No More Homeless Pets Forum
November 8, 2004

Designing Shelter Space with Animals in Mind

Paul Eckhoff

The space and atmosphere in buildings where we work and live affect all of us, including the animals. Paul Eckhoff, one of the founders of Best Friends Animal Society and the architect who created the Sanctuary's Dogtown, WildCats Village and the new Wild and Feathered Friends building will answer your questions about what to consider when remodeling or building a shelter.

Introduction from Paul Eckhoff:

Whether planning for a new state-of-the-art facility or providing a much-needed facelift to your existing shelter, you want to make sure you meet the needs of your stakeholders, your staff, your volunteers, the public, and (most of all) the animals in your care. Are you cringing at the thought of all the planning and coordination that will be involved? How do you manage this project while dealing with the day-to-day responsibilities of caring for shelter animals? And how do you avoid costly mistakes? Obviously, this is a process that requires careful planning. Where do you begin?

This week, I will answer your questions about designing, building, and/or remodeling a shelter that will allow you to provide the best possible care for your animal guests.

Questions

Finding an architect to help with structural and interior designs
Square footage recommended per cats within a shelter
Building new rabbit facilities
Starting from scratch to build a shelter
Building dog indoor and outdoor enclosures
Converting an existing house into a shelter
Flooring
Wildcat village design
HVAC system designs
Important considerations in designing a facility and costs

Finding an architect to help with structural and interior designs

Question from Jeannette:

We want to build a new rescue center to be equally shared by all rescue groups, public and private, for the metro and surrounding areas.

What's a good starting point on planning and who do we contact to begin the structural and interior designs? I received a booklet from one shelter designer (can't think of the name) with some really beautiful designs. Are there many choices of designers who specialize in these kinds of facilities? We want style for public appeal, practicality and durability without being cold hard concrete, easy maintenance, and the ability to accommodate all small animals, birds, and reptiles.

This is a new campaign for us. A scale model and drawings with the cost would be ideal to present to the general public to set off our building fund campaign.

Response from Paul:

You are undertaking quite a challenge. You may find that getting existing groups together requires all your skill and diplomacy. Animal care people tend to get set ideas... set ideas for good reason, but often conflicting. This can carry over into building planning. We have not built such a building, but other people have.

I suggest you contact Shelter Planners of America (www.shelterplannersofamerica.com) who speak for several architects. For a smaller bunch, try www.jacksonryan.com who work out of Houston, TX. Plans and models (cost) and certainly help with fundraising, but you need to get those various groups co-operating first.

Square footage recommended per cats within a shelter

Question from Bob:

1. Is there a rule of thumb for the square footage (maybe I should say cubic footage) per cat within the shelter?
2. Same question as above but for screened porches/sunrooms.
3. Are sleeping areas (nest boxes, darkened areas, quiet spots) beneficial?
4. Since most cats love to climb and sit in high places, how high should the ceilings be in the shelter?
5. Any reading for the novice on this subject?

Response from Paul:

In order asked:

1. In early buildings (8ft ceilings), we allowed 13.5 sq. ft. per cat internally, 23.4 sq ft outside run, and provided 10.5 sq. ft. per cat service area. This now looks somewhat luxurious. More recently (and more practically), 12 sq ft internally, 18 sq ft external (12 ft ceilings).

2. I think answered above. We can certainly put cats into smaller spaces for short time periods. Our sizes are for potential life long stay.

3. Yes.

4. Yes, cats love to climb -- the higher the better -- BUT caregivers sometimes need to catch them and need to clean all over, including the nest boxes, etc. as mentioned in point 3 above. We have arranged our outside runs so that cats can get on top of beams (8ft up) and hide there if they want, but we also check out each cat every day. If they were much higher up this might become difficult. (My dreams of enclosing trees in cat cages floundered on the need to catch cats and medicate etc.)

5. Sorry, no suggestions. Maybe look at some cat habitats and see what you make of them.

Building new rabbit facilities

Question from Jean:

Bunnies Urgently Needing Shelter (BUNS) is the volunteer group for rabbits at the Santa Barbara County Stray Animal Shelter in California. We operate out of two small rooms, that we built as an addition to an existing building, housing a total of 18 stacking cages and many outdoor hutches under shade structures. We have around 35 to 40 rabbits at any time. We have 17 outdoor play yards.

