CAT CONDOS, THE ‘LIBRARY ROOM’ AND A PIANO TO CALM DOGS: SPCA WESTCHESTER’S NEW FACILITY OPENS

BRIARCLIFF MANOR – For pet owners, the SPCA of Westchester’s new, larger animal shelter offers expanded veterinary service, where people will be able to bring pets for checkups and procedures such as spaying and neutering.

For pets and other four-legged friends, the shelter’s impacts are more luxurious.

The larger space accommodates more dogs and cats awaiting adoption.

Animals taken in by the shelter will live in dog habitats and cat “condos.” And there are several other themed spaces called catteries, including an “old English library room” that mimics wood-paneled whimsy where a cat can rest inside a picture-frame space.

“When we envisioned it,” said Lisa Bonanno, SPCA of Westchester’s director of development, “we were joking about having like a magical library like ‘Harry Potter.'”

The two-story, 27,000-square-foot SPCA facility — some 10,000 feet larger than the previous facility but on the same 3.8-acre property at 590 North State Road — replaces a shelter that hadn’t undergone major upgrades since the 1960s.

The new facility officially opened for adoptions and clinic services in mid-August, by appointment.

The old facility, which consisted of six separate buildings, had, in some instances, kennels that weren’t fully protected from the elements.

The SPCA raised the $9.1 million needed to build the new facility, which is bordered to the east by Route 100 and the Taconic State Parkway, and by Stone Creek Lane to the north. Construction began in June 2020 and was finished in early July this year.

For dogs, there’s a room with a piano that was donated by a supporter of the SPCA of Westchester. Young people who’ve volunteered over the years at the SPCA would invariably come into the shelter and play a musical instrument. The idea with the new room, which also features a couch, is someone can sit down and perform music that keeps dogs calm.

The catteries “are obviously very spacious and they mimic actual real space in rooms,” Bonannno said.

Mark Seiden, who owns a real-estate brokerage in Briarcliff Manor, and his wife recently adopted two cats — a 1-year-old female and a 2-year-old male — from the new facility.

“The facility is unbelievably incredible,” Seiden said, adding that the themed spaces look as if the animals are in someone’s home.

What’s in the facility?

The SPCA of Westchester said the new facility has:

• spaces for up to 78 dogs and 98 cats, compared with the 72 dogs and 69 cats at the old facility.
• multiple cage-free catteries where cats can roam — it aims to replicate home environments — and each has five or six cats. The SPCA groups the cats by how they get along.
• four-story “condo” spaces where a cat that relies on a special diet or doesn’t get along with other cats can be located, allowing movement up and down the different floors. These replace what in the previous shelter were cages, reduce stress, and provide sunlight through glass and better exercise, according to the SPCA.
• a training and enrichment space to help get animals ready so they can be adopted more quickly.
• a classroom for presentations to children, youth groups and the “Camp Critter” day camp.
• indoor space for training dogs.
• more space for the veterinary clinic with modernized equipment.

“We are very excited about our community room, which is a great space that we can utilize to grow and create even more outreach programs, from dog training classes to educational workshops, the possibilities are endless,” Bonanno said. “We can rescue and support more homeless animals every year.”

Seiden donated one of the kitty condos — which he said allow a cat to have different things, such as where he or she eat or sleeps, on different vertical levels — to help support the new facility.

“Listen, I sell real estate for a living,” he said, adding with humor: “So how could I not invest in a condo?”

Seiden said along with the vertical movement, the spaces provide a lot of natural light.

SPCA services

Founded more than 135 years ago, the SPCA of Westchester takes in stray dogs and cats from about a dozen Westchester localities. The facility also takes in animals from owner surrenders, the Good Samaritans, SPCA Humane Law Enforcement Unit seizures, and from other animal shelters such as Animal Care Centers of NYC.

Abandoned and abused animals are brought to the SPCA if in need of shelter, veterinary care and other help while waiting for adoption.

The SPCA also enforces state animal cruelty laws through investigations, arrests, and seizure of animals.

Other things the SPCA of Westchester does include, according to a release: 

• Matching up trained SPCA volunteers with companion animals to visit patients and residents in healthcare facilities in order to battle loneliness and isolation.
• Teaching children to be animal advocates through presentations in schools and the SPCA’s popular summer day camp, Camp Critter.
• Providing a foster program to ensure the care and safety of pets while their owners seek refuge in a domestic violence shelter.