NORWAY — The dogs and some of the cats at the Responsible Pet Care shelter were moved Saturday and Sunday to their new home in Paris.

Shelter President Shirley Boyce said the organization started moving some of the 100 cats and kittens on Saturday and about eight dogs on Sunday. On Tuesday, the last of the cats will be delivered to their new home, she said.

“Everything went very well, especially with the help of the Oxford County Animal Response Team, who was a huge help in moving animals and cages. It just went really, really well,” Boyce said on Sunday evening.

In February, Responsible Pet Care purchased the former Montessori School building at 9 Swallow Road. The 5,600-square-foot structure is more than double the size of the shelter on Waterford Road in Norway.

Boyce said the Oxford County Animal Response Team was activated to assist with the move and make it an official drill.

“The cats will be taken in vehicles so as to keep their stress level as low as possible, and the cages will be moved in a box truck that Luke Kory (of Norway) has generously offered to us,” Boyce said Friday.

While renovations at the new dog space are not complete, Boyce said they needed to move the animals now.

The cat areas, as well as the office, laundry, kitchen and bathroom, have been completed, but Responsible Pet Care volunteers are waiting for grant money to complete the dog space.

“The dogs will still be better off in the new building rather than the old, because at least they have a nice fenced-in area to exercise,” Boyce said.

Responsible Pet Care applied for a $50,000 Rural Development grant to help with the renovation costs, she said.

“We still haven’t received the grant from Rural Development that we were counting to do the area of the building that will house the dogs. We can’t afford to run two buildings, and we can’t wait for the Rural Development money, because who knows when it will come,” Boyce said last week.

Boyce said at the time of the purchase that heating the poorly insulated Norway shelter costs $6,000 per year, and the building needed numerous repairs.

The new space will allow more cats to roam freely. Dog kennels, which are currently not large enough for five dogs, will be two to three times bigger, and the animals will have more room to play outside, she said.

Boyce said the current Norway facility will probably be sold.

ldixon@sunjournal.com