Universidad del Valle de México

Campus Saltillo

A shelter for cats and dogs living on the Streets in

Saltillo, Coahuila

RESEARCH PROTOCOL

Research Methodology

Student: Arianna Bustamante Soto

Teacher: Irene Patricia Vilchis Garza

December 6th, 2021

 Table of Contents
Abstract …………………………………………………………………….. i

Prologue ……………………………………………………………………. ii

Introduction ……………………………………………………………….... iii

Problem Statement …………………………………………………………. iv

Justification ……………………………….………………………………… v

Background …………………………………………………………………. vi

Theoretical Framework ……………………………………………………… vii

Objectives ……………………………………………………………………. viii

Hypothesis …………………………………………………………………… ix

Development …………………………………………………………………. x

Work Schedule ……………………………………………………….………. xi

Budget ………………………………………………………………………... xii

Results ………………………………………………………………………... xiii

Conclusions ………………………………………………………………….... ix

References ……………………….……………………………………………. x

Appendices ……………………………………………………………………. xi
 Abstract

My topic is a shelter for cats and dogs living on the streets in Saltillo, Coah. The
problem that I am going to research is about the cats and dogs that live on the
streets, that doesn´t have a place to live, stay and eat, in the conditions that
they live, give them medical attention if they are hurt or sick, find a family for
them; help them so people can adopt them in good a state. My main solution for
this problem is to build a shelter for them so they can have a temporary home
and that we can take care of them and feed them and play with them. My
results turn out to be very good and how I expect it to be; it was all how I
planned it to be and there was nothing wrong about it, just a few details but not
a big of a deal. In conclusion it turn all to be very good, we expect that the dogs
and cats could be adopted soon so that they can have a lovely and happy life
and family who can take care of them very well.
 Prologue

One of my main purposes is to take care of cats and dogs that need to be taken
care of, that they can be adopted by loving people and families so that they can
live a happy life; I love animals so for me it’s really important that they can have
the life that they deserve and it’s not fair that they have to live in a very bad
conditions as they do. Some incidents that are typically to happen are when the
dogs fight each other or play a little hard and this sometimes in a good way that
can be to socialize with each other but sometimes it can turn in a bad way and
they can get hurt, same with cats, and cats tend to be a little more mean and
like they need their own space and when they do not have it they can be a little
bit aggressive. I will like to thank to all the organization that help me out and
campaigns that liked to collaborate with me, they help through a lot and they
were very useful.
 Introduction

I choose to talk about animal who live on the streets more specific cats and
dogs, this because I think it’s very interesting to know how many cats and dogs
need our help and how they suffer from a lot of circumstances and they can’t do
anything about it by themselves; another reason is because I love animals, I
love to be with them, I love to take care of them, they make me feel very happy
but I hate some of their living conditions and how cruel people abandon them
and don’t care at all. For this problem what I decided to do was to build a shelter
for all the stray cats and dogs so they can have a place or more likely a home to
live and to be loved; my objectives were to feed them, give them a safe place to
be, take care of them, give them medical attention if they are hurt and help them
in every of their needs. So for my shelter the principal thing I needed was the
place where I was going to build it and the builder that was going to make this;
previously I design how it was going to look like from the outside and inside and
in how many areas it was going to be divided; after this I focus on the stuff that
it was going to have on the inside such as furniture and more. The final result
was the shelter that it is very spacious and has a lot space for all the animals
that will live in there.
 Problem Statement

So the problem I’m talking about is animals on the street; animals that doesn´t
have a place to live, stay and eat; animals that doesn´t have a safe place to
stay in. I choose this because I notice this problem here in Mexico that there are
a lot of animals living on the streets, especially cats and dogs. The main factors
involved in this problem are the animals, as I said, especially cats and dogs and
the people that tries to help them and tries to do something for the and the ones
who abandon them. This is a problem because every time there are more and
more animals living on the streets and the main reason for this are cruel people
who decides to abandon them; for example this happens a lot when their dog
especially a female gets pregnant and instead of helping them and giving them
the attention and care that they need they simple leave them on the streets to
not take over them. I want to do something about this because it´s unfair that for
irresponsible people they have to suffer colds, hunger and different threats, and
this is something that they can´t choose, is not like they decide whether they
live on the street or have a home or a place to live in. And last but not least, the
main thing that would happen if nothing is done about this is that the animals
could die of hunger or some type of disease or virus, this because they are not
receiving the treatment or care they need, for example deworming, vaccines
and many more, and as I said the animals reproduce constantly and therefore
they will be even more in this conditions.
 Justification

