noodle

birds, I'm just thinking - if your Swiss friend has photos of the cat enclosures she built or from any 'cat trees' or other entertainment ideas I would love to see them!

birds

I will probably see her this weekend and will ask her about toys, cat trees and make some photos of her cat places. I am sure she will be keen to help.

Will let you know as soon as I have more info.

Noodle

Thanks! I'm looking foward to hear about her work and see some photos!

birds

Hi Noodle,

Spoke with my friend and she was delighted to hear about your plan. She gave me some tips. I have tried to write everything down but some of it is not so easy to describe. I hope you can make sense out of it. I also tried to make photos but with the monsoon everything is covered in plastic so it does not look too good. Anyway, perhaps you can make something out.

- She has three different enclosures:

1. One for healthy cats. This enclosure has a closed and an open air portion. On this one she often leaves the door open so the cats can go into the garden (photo 1).

2. There is another cattery for healthy cats but recuperating from the sterilisation. This one has cages in the back which is closed while the front portion is an open air enclosure where the cats walking freely (photo 1).

3. One for sick cats there is a separate enclosure with only cages. This enclosure is quite far from the other two to avoid contemination (photo 2).

- Ideally the main access of the open air enclosures should have double doors so you can open the first, close it behind you and only than open the second door to avoid cats escaping (photo 1).

- The enclosures should have an area which is closed on three sides so it is dark and warm inside. She suggest making it out of bricks.

- From this dark/warm area it should be possible for the cats to move to an area which is more open air but where the cats can find both shadow and sun.

- She made the open-air enclosures from a kind of strong metal wire. She cautions use a relatively fine wire and avoid gaps in the construction as cats can escape through quite small holes.

- It should be very, very easy to clean as (young) cats are quick to pick up viruses. So, it is advisable to use materials which are none-absorbent, resistant to water and dry quickly. Wood and unpainted metal should be avoided.

- She has wire cages with a lose plastic bottom which can be taken out to clean (photo 2).

- A water connection in/near the enclosure will also help to encourage people to clean.

- If there is only one cattery it should have some cages as not all cats can be put together (immediately). Apparently it is better to let a cat get used to the area and other cats in a cage and than after some days let the cat into the larger open areas. Small kittens can be put in the open areas immediately, unless they are sick which apparently is often the case with stray cats as they do not tend to have had any immunization.

- Near the sick cat cages there should be a cupboard which can be locked to keep medicines and a shelf on which medicines can be prepared.

- Above each cage she has a hook on which she can hang a drip when sick cats need it (see photo 2).

- In the dark areas of the enclosure she has some boxes which are open on one side where the cats can choose to recline and be a little separate from the others without being locked-up in a cage.

- In the open-air areas she puts pots with bamboo grass which the cats apparently will eat and need in their diet. She suggest several pots so you can rotate them every week so the plants have time to recover after the cats nibbled them. It is not a good idea to plant plants inside the enclosure as the cats will ruin them.

- In her open-air enclosures there a few small shelves at different heights as apparently the cats like to sit on these while watching the world on the outside (photo 3).

- With regards to toys; she makes cat trees using pvc pipes around which she puts rope. There are also a few plastic baskets which hang of a rope in the enclosure and the cats swing in it (photo 3) Similarly she has a few plastic balls hanging of rope close to the floor and the cats play with that too. Most of her cats stay only about a week so she does not have many toys.

If you shelter is involved in sterilisation of cats there are apparently also a few things to take into consideration especially with regards to the anaesthetics. Let me know if you need information on this as well.

By the way she also invites you to come over and see her place if you ever come to Goa. She is an amazing women, the past twenty years or so she collects stray cats which she than sterilises, vaccinates and find houses for them. She does about two hundred every year plus a few dozen dogs. Besides that she often ends up with animals that foreigners leave behind after having lived in Goa for some time. All this by herself, almost without outside funding.

