When Raymond Jones joined the Chilton County Humane Society more than one year ago, he wanted to come up with a creative way to help the cats at the shelter.

“The cats never get to see the light of day,” Jones said. “They can’t be walked or taken outside so they spend the majority of their days inside a cage.”

Jones and local volunteers throughout Chilton County are now working to create a cat house, complete with proper ventilation units, an outside play area for the cats and a glass enclosed viewing room.

“A lot of times people will come by the shelter and go touch a bunch of cats and the cats will then get sick,” Jones said. “We are now building a glass portion to house the cats so if people want to come and look at them, they can see through the glass and the cats are protected from the cross contamination that often occurs.”

The 380-square-foot wooden house is located to the left of the shelter on Shadetree Lane in Clanton after being built more than 10 years ago by a local Boy Scouts troop.

Jones said the building has always been used as a storage facility, but Jones thought the area could be utilized for 18-20 cats housed at the shelter.

“The area where the cats are kept now is really not a great area for them,” Jones said. “There isn’t a lot of ventilation and no room for them to play.”

In the cat house, Jones has created a small door for the cats to be able to walk to a designated area outside with tree limbs to climb on and small cubby holes Jones will build for them.

“It will be a playground area type of thing so they can go and come as they please and enjoy the outdoors,” Jones said. “They can have a life to move around and enjoy instead of being stuck in a cage all day.”

Jones hopes the cat house will be completed at the end of September or first part of October after the inside of the house is wired with electricity, insulated and painted.

The house will also have an air conditioning and heating unit installed.

“We still have a little bit left to do but everything is coming together, and so many people have helped volunteer their time so it really has been a group effort,” Jones said.

The house will be named after the Chilton County Humane Society treasurer Tom Cuthbert’s late wife, Tammy, who passed away in 2012.

Jones and others at the humane society are also working on several other projects including a dog kennel area that will house 19 kennels for rescue animals.

Due to rescue dogs requiring a certain quarantine period from other animals, Jones will work to create an outside dog kennel area to house the animals during their quarantine period.

Another project Jones is working to complete in the next couple of months is a separate area to house a pit-bull rescue.

“We have a lot going on but ultimately the plan is to make use of the facility we have so we can expand the area for these animals to live,” Jones said. “Each project is helping another project, but it is all helping the animals.”