We are seriously discussing building a stand alone building to house all the rabbits indoors. We would house the rabbits in stacking cages; 36" x 36" is our current size. We use an offsite vet and place medical needs rabbits in foster homes for care, so we would not need vet/medical facilities. Hay is a big problem vis-a-vis drains and vacuum cleaners, as it clogs both. We would need aisle space wide enough for comfortable browsing by adopters and wide enough to pull the metal pans from under the cages for cleaning. Our current rooms are too small for either to occur comfortably. We also need a wall paint/surface that cleans easily. Rabbit urine is high in calcium and cleaning requires stiff bristled brush with vinegar. Although we used a zoo-quality paint (sorry don't know the brand), we are scrubbing it off the walls....

With respect to exercise pens, (our current pens have infected soil) concrete sounds so grim and then there is the problem with drainage.

Are you aware of any plans, great rabbit shelters or literature that would be of assistance to us?

Response from Paul:

Truth is we are planning to build a new rabbit facility next year and are trying to answer the same questions as you.

Bunnies jump, bunnies climb, bunnies chew, bunnies fight, and bunnies don't come back if they get out. A Problem! Here are my thoughts relating to your questions. Our current (about 10 years old) bunny house has concrete floor inside and the bunnies get to go out into runs of sand, sand only because that is what we have here instead of dirt. We made these runs carefully with wire, four feet buried and up the sides.

Problems:
Sand gets filthy, and possibly infected, and the bunnies dig holes, which from time to time collapse on them. Changing these four feet of filthy sand is a heavy duty job, which drives our maintenance people nuts!

Proposed solution:
Build concrete floor runs with low sides, giving bunnies 3 or 4 inches to play in, but not too difficult to change from time to time.

It seems that most animals kept in captivity need concrete floors indoors, and cats and rabbits need concrete outside. Sad, because concrete is rather unyielding. It can be covered with vinyl type cover, but the main point is that it has to be cleaned.

Paint:
I hope to build our new facility with bunnies separated by wire (plastic coated 1"x 1/2" holes). This way no walls to wash urine off, just hose spray the wire. (It remains to be seen whether they chew off the plastic!) Try epoxy paint that comes in two parts, which are mixed. It is used for garage/factory floors and might well resist urine.

Hay, etc.:
Sweep it up. Put grids on the drains and clean them frequently. (Who said looking after bunnies was easy?) If you want to vacuum, you probably need an industrial vacuum cleaner.

As mentioned, we are brainstorming for our bunny house. As you have pointed out, we have to have solutions to these very mundane problems before we build. I am happy to share our old plans with you, and our new ones as they develop. I do not now have literature suggestions, but we have just got a new manager in charge of our bunnies. She may have suggestions available if you want to email rabbits@bestfriends.org.

Starting from scratch to build a shelter

Question from Isa:

We are an Animal Rights Foundation (dba Animal R Friends) in St Maarten, Nether Antilles, Caribbean Sea. Last year I attended the Best Friends Conference in Philadelphia. I really learned a lot. After one year of existence we are planning to build a No-Kill shelter.

We probably have some land that we soon can lease from the Government. I already have navigated the Internet to see different examples of shelters. But I can tell you, I am a little bit confused. Or maybe I am afraid to have forgotten something after we built the shelter.

We have 40,000 inhabitants, and there are probably same amount of dogs and a little bit less cats on the island. There are many abandoned dogs and cats that we would like to give a home. Most of the street dogs are sick: tick fever, heartworms and mange. We want to cure them.

- Where and with which plan can we start?
- How much money do we need to house 500 dogs and cats?
- Is this amount reasonable?
- Do you have a list with all that we need to have in a perfect No-Kill shelter?

I would appreciate a response from you.

Response from Paul:

From the numbers you quote, you are another person taking on quite a challenge. Unless you have a LOT of money to spend, you really need to start small. The situation on your island sounds very sad. You could start by catching the sick stray animals and treating them (no small task) -- but what to do with them then?