I´m investigating this topic because I’ve always felt so ashamed to see dogs
and cats living on the street, having nothing to eat and suffering from cold and
when it´s really hot they are most likely to burn their paws. They struggle to get
the minimum portion of food and they also search them in the garbage and that
is not healthy. And because it´s not like they have the choice to live like this and
no one would like to live in this conditions, it´s not life, and they can do nothing
about it by themselves. This is very important cause they need our help, each
day there are more and more cats and dogs living on the street and its most
likely to be our fault, the fault of irresponsible people who thinks that adopting a
pet is just fun and when they not like it they just simply abandon them.

This benefits as we know to the cats and dogs who live on the street by giving
them a place to live, food, water, a cozy place to sleep and maybe a loving
family or person who would like to adopt them. I hope that with this solution the
amount of animals living on the street and abandon pets reduces for their own
good. And if nothing is done about this there will be even more living in those
bad conditions, and even dying.
 Background

In this situation I´m going to be talking about animals on the street and
abandoned animals, more specific, cats and dogs; so this problem economically
requires a lot of money for my solution that is to build a shelter with all their
needs included, socially it need a lot of people involved for this as the ones that
are going to build it, vets and the one that are going to take care of them and
watch them daily. This problem is going to take place here, in Saltillo Coah. So,
there are so many ways that people have solved this problem by creating
campaigns to collect money or campaigns for people to volunteer to help in a
shelter; by creating shelters as I want to do it and finally by making like some
type of feeders using PVC tubes. For example my last grade teacher is always
publishing and talking about this campaign called FundaDog and she is always
showing activities they do to recollect money and the dogs that need a home
and that is actually very helpful; another example is with the feeders of PVC
tubes, I saw this girl who showed how she makes this feeders using those
tubes, then how she places them in different places around the city and that is
actually very useful.
 Theoretical Framework

By saying or writing that cats and dogs have to suffer colds, hunger and
specially threats I mean by being hurt, having some time of lesion, for example
when a dog gets run over or hit by a car, they can´t do nothing about it and they
have to suffer all the pain or just immediately die; or when they get a virus or
they are sick or get some type of infection, this need a lot of attention specially
when they need treatments for that illness.

By fosters I mean people who volunteer to take care of the animal in this case I
mentioned dog, so they take care of the dog for a period of time, not
permanently meanwhile they find a stable and permanent home; they feed
them, play with them, go to the park with them, basically they are like their
owners but just for a short period of time.

Pet: A pet is an animal that you keep in your home to give you company and
pleasure.

Stray animals: an animal (such as a cat or dog) that is lost or has no home.

Pet Shelter: an establishment maintained by local government or supported by

charitable contributions, which provides a temporary home for dogs, cats, and
other animals that are offered for adoption.
 Objectives

To create a shelter to help cats and dogs who live on the streets where they can
be feeded, taken care of, and to find families that can adopt them.

 Help stray animals to get healthier.

 To find families who can adopt them.
 To distribute information to make people conscience.
 Hypothesis

My solution is to build a shelter with all their needs included, this is going to take
place here, in Saltillo Coah. It will it need a lot of people involved for this as the
ones that are going to build it, vets and the one that are going to take care of
them and watch them daily. We want to help the cats and dogs who live on the
streets by creating a shelter, feed them, take care of them, and give them
medical attention if they are hurt or sick, find a family for them; help them so
people can adopt them in good a state and If in case that they are hurt or have
lesions, for example a broken leg, give them their treatment. I’m interested
about helping cats and dogs that lives on the streets and by this I mean that I
want to build a shelter for them and that each kind on animal will have their own
space, there will be a section for dogs that will have an interior and an outer
space, in the inside there is going to be some beds, a food and drinking area
and a playtime area, on the outside there will be a place where they can go pee
and do their needs and another area to play; in the cat section in the inside
there is going to be their feeding area; special houses and beds that will be
place among the ceiling and floors this is cause cats like to sleep and be in
heights; as well that they will have their own playtime area; and on the outside
there will be their sandboxes and another area to play and stretch.
 Development