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Noodle

Hi birds, thank you so much for all the trouble, you describe it all very well! This a very inspiring and amazing read and I commend this woman! Please give my warmest regards to her and many thanks for the work and recources she puts in!

I'm afraid I won't have enough funds to make such a sophisticated enclosure with double doors, brick wall and outside area etc. But there are still many ideas I can implement.

Just today I was thinking about putting some kind of shelves at the fence so the cats have something to jump on and to sit and look out. What kind of material are her shelves made of? Is it plastic or wood (hard to see)? I was thinking to have metal shelves, well painted and with all edges rounded.

The wire that is used for the fence looks very similar to what she has, with very small holes and quite strong.

That plastic basket swing is a great idea, so is the ball on a rope! Thanks for those ideas!

I was also thinking to put a tree trunk in for scratching. Would she advice against that? Has the ever tried sisal mats, they are very often used in the West for cats to scratch on. But I fear here they might soak up moisture and rot.

What are these boxes made of, do you remember? Plastic?

PVC pipes with ropes are an excellent idea!

Yes, Jeev Raksha spays and neuters cats and dogs, but I have nothing to do with the whole medical side of things. I don't work there, I'm just a donor, or rather: I collect donation for this shelter. So, I don't have a say regarding things such as where the medical supply is stored or where the sick cats are kept. But I know they keep them in seperate small cages, other cats (that didn't look ill) are in slightly larger cages together.

The cats at Jeev Raksha are there to stay. She rarely gives animals to people as she is very afraid they won't treat them well. She has seen it too often ...

When I ever get down to Goa I will certainly visit her (and you!). Thanks again, these are some very good ideas for me! Once it's done I will post pictures.

Noodle

One more question came to mind: do you know how she does with waste? Does she have boxes with sand or something? Lila puts newspaper on the ground where they pee on etc and which she daily burns (and floor gets washed).

birds

Hi Noodle,

Saw her place again today. The jumping shelves are made of wood but painted. She says she only needs to replace them every four or five years since they do not touch the ground they do not get wet.

She also has a tree trunk in the enclosures and just replaces it about once every year or so. She does warn against using wood in the construction, at least not where cats can scratch it.
She never used sisal because it is water absorbent.

Besides the bamboo grass she also places other plants inside to make the environment a bit more natural.

With regards to the waste, in the cages she uses newspaper and like Lila replaces it and cleans everyday. In the enclosures she uses trays with sand, again daily replaced. I think all this is not so difficult here because we are more or less in the country side so it is easy to throw sand away find new sand.

With regards to the 'comfort boxes' inside the enclosures, some were small wooden crates (like a large shoe box) and other plastic crates/basket. Both types had plenty of ventilation. She also covers the front partially with a piece of cloth.

As mentioned before, her longer term cats not confined and walk in and out but always seem to come back for food and comfort. I remember CUPA (animal rescue in Bangalore) did the same. There were about forty cats living on top of their cattery. I guess that way there is also less need for entertainment. But than again CUPA was also located in a forest area so there was little traffic and no other cat treats than the occasional dog.

She does not use plastic food bowls but metal ones. Apparently more expensive but easier to clean and longer lasting.

If I learn something more I will let you know.

Noodle

Thank you again, birds! These are some valuable suggestions for me!

So far I have decided on

a tree trunk
a basket hung from ropes (like in your photo)
baskets or crates for them to recline
a couple of potted plants/grass
jumping shelves
balls hung on a rope
PVC pipes with ropes around them

That should give them some entertainment for starters! Friends in Germany are collecting and sending water proof cat toys (and also toys for puppies, which are also caged at Jeev Raksha).

And I also advised the fabricator to put a metal sheet alongside the back of the enclosure, screwed to the fence from the outside, so they have some protection from wind.

birds

Sounds like they will have lots of fun. These also seems quite sustainable solutions in the Indian context.

Toys will help a lot to make the cats/puppies adoptable as it helps their socialisation. Every adoptable dog/cat is one off the street (and often/hopefully becomes a non-productive one).

Great!

