Cat Shelter Building Workshop, Toronto Street Cats, Toronto, ON

From 10am to 2:30pm, I was at a cat shelter building workshop organized by Toronto Street Cats ... this is the third time I've done one (they are held every two weeks).  It's so nice helping the kitties in Toronto keep warm and dry during the cold winter.  My friend, Darlene, is a "lead" (so instructs everyone on what to do).

Our mission: improve the lives of Toronto’s homeless cats by offering spay/neuter services, free for feral cats, and building overwintering shelters. We are also working to increase public awareness about Toronto’s homeless cat population and the importance of spay/neuter and trap/neuter/return (TNR). 

We are part of the Toronto Feral Cat Coalition, working together to implement strategic TNR programs to sterilize Toronto’s feral cats, decrease shelter intake and reduce euthanasia rates.

The workshops are held throughout the fall and winter season in the garage of the Toronto Humane Society  The shelters built are then made available to caretakers and colonies in need for $15.

Today we were focused on cleaning up and refurbishing previously used shelters.  The plastic outer of these shelters are still structurally sound but they’ve been lovingly used and needed to be cleaned up.  When folks bring used shelters, they can get a new one for $5.  We cleaned out the used one, re-line it with new Durofoam and have a perfectly good shelter that can be used again! They are referred  as “refurbs” and sold for $5.  We were able to make 32 of these “refurbs” and 48 new ones.

Cutting the tubes that would be used as the entrances.

Darlene and I started out by taping leftover pieces of insulation that would be used for the bottom of the shelters.

Then I started attaching the entrance tubing.

Straw is put inside the shelter.

And then they are ready to go!

Thanks to Buried in Print for stopping in to buy one for a feral cat in their yard (and the chat to catch up).

Here are the stats of the shelters built so far ...