A narrow road curves up behind Cal Poly’s Yosemite Residence Halls, leading to a seemingly out-of-place, white stucco house near the south-eastern edge of campus. Formerly used for agricultural housing, the large house is now home to the Cal Poly Cat Program.
The volunteer-run shelter moved into its new location in early March after its former building near the JUSTIN and J. LOHR Center for Wine and Viticulture was scheduled for demolition, said Meili Laiho, the program manager and a biomedical engineering senior.
Laiho said the new shelter’s layout allows for more specialized care, a major improvement over the program’s old facility. The prior location had only one large room, making it difficult to separate the cats by health and behavior, she explained.
“With this kind of a more house setup, we have a bunch of different rooms, so it was really great for organization,” Laiho said. “We tried to make each different room have a different kind of purpose.”
In the new location, one area serves as the general population room, where cats can free roam once they are comfortable. With more space, program now has a dedicated “Kitty Recovery Room,” where new arrivals or cats with potential health issues are monitored before meeting the general population.
Longtime facility manager Sally Adam said the improved layout helps staff ease cats into the group environment more safely.
“Our old shelter wasn’t completely isolated, and this [shelter] is,” Adam said. “It’s way better for making sure everything stays separate, our goal is to get them free-roaming as soon as we can.”
Laiho said individual cats’ transitions into the group setting begins gradually.
“[For] the cats who are transitioning, we start them in a cage because it can be overwhelming if they just start out in this big area,” Laiho said. “[The cage gets] them used to the smells and being around other cats.”
The new space has also allowed for expanded care for its sanctuary cats, animals whose medical or behavioral needs are often too demanding for a typical adopter to manage. One of those cats is Kiwi, a longtime resident affectionately known as “King Kiwi,” who requires specialized food, medication and supervised roaming due to chronic health issues.
While many adoptable cats are relocated to The Caffeinated Cat Cafe in Grover Beach to increase their exposure and chances of adoption, Laiho said that sanctuary cats like Kiwi remain at the shelter, where the quieter environment and access to constant care are essential to their quality of life.
“[Sanctuary cats] don’t really like people, so that kind of higher-traffic spot is less ideal for them,” Laiho said.
The shelter also features a fully enclosed “catio,” which Laiho said was rebuilt with help from volunteers after relocation from the former site. The outdoor space provides cats with a safe place to enjoy fresh air and watch the deer and wild turkeys that roam nearby.
With no paid staff, the Cal Poly Cat Program relies entirely on student and community volunteers to keep operations running. Among them is Charlotte Towle, a comparative ethnic studies freshman and a student medic in the Kitty Recovery Room.
With the shelter just up the hill from her dorm, the new location makes it especially easy and accessible for Towle to volunteer in her free time.
“Throughout high school and middle school, I always volunteered and fostered kittens,” Towle said.
For David Rodgers, a regular volunteer and a physics senior, volunteering at the shelter is a way to connect with more than just the animals.
“Spending my time kind of giving back to the community is a big part of it,” Rodgers said.