Noodle

The problem with Lila is that she doesn't give animals away, or only very rarely, only if she really knows and trusts someone. She has seen too much abuse.

But once the pups are grown up and neutered/spayed they get out of the cage and can mingle with the herd. (Not the cats though.)

I'm just thinking if its safe to give rubber and plastic toys to them, they might chew them and swallow pieces. After all they must have a lot of pent up energy and pups at least are knwon to tear everything up that's in their reach, especially when they teeth. What do you think? They are not supervised, so could easily swallow parts ...

machadinha

Couple of tips, together with animal caretaker friend. Some of it is double with the above, but for what it's worth:

Treated that way should be good, easy to clean. Places to retreat and hide will be much appreciated yes.

Should be OK, just replace if they go bad (they'll also just wear over time). Same goes for your tree trunks. You can make the "mats" yourself by wrapping the rope around a suitable sturdy piece of wood. You can hang them vertically to the walls (within cat's reach, of course) so they get wet less easily. If it turns out not to work, stop using them I guess

Plastic is easily cleaned. You can put a towel in there (cats aren't naturally big on plastic), should also be regularly cleaned. Make sure the towels don't have small loose fibers, which the cats can ingest and cause intestinal problems. Their barbed tongues also make it next to impossible for them to get something like a long fiber out of their mouths.

Cardboard boxes would work, but again, replace them as soon as they go iffy.

If boxes or towels get peed on, they should be cleaned (or replaced, in case of cardboard) immediately.

Should you want to find them new homes, better not to train them to use newspapers as a toilet. Even shredded newspapers would be better (also allows them to dig and bury their excrements, which is their natural behavior). Cat (sand) boxes would be perfect, like Birds says, sand shouldn't be hard to come by.

Sounds perfect yes. Don't forget toys that they can run around with: little balls (not on ropes, nice in itself though ), paper balls (not newspapers because of ink), bird feathers (not too small or downy), pieces of cloth (again, not too frayed), used toilet rolls (great to fold them up and hide something inside! e.g., a cat treat, or something that rattles; make a hole in it for the treats to come out with some effort), corks, paper bags (not plastic, which they can choke on! And cut loose any handles), etc. They shouldn't be small enough to swallow, but not too big for them to carry around. Ready-made toys should have no pins in them etc. (unbelievably, toy mice sold here have eyes and noses on plastic pins in them )

With plants, take good care not to plant anything poisonous to cats. Grasses, preferably the firm kind, will be liked, you have "cat grass" here, I don't know the English name. Not to be confused with catnip, which gets them high, like valerian.

For cats, should be OK, taking the above into consideration. For puppies, your concerns are correct. Stick to natural materials: bundled socks, thick pieces of rope, tennis balls... that sort of thing (old shoes spring to mind, but again: beware of what you train them to chew up. An old blanket to goof around with will work.) A note on wood (sticks): it can splinter, and secondly it may cause too much wear on their teeth. So while dogs like to play with sticks, better not have them do it all the time.

Dogs will be a different ballgame anyway, being dependent on human interaction or with the pack, the latter should be closely monitored in terms of competition and so on however. A dog with a toy is not the same as a dog and a human playing with it with that toy, the one can't replace the other. It's the interaction that counts, the toy is just the medium.

Well... hope this helps some

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Noodle

Hi machadinha!

Thank you for your and your friend's input!

That's an excellent idea! I will do something like that.

Cardboard and towels are not really suitable cause the cages get hosed down daily so things would be spoiled too quickly. Everything has to be water tight, so plastic and rubber are the main choices.

Friends in Germany are looking around for suitable cat toys, and you're right I will make sure there are no small and potentially dangerous parts, clips, needles etc stuck on them!

Funny you mention catnip: I have heard so many times that cats love it, yet my own two cats completely ignore it. Doesn't seem to work for all cats somehow.

Thanks again!

Nick-H

Whatever you gives cats for the purpose of recreational destruction --- they'll destroy something else instead.

That's cats.

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