My research is in the qualitative type of investigations because in this case

involves feelings that one has towards dogs and cats either in general or more
specifically to those who abandoned them; as well as, it also raises awareness
for the people involved. This is a documentary investigation because I had to
consult several sources on the internet, of course sources that were reliable and
from organizations, as well as consult some information from people I know that
are associated with campaigns or support campaigns and from there I based
myself to write some data. An example for the Phenomenological method could
be when you see a cat on the street suffering from hunger, disease or that is
hurt I will pick him up to take care of him and attend its needs. The techniques
and tools that I used as I wrote were from reliable sources, I used Google
Academics to obtain trustable information that I based on to write my research
and one of my main sources were videos from a girl that has a shelter and gives
information about this and last but not least there were some people that I knew
that are on a campaign so they promote the campaign and I read the
information.
 Work Schedule

Gantt chart

Task name Oct 8 Oct 18 Oct 28 Nov 8 Nov 18 Nov 28 Dec 8 Dec 18 Dec 28
Planning
Research
Design
Implementation
Follow up
 Budget

So in my case I’m going to be building a shelter and for that the first thing I will
need is a piece of land to be the place where I will be building my shelter, the I
will need to hire maybe an architect so he can help me design how I want my
shelter and the exact materials that I need for that so it will be resisting and to
last longer. Then I will need to buy the concrete, bricks, floors, and all of the
specific materials to start building it. After it is build, for this it is going to pass a
very long time, I will need to invest in comfy beds, feeders and drinkers, good
quality food for cats and dogs, toys, little houses, rugs, puppy diapers, litter
boxes, sand, and the cleaning materials too such as baby wipes, disinfectant
wipes, mops, brooms, disinfectants, cloths; and maybe for newborn puppies
and kittens some powder milk, some bottles for them. For the outside I will need
to buy some synthetic grass but that it can be used for the dogs to pee or poo
and it doesn´t damage, I want to use synthetic grass because it will be easier to
maintain; I will need some fences so I can secure the area and like some plants
for decoration, they could be artificial. For all of this I know I will need a lot of
money.
 Results

My solutions was to help the animals living on the street by creating a shelter for
them and as I expected it turn out really well; we try to help every dog and cat
and take them to our shelter to bring them the attention that they need and
when they were hurt we gave them a treatment for them to recover. At the
beginning it was difficult because it’s not easy to take care of several puppies
and cats at the same time but for that reason we hired personal that was
acquired in each area, for example the vets and other professionals. Until this
point I´ve tried to accomplish every of my objectives and I this that we actually
did that, as I said it was not easy but with all the effort that we made we
accomplished it and it made me really proud. I plan to let the people know about
my shelter by the internet, it’s an easy way to be recognized and I think that by
publishing my shelter online I could get more people to know about it, my plan is
that if someone saw a dog or cat on the street to call us for help so we can take
care of it and I think that It could be possible by using social media.
 Conclusions

In conclusion I could prove my hypothesis that is was to help the cats and dogs
who live on the streets by creating a shelter, feed them, take care of them, and
give them medical attention if they are hurt or sick, find a family for them; help
them so people can adopt them in good a state and If in case that they are hurt
or have lesions, for example a broken leg, give them their treatment. This
because I’ve always felt so ashamed to see dogs and cats living on the street,
having nothing to eat and suffering from cold and when it´s really hot they are
most likely to burn their paws. They struggle to get the minimum portion of food
and they also search them in the garbage and that is not healthy. And because
it´s not like they have the choice to live like this and no one would like to live in
this conditions, it´s not life, and they can do nothing about it by themselves. In
this case I had some minimal difficulties since for example to get a good
bricklayer was a little complicated, and after that it was much easier to get the
things that were to be used and so on. I hope that with this solution the amount
of animals living on the street and abandon pets reduces for their own good.
And if nothing is done about this there will be even more living in those bad
conditions, and even dying.
 References

Affinity. (2021). Affinity Foundation

https://www.fundacion-affinity.org/perros-gatos-y-personas/busco-un-animal-de-
compania/las-cifras-del-abandono-de-perros-y-gatos-aun 

Espinoza, C. E. (2017). Refugio para animales de la calle basada en el diseño

de un sistema de ventilación natural que permita el confort ambiental (Tesis de
licenciatura). Repositorio de la Universidad Privada del Norte.
https://repositorio.upn.edu.pe/handle/11537/10603

https://tec.mx/es/noticias/guadalajara/emprendedores/ponte-perro-el-proyecto-que-
cambia-la-vida-animales-callejeros

http://blog.pucp.edu.pe/blog/adea/2006/05/31/la-problematica-de-los-animales-de-la-
calle/
 Appendices

Appendix A. Research Protocol Concept Map.

Appendix B. A shelter for cats and dogs living on the streets Mind Map.