• By PAM BORDELON
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jan 7, 2009 - Page: 1E - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Once upon a time, a group of animal rescue volunteers dreamt  of a shelter devoted exclusively to cats. Almost 10 years later, that dream is finally a reality.

Board members, volunteers and supporters of Cat Haven celebrated the completion of Phase I of the project with an open house Dec. 14 at its new shelter, located at 11130 North Harrell’s Ferry Road.

As Cat Haven board President John McChesney explained, the shelter is not meant to be a permanent living facility but “transient housing” for cats waiting for their “forever home.”

“That’s what our mission is all about,” he continued, “rescue and adoption; spay and neuter.”

Since Cat Haven Inc. was established in 1999, more than 4,500 cats have been rescued and given homes.

And every one was spayed or neutered, tested for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus and given age-appropriate basic vaccinations first.

Three years later Cat Haven took the lead role in battling the greater Baton Rouge area’s feral cat crisis. The feral cat program has two goals: to reduce the population explosion by spaying and neutering feral cats and to capture young feral kittens so they may be socialized and domesticated to be good pets.

Utilizing the proven method of Trap-Neuter-Release each adult cat is returned to where they were trapped while young kittens are brought into Cat Haven’s adoption program. Another component of solving the feral cat problem is Cat Haven’s Fix-A-Feline program, which provides low-cost spaying and neutering.

While about 20 area veterinarians give of their time and talent to care for Cat Haven cats, all of this costs money. So this all-volunteer nonprofit organization hosts its Cat Tales & Cocktails Gala every September. Over the past few years, proceeds from this annual fundraiser have gone towards the building fund.

McChesney, who has been involved with Cat Haven for seven years — the last four as board president, made finding a building for Cat Haven his own personal goal. While it had been discussed since 2002, the board began actively looking for a facility in 2005, and even had an agreement in place for a time.

“Then Katrina hit and prices skyrocketed,” said McChesney. “In 2007, I said, ‘this is the year.’”

On Dec. 14, 2007, Cat Haven took title to the building on North Harrell’s Ferry Road. The lamp store moved out of one side and renovation began. Board members had visited similar shelters to get ideas, eventually settling on the colony approach, and then chose Town Construction as the contractor for the first-class, feline-friendly facility.

“When he was on vacation, George Town visited a shelter that was a colony setup and he came back with all kinds of ideas and suggestions,” added McChesney of what was absolutely a team project.