Phones ringing, computers chirping, rolls of architectural plans stuffed in a corner -- typical real estate office bustle but for Susie, the black cat dozing next to the printer.

An office isn't the ideal site for an animal shelter, but for the moment, it's the best that San Juan Capistrano has to offer.

Since the city contracts with Orange County for animal care services, residents can't take stray or abandoned animals to the nearby no-kill shelters in San Clemente or Mission Viejo. Instead, they must drive the pets 40 miles to a shelter in Orange, which euthanizes animals not claimed or adopted within four days.

Now, though, the cats and dogs are getting a second chance.

Volunteers with the Capistrano Animal Rescue Effort, or CARE, pick up the city's unclaimed animals and take them back to San Juan Capistrano, where they are farmed out to foster homes, veterinary clinics and offices like the one where Susie is holding court until she is judged ready for adoption.

And in an effort that city and county animal rescue officials say could be a model for other small cities, the nonprofit group has raised enough money to break ground this spring on the dog runs for San Juan Capistrano's own adoption center. The organization has generated about $150,000 of the $450,000 it needs to construct the building.

"Every time we get frustrated or get disheartened by how long it's taking or how much money we need, the animals are what keep us going," said Marsha Schwartze, who founded the organization and runs, for her husband, the office where Susie naps.

"If I stop, the community wouldn't notice, but the animals would suffer," she said. "If I stop, there will be a hundred Susies who never have a chance."

Schwartze formed a network of a couple of dozen foster caretakers and handlers to take the animals to Saturday adoption sessions at the local Petsmart. The store also houses up to a dozen of the organization's cats, five of which slept there on a recent afternoon.

Edward, an elongated version of Susie with opal-colored eyes, lounged on a kitty-sized couch. Buster, a 4-month-old tortoise-shell kitten so named because he broke a leg while at the county shelter, perked up immediately at the sight of a visitor, purring and preening. A trio of sleek, middle-aged brown tabbies in the cages surrounding Buster ignored the commotion.

Before the cats come to the store, they are housed with a local family so they can get used to people and the caretakers can gauge whether the cats are ready to be placed in a home with children or other pets.

For feral cats like Susie, found protecting three kittens in an apartment complex laundry room, developing human-cat interaction is essential to making the transition to house cat.

Susie is nearly ready to be taken to Petsmart. She readily stretches up into visitors' hands for a pat but still nibbles a little too hard for a child to handle.

At one point, Schwartze had 33 cats in the office, a pale yellow historic house in the shadow of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Although she's now fostering only Susie, there are several 4-foot-high, sheet-draped cages in a back room, bags of cat food stacked in the kitchen and a litter box under the typewriter.

"My husband is a saint to put up with this," she said.

Before anyone can adopt an animal through CARE, a committee reviews applications and arranges home visits if adopters have children or other pets.

"We're going to look harder at someone who has a Rottweiler and wants a kitten, or someone who says their last three cats got outside and were eaten by coyotes," Schwartze said. "We're not trying to reduce the number of adoptions, but trying to make sure all our animals find a permanent home where both owner and pet will be happy."

The group's 4,200-square-foot building, on a creek-side lot at Junipero Serra Road and Camino Capistrano, will include 26 dog runs, a six-cage cat kennel, a clinic and outdoor play areas.

To raise money to build the center, the group has partnered with local merchants to sponsor wine tastings, plays, dinners and holiday pet photo sessions.

The city donated the lease on the land; CARE will run the no-kill center through the county animal shelter. City Councilman David M. Swerdlin said San Juan Capistrano has tried to help CARE navigate the bureaucracy of city planning.

"The process of animal adoption and abandonment for San Juan residents was very tedious before CARE came along," he said. "It's the least we can do to smooth things out a little as they try to help the city even more."

Julie Ryan Johnson, director of the county's Animal Care Services, praised the group for its efforts over the years.

"We already know that any animal who comes to us from San Juan is going to be well taken care of and find new homes," she said. "What they're doing to build the new center is a great pilot program that hopefully inspires grass-roots groups in other cities."