When you ask Robin Starr how it feels to be considered almost a "Renaissance woman," the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA laughs.

Robin Starr has her hands full with Lily, Louie, Niblet, and Charley, all rescue dogs. In the background daughter Tyler cradles the family cats, Dumbledore and Audrey. Missing from the picture is Bonnie, the Starrs' albino rabbit. Meals for humans and animals are prepared in a redesigned kitchen.

Although Starr, in addition to her high-profile position, holds degrees in both biology and law, studied classical ballet at the North Carolina School of the Arts, practiced corporate law at A. H. Robins Company and Williams Mullen, is a trustee of the Richmond Ballet, and has worked tirelessly to bring to the community a no-kill on-site spay/neuter facility that now bears her name (along with that of E. Claiborne Robins Jr.), at this moment she resembles any other devoted pet owner at feeding time: in the kitchen, handling the chaos of hungry animals.

Surrounded by four dogs, two cats, and one rabbit, and assisted by daughter Tyler, Starr is efficient and poised in the midst of a just-completed kitchen redesign at her riverfront home.

The kitchen brings together elements of country charm and sleek convenience. A diamond-pattern stained wood floor adds depth and warmth, complemented by a farm sink. The beauty of a blue and white pottery collection, placed throughout, is a contrast to the kitchen's stainless-steel appliances.

Starr says she loves to cook and prepares meals nightly with Tyler, an amateur chef who admits to being a devotee of The Food Network.

An animal-themed accessory or two indicates to visitors that this is a household very much attached to its canine and feline -- not forgetting the rabbit -- members. Good thing, too, since the family pets have the run of the house. It's an arrangement that suits everyone at home, including Starr's husband, Ed. "He's a great animal lover, too…a little more of a cat lover, which is unusual for a man."

A major renovation is a temporary yet stress-inducing project in the day-to-day activity of any home, but seven pets presented a particular challenge. Starr comments, "It was really hard because they're used to having the run of the house during the day. The pets had to be closed up and they were not happy."

The family pets all have histories of neglect or abuse prior to being brought to the SPCA, but Starr says, "They are the funniest things, though; they are such little hothouse flowers. You let them out the back and, I'm not kidding, in a minute they're around here at the front door. They have no interest in being outside at all."

Starr and her husband bought the house four years ago and had known its previous owner. "We had loved this house, and we had wanted it for years." The previous kitchen "was not easy to cook in," she says, so it became the second renovation project, after the master bedroom addition. The new kitchen will continue to be the nucleus of activity for the entire family including, naturally, their home-loving pets.