Playroom Gives Cats Leg Up on Adoption

In a 20- by 20-foot room filled with toys, “kitty condos” and perches high enough for a cat to contentedly sleep or watch over visitors, felines awaiting adoption at the Agoura Animal Shelter now have an advantage over those in other shelters.

Shelter manager Bruce Richards said he expects the facility’s already high cat adoption rates to increase 12% or 15% with the addition of a “habikat,” a room that allows families to interact with the animals before they decide which to take home.

Richards said that people walking into shelters usually view the cats and kittens in small cages. When they get to handle the animals, the cat is often so happy to be out of the cage that it struggles to get away.

“With the habikat, people can come in and watch them walk around and play,” he said. “And cats are less scared.”

Although the shelter will continue to house newcomers and strays in the small cages, it will put spayed and neutered cats that have had the proper vaccinations in the habikat for immediate adoption.

County animal-control officials said the room, unveiled this week, is unique to public animal shelters and is the only one in its six facilities.

The habikat was built with $42,000 raised this year from private donations. That kind of community support enables the shelter to consistently record the highest adoption rate in the western United States, said Frank Bonoiorno, field supervisor for the county.

Approximately 81% of the 2,300 cats are adopted a year, he said.