Stray Love Foundation, Inc.: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

The veterinary care for cats rescued from a hoarding case, The Valentine Project.

It eased some of the burden of raising money for this project, which has been overwhelming. The $1,000 has covered the TNR-ing of at least 10 of the feral cats at this location.

How many pets did this grant help?

10

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Valentine (first three photos), the poster child for this project, was adopted quickly. He was sickly at first but came around pretty quickly. He was one of the lucky ones. So far six of the “inside” kitties who lived in the house with all of the toxins had cancer. The total number of cats needing help is 40 and dogs, nine.

From Facebook: The Stray Love Foundation was contacted on Valentine’s Day about nine dogs, 30 cats, and dozens of kittens in a “compassion compulsion” (hoarding) situation.

With a rescue operation of this size, we chose to contact a couple of our partner groups, Safe Harbor and Baldwin Humane, for assistance. Thankfully, both organizations did not hesitate to help.

We’ve named this effort the “Valentine Project” because the man at the home involved lost his partner the day before Valentine’s Day.

Apparently the gentleman who passed away was the one who could not pass up an animal in need and now his partner, who is disabled and on crutches, must leave this home for the sake of his health.

It is one of the worst cases we have ever seen. This man is so sweet and so heartbroken. We did not want to hurt him any further by putting this fundraiser out there until he could move and be with family that could care for him. According to Steve Solomon with Safe Harbor, they got to the point where they just covered layers of old paper plates, trash and feces with cardboard to make paths so they could get through the house. There is no running water, so he had gallons and gallons of water delivered regularly.

The animals are fed, though many of the cats look emaciated and most have upper-respiratory infections, including the dogs, because of the VERY strong urine smell throughout the home.

Since some of the kitties are being TNR’d (the ones who cannot go into the adoption program), we will need to build a feeding station near the property and feed daily. The house will have to come down so we will make sure all animals are out and the house is sealed up before demolition.