Washington-area residents are invited to “purr-use” a facility addition to the PAWS & More Animal Shelter.

The shelter and Washington Chamber of Commerce are holding a ribbon cutting at noon tomorrow to celebrate the grand opening of their new “catio.” Shelter Director Amber Talbot shares how this months-long project came to be, “We had a private donor that had given a gift with a purpose and his goal for this gift was that he wanted us to build a ‘catio.’ And he wanted to make sure these cats had a nice outdoor environment to enjoy as safely as possible, and with our Iowa weather we wanted to make sure it was something that could be used year round.”

The all-season space gives shelter kittens an area to play cage-free, benches where prospective adopters can meet the cats and see their personalities outside of an enclosure, tree-like scratching areas, and their very own “catwalk.” The shelter is also offering reduced prices for feline adoptions from noon to 4 p.m. tomorrow through Sunday. Face masks are required.