We started by cramming as many animals as we could into people's houses, until this got unbearable. Then the question of buildings comes up. Buildings are expensive AND cost money for upkeep, requiring people to do animal care. Here we have paid between $80/sq. ft. and $100/sq. ft. As your project grows you will need more stuff -- intake room, isolation, vet rooms, staff room, laundry, storeroom, rest rooms, reception and offices.

So in answer to your question, for 500 dogs and cats, my guess is $ 1,500,000 over time. Only you can decide if this amount is reasonable. It depends on just how much you want to do it.

No, sorry I don't have the kind of list you ask about. I do have plans of buildings we have built, in particular the smaller ones suitable for starting. "For building plans, please visit on the Best Friends Network Building Plans."

Building dog indoor and outdoor enclosures

Question from Patty:

I am currently looking for land on which I am planning to build my own sanctuary for dogs. I have been to Best Friends and I have seen the octagons in Dogtown, which I like very much. I would love to build these someday, but I know that money will be extremely tight in the beginning, as I am funding this sanctuary myself. I would love to build something where the dogs have access to both inside and outside (like the octagons), but it looks as if I'll need to start out with doghouses in large open enclosures. What type of setup do you recommend for someone just starting out? Do you have any other ideas that would be cost-effective?

Response from Paul:

This takes me back to whenever we were trying to get going. The simplest thing to do (once you have gotten more dogs in your house than will fit!) would be doghouses in open enclosures. (We have only recently gotten all our dogs with an indoors and an outdoors). The thing is, you need one doghouse for each dog. Otherwise, some have a nasty habit of keeping their companions out -- blocking the door. Afraid I can't think of a less expensive but effective approach.

Floor sloping

Question from LeRita:

I am a volunteer for a small rural animal shelter whose building has long been out dated and is falling down around us. Three years ago we started planning our new shelter and researched tons of shelters to find out what we should and should not do. The local architect that was hired has made some errors in the building that we are now finding, and we don't know how significant these errors will be long term. One of the most recent is the sloping of the floors in the dog kennel run areas. Everything we have researched has recommended a 1/2 inch slope for every 12 inches. Our architect felt that was too much of a slope and reduced it by half without ever telling or asking anyone on our building committee. It wasn't until our shelter inspector came to look at the construction of the new facility and HE noticed the floors lacked sloping. I have asked for over 3 weeks for some type of documentation from the architect to back up his research saying 1/4 inch slope is sufficient since our research suggests that is too little of a slope. Do you think that reduction in the slope will be an issue for cleaning and rapid water removal? We have in-floor heating, so I am not even sure if the slope can be changed at this point, but I am curious if we may have long term problems with the reduced slopes in the dog kennel runs?

Thank you so much for your time and input on this matter. We are expected to be in our new shelter in Feb!!

Response from Paul:

Hope you are not getting too hung up on these details. 1/2" on 12 would be best, but as long as 1/4" works it will be okay, unless your building inspector has a problem. It would be a real hassle to change things now -- possible, but a hassle. I think things will go okay.

Converting an existing house into a shelter

Question from Nanette:

If we purchase land with an existing house on it, how would we begin converting the house for rescue cats? Would all of the carpeting have to be removed and tile or linoleum be put in? What about air flow and air purification? We would prefer to buy the land and build a center for the cats but we can't find land in our county at a reasonable price. Please give us some insight.

Response from Paul:

Yes, remove carpet; carpet will soon stink. If you use vinyl, avoid vinyl tiles. The fewer joints/cracks you have the easier the cleaning and thus the better the odor. Neither vinyl nor tile is too 'cuddly'; they are in fact rather harsh. You might look at a product called PLYNYL (www.plynyl.com). It has an impervious (easy clean) surface, but backed with soft foam. I only just discovered Plynyl and have not yet had a chance to use it. It may well be too expensive.

Airflow would relate to the type of heating/cooling available. Something blowing air through would be great, especially if it is not sucking the same air round and round. That is assuming that the cats are reasonably healthy. If you have Fe Leuk or such the air should NOT be re-circulated.