Animal Village Expands,
Offers Freedom For Stray Cats

By Amy Bentley-Smith
Features Editor

Five years to the month after the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village opened, an expansion of the facility should be completed.

Wednesday, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA) broke ground on Phase II of the village. Some construction has already begun, and with no delays, it should be done by August, officials said. When complete, the expansion will add a fresh air cattery for strays, a pet boarding facility, a pet grooming center and an expanded pet store.

“We’re not doing exactly as much as we had wanted to do,” said spcaLA President Madeline Bernstein of original plans to include a veterinarian clinic and more dog cottages. “After the hurricane hit, the cost of materials skyrocketed.”

She added that while cost dictated holding off on some expansion plans — the clinic and cottages will come in another phase — having lived in the space for five years, priorities shifted as well.

“By living in the facility for a while, you realize you need things you thought you didn’t,” Bernstein said.

The village opened its doors August 2001, becoming the first public/private collaboration of its kind. Built on six acres of city land off the 605 Freeway and Spring Street, the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village combines the adoptions and animal education services of the spcaLA and the city’s Animal Control Bureau and animal shelter in one location.

“It’s pretty remarkable,” Bernstein said, “people are coming from all over the world and adapting the concept. Just in terms of it setting an example, it has been very successful.”

Currently the village has a ranch-style administrative building that houses both agencies’ offices, a pet store, a community room, cage-less catteries with indoor and screened outdoor access for adoptable cats, a separate area for stray and sick cats, and medical facilities to care for the animals. Detached from the main building are seven indoor/outdoor circular dog cottages — three for Animal Control and four for spcaLA, each with 25 dog runs. An agility course was added permanently in 2003.

Just as the partnership was considered innovative, so too was the design of the animal shelters. The circular dog cottages allow dogs to see more and as a result have helped reduce barking. The kennels also are larger than traditional ones and provide more fresh air to the animals.

The cat colonies, with catwalks, toys, baskets and a screened porch complete with plants, allow cats to feel more relaxed and social.

Bernstein said that philosophy — that an animal’s surrounding can have an effect on its demeanor — would be carried on into Phase II plans for a new area for the stray cats.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do,” she said. “I took the latest information, talked to veterinarians and did research and decided to try something completely different. We’re putting strays right into a porch-like setting. They’ll have the choice to sit in their cage or have access to fresh air.”

The two new stray catteries will be located near the Animal Control dog cottages, so Animal Control staff will have the most convenient access. Strays are still under the care of the city, until the requisite number of days has passed and they can be put up for adoption.

Another fresh air cattery will be built for the sick stray cats.

The space currently housing stray cats will be used to increase the lobby and waiting area and expansion of the surgical and recovery area. Moving the pet store out of the main building into a larger building also will make more room for the public and other amenities, like a nursery for baby animals and possibly another cattery.

“It seemed like we had enough space when we started,” Bernstein said of the remodeling/rearranging that will take place in the main building.

The new pet store will be twice as big as the current one. It will be part of a building that also will house the grooming center and pet hotel. The grooming center will have three bathing stations and one self-service station. The pet hotel will have 19 dog kennels, an area for puppies and four exercise yards, as well as 25 cat kennels.

Cost for Phase II is estimated at $3 million. To date spcaLA has received $400,000. Bernstein admits that’s not a lot of money, but that the groundbreaking will start the big fund-raising push.

Donations can be made at the spcaLA Web site, www.spcala.com or by calling (323) 730-5300 ext. 232. More information on the expansion plans also can be found on the Web site.

The P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village is at 7700 E. Spring St. beyond the El Dorado Park East Spring Street entrance. It is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.