The Cat Box, A Feline Adoption Center, Opening Soon In St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The Friends of Strays will open the nonprofit organization’s new cat adoptions center, The Cat Box, at 3015 46th Ave. N. in St. Petersburg soon.

The feline facility, offering cats waiting for their new homes a space completely separate from dogs, will open to the public July 1.

The building with a “super cute awning” in the shape of cat ears is easily recognizable, Dara Eckart, CEO, told Patch.

It boasts five adult cat adoption rooms, a mix of cage-free rooms and rooms with cage banks. There are also two kitten rooms, one free-roaming and another with cage banks.

Two “almost-home rooms” — dubbed “Hairbnbs” — are for “cats who don’t get along with other cats or maybe their owner died and it’s their first time in a shelter,” Eckart said.

Additionally, the adoption center also has a community event space that the organization can use for training and meetings and will eventually rent to the public for small gatherings.

The new facility will give the organization the capacity to hold about 50 adult cats and up to 60 kittens. In their current space, they have room for about 30 adult cats and 20 kittens.

“It’s not a huge increase, but it’s a definite improvement in their environment,” according to Eckart.

The cats are also currently located in a space across the hall from dogs.

“So, there’s noise, they’re barking and it stresses out the cats,”she said. “And it affects their health. They can get upper respiratory infections and they’re more susceptible to ringworm.”
Eckqrt added, “We moved into our current building in the early 1980s and we’re completely out of space.”

The project is part of Friends of Strays’ five-year plan, which has been in the works for several years. The organization purchased the building at the end of 2020 thanks to a donation from the Margie and Phil Schwartz Trust.

And don’t worry, the pups haven’t been forgotten. Up next is the construction of a new dog facility, the Milkey Bone Dog House — named after its primary donors, Keven and Jean Milkey — at 3055 46th Ave N.

“It’s going to make for a huge increase in our capacity to care for the dogs that come in to us,” Eckart said.

There are still opportunities to name spaces within each building and make donations to the donor wall. The overall goal for the capital campaign is $6 million with just a little over $4 million raised so far, she said.

Once both buildings are completed, the current shelter building at 2911 47th Ave. N will be transitioned for medical, intake, foster and trap-neuter-vaccinate-return program needs.

“All animals coming into the shelter will come through the current facility,” Eckart said. “And any animals that happen to get sick on the adoption floor will be transferred back over to the medical and intake building.”

She added, “We’re just so excited for this opportunity to grow our facilities and grow our capacity to care for animals. There’s such a huge need for Pinellas County.”