Ten Lives Club opened its new cat campus in Blasdell on Saturday, giving the longtime rescue organization a two-story shelter built to care for more cats and chip away at a regional overpopulation crisis. The nonprofit held an open house from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the new building, located directly behind its current shelter at 3741 Lakeshore Road, where guests could tour the facility and meet cats up for adoption.
The new campus includes a veterinary office, dedicated kitten rooms and get-acquainted rooms where visitors can meet adoptable cats, according to WGRZ. A separate account from beenews.com described the two-story building as a state-of-the-art shelter featuring a fully equipped veterinary suite, several cat adoption rooms, meet-and-greet rooms, offices and a retail store. Guests were welcome to tour the new shelter and visit the cats available for adoption during the Saturday opening, the outlet reported.
A Years-Long Project Finally Opens Its Doors
Ten Lives Club president Sallie Edwards said the new shelter will allow the organization to expand its efforts and increase its community impact, framing the campus as the product of years of work and support from the Western New York community. The organization hopes the expanded space will help it continue saving cats and finding them homes, per the same WGRZ report.
Edwards said Ten Lives Club wants to use the new campus to expand veterinary services, hold more community spay/neuter days and vaccine clinics, and help address the broader overpopulation problem driving cats into shelters. Earlier reporting from WKBW put the total cost of the new facility at around $3 million, with the organization still working to raise roughly $1.3 million more in community support for the project. Ten Lives Club has offered varying figures on its lifetime impact: WGRZ reported the group has saved more than 50,000 cats since its founding, while the organization's own website states it has saved or assisted more than 40,000 cats since it was created in 2001.
Regional Veterinary Shortage Shapes the Mission
The push to expand veterinary access comes as humane societies and animal welfare organizations nationwide continue to deal with an ongoing shortage of veterinarians, according to 13WHAM. That shortage prompted Pet Pride Cat Sanctuary and Adoption Center in Victor to host a volunteer-run spay-neuter clinic in August, expected to treat more than 100 cats, after Lollypop Farm paused veterinary care for community rescue organizations.
In Erie County, a Maddie's Fund-supported project aims to maintain zero euthanasia of healthy dogs and cats while cutting euthanasia of treatable animals by at least 406 from a baseline of 2,030, according to Maddie's Fund. The project's first year is planned to include 3,518 spay/neuter surgeries, with low-cost options available to qualifying Erie County Medicaid recipients and residents who manage feral cat colonies. Ten Lives Club is one of four adoption-guarantee organizations, alongside Buffalo Humane, HEART and Second Chance Sheltering Network, working with the SPCA Serving Erie County and the Buffalo Animal Shelter on the initiative, which received a $541,550 grant to fund its first year.
Spay/Neuter Access and Past Adoption Efforts
Ten Lives Club already offers $150 spay/neuter appointments that include the procedure along with a rabies vaccine and a distemper vaccine, according to the organization's own website. The group notes that no refunds are given once an appointment is booked. Beyond its Blasdell shelter, Ten Lives Club completed more than 500 adoptions in 2024 at four PetSmart locations, part of its broader push to place cats in homes across the region.
