Cat Colony Room at the Heart of Minnesota Animal Shelter

In late 2005 the McLeod County Commissioners decided to allow the Heart of Minnesota Animal Shelter to use the house located on the McLeod County Fairgrounds. The shelter decided to move our cat population to the house in an effort to free up space for families to get to know our cats and dogs, and also to provide the cats with a quieter, more home-like environment. Another major benefit to the house was that it’s smaller rooms gave me the chance to pursue one of my pet projects: a colony room for our cats. The idea behind colony rooms is that a group of cats who get along live together in one large room instead of living in individual smaller apartments or condos. When done correctly colony rooms offer more space for activity and social interaction and often increases adoption rates. The pitfalls mostly involve picking cats who will get along well and not add stress to the group, and in making sure no communicable diseases are introduced.

It took a lot of hard work by dozens of volunteers to transform the old farmhouse into an appropriate setting for housing dozens of felines safely and efficiently - floors, plumbing, and HVAC systems all needed upgrades and much TLC. The colony room was a low-priority effort, but by the spring of 2006 I was ready to pitch my case. Since shelter cat populations vary widely with each summer's kitten influx it was decided that we would need to ensure that the room could be transformed back into a traditional housing area with individual apartments and condos. We decided to leave one set of apartments in the room, and like most colony room projects we added shelves, PVC jungle gyms, chairs and benches, and an aquarium (or kitty television as we call it.) Our color scheme used shades of blue, yellow, and green since feline vision is tuned to those colors. In total we spent about $150 for the room plus an equal amount in donated time and materials.

Here are a few pictures of the final product:

Links and Information on Setting up Cat Colony Rooms:

Last Updated: 11/18/2007 - Anthony Anderberg - ant@anderbergfamily.net