Clark Cleary of Cleary’s Masonry lays the cinder blocks for the cat wall at the Yadkin County Animal Shelter.
The bricks and mortar mix for the project were donated by Yadkin Lumber Company and the labor for the projected was donated by Clark Cleary of Cleary’s Masonry.
The completed wall in the cat room at the Yadkin County Animal Shelter. The wall will allow a completely seperate space for the adoptable cats at the shelter and will make a quieter area for the cats. The room will be painted and decorated in the coming weeks.
There’s a new addition to the Yadkin County Animal Shelter. The shelter and the Yadkin County Humane Society have teamed up to build a wall that will separate the cat adoption area from the dogs.
“We had the need always,” said Anna Hamby, animal shelter director. “When they designed the building I’m not really sure what the intention of that back room was and then inspectors came in and said that the adoptable cats and the quarantine cats needed to be in separate spaces. There was also concern with the noise. The cats didn’t need to be up here with all of these loud, barking dogs, so we didn’t really have an option to be able to do one or the other.”
Hamby and Yadkin Humane Society President Carmen Headen were discussing the issue one day and decided that they should use some of the humane society funds set aside for the shelter.
“The humane society had a lot of fundraisers to be able to cover the costs of the project because the county doesn’t really have the money to do extra expenses like this that aren’t required of us and so the humane society has come up with the funds to cover the whole project,” Hamby said.
Headen said that the money used for the shelter has been specifically donated to the humane society to benefit the shelter since the shelter is unable to accept donations. She said that once the decision to build the wall was made she started looking for local professionals who would be willing to help out on the project.
“We started putting feelers out there for someone who could do the block for the wall and it just so happened that I ran across Clark Cleary of Cleary’s Masonry and I just called him out of the blue and he came out and looked at the job and said he would do it labor free,” Headen said.
Headen said that Cleary got in touch with Charles at Yadkin Lumber Company who offered to donate the blocks and mortar mix. The humane society will purchase a door or window; depending on which item is not being donated.
Headen said that the humane society currently has $1,800 in its fund for the shelter but she hopes that the cat room will not require all of those funds once it’s complete. She says that the humane society is hoping to have enough money to complete the cat room and also build a better sign for the shelter to go by the road.
Hamby and Headen are excited about the possibilities for the room. Both women will be meeting with other humane society volunteers and shelter staff to discuss what everyone would like to see in the room for the cats. Headen and Hamby are both hoping to install cat walks so that the cats can scale the walls around the room. There are some conditions for the additions to the room however.
“I’m working on the back end to make sure that everything we want to do is legal with the animal welfare act,” Hamby said. “We have to make sure that everything in the room can be 100 percent sanitized. Right now I’m doing the research to find out what can be used in the cat room and I’m looking at other cat rooms in other counties.”
Hamby and Headen have also discussed the possibility of adding tile to the room that could allow for screen printing if anyone would like to make a donation for the room and have a tile printed in honor or memory of a lost pet or loved one. Hamby and Headen said that they are still in the early stages of planning and everything must be run by the state before they make any decisions.
The next step for the room is to paint. Hamby said that only shelter volunteers will be allowed to assist in the painting process due to shelter policies. Hamby said that there’s still time to become a volunteer and join in on the room.
“People are always welcome to come to the shelter and sign up to volunteer,” Hamby said. “The process is pretty simple; it’s just some paper work and pre-employment type checks. We also take children for volunteers but children 16 and under have to have their parents with them to volunteer.”
Hamby said that during the completion of the cat room the cats have been moved to another room in the shelter and the adoptable cats and the quarantine cats are set up on walls opposite each other.
“It’s not ideal but we’re just making due with the space we have right now,” Hamby said.
Hamby and Headen said that the goal is to have the room painted and set up by the end of the year but an even more ideal situation would be to see it completed by Thanksgiving.
“It would be great to see it done by Thanksgiving,” Hamby said. “We’d love to give the cats a little Thanksgiving dinner in the room.”
Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.
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