After nearly two decades inside a cramped Waldo storefront, KC PAWS has packed up its kennels and moved into a much larger home in Raytown. The no-kill dog rescue opened the doors of its new shelter at 6204 Arlington Avenue during the week of October 15, trading a single outdoor yard and a building full of maintenance headaches for a 40-animal-capacity campus with room to grow.
The organization had been eyeing a move for years, according to KC PAWS executive director Michelle Lascon, who told KMBC that the old facility's limited space and constant repairs had become unsustainable. The previous building, a 9,090-square-foot storefront on a 0.36-acre lot at 7833 Wornall Road, is detailed in a commercial listing on Crexi, which shows the modest footprint the rescue had worked within since it was founded in 2007 as a 501(c)(3), no-kill organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating dogs facing severe abuse, neglect, or behavioral challenges, per the shelter's own account on its website.
A Four-Yard Upgrade and Quiet Rooms for Nervous Dogs
The new Raytown site officially passed its municipal facility inspection in late September and opened to the public on October 5, according to a KC PAWS Facebook post. Where the Waldo building offered a single outdoor yard, the Raytown campus has four separate yards, along with quiet decompression rooms and expanded work areas, the organization said in a Facebook post shared in an area dog-lovers group.
KMBC reports the new building also includes larger private dog rooms for animals that need one-on-one space, a quieter and more peaceful setting overall, and is only about 12 minutes from the former location — close enough that regular volunteers and adopters shouldn't lose touch with the rescue. Lascon told the station that the animals' quality of life had already improved greatly since the move.
From Pet Connection's Old Home to a Pet Food Pantry
The building at 6204 Arlington Avenue isn't new to animal rescue work. It previously served as a shelter and behavioral training facility run by The Pet Connection, another long-running local nonprofit, according to posts shared in community Facebook groups. Now it's getting a new addition the old Waldo site never had room for: a pet food pantry for families in need, something KMBC notes the former facility simply lacked the storage to support.
KMBC reports that the expanded Raytown facility is expected to let KC PAWS grow its daycare, overnight housing, and grooming offerings.
Expansion Comes Amid a Regional Shelter Crunch
Axios Kansas City reported in September 2025 that area facilities were holding up to double their intended capacity, driven by surging pet surrenders tied to housing restrictions and economic strain.
Even with its new address, KC PAWS has kept close ties to its old neighborhood. The rescue hosted its 5th Annual Paul Chaney Fitness Fundraiser at City Gym in Waldo on October 10, an event that helps cover medical costs, according to the organization's Instagram account. After nearly 20 years operating out of Waldo, the rescue is counting on that kind of community support to help it settle into its larger Raytown footprint.
