Carson Cats Rescue: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The $1,000 grant reward was used to provide medical care for cats whose owners were affected by COVID through the loss of wages due to job loss or caring for others and who would have had to euthanize their pets.
Our rescue works mostly with the Los Angeles County shelter system, which is one of the largest in the country. Since the start of Covid-19 in March, the calls and emails that we have been receiving from the community asking for help with cats and kittens have increased more than 50%.
The county shelters have limited the intake of cats from the public (they are currently not taking any friendly “stray” cats or kittens), so the public has been reaching out to us more and more for help with vetting and placing cats, as well as TNR.
In addition to the normal reasons people turn animals in to the shelter, we also have people reaching out to us who have experienced hardship and job loss due to COVID-19. These calls are asking for help with vetting of their own animals or placing them because they can no longer afford them.
We used the $1,000 grant to start a fund specifically to help people in our community who are trying to help cats and kittens but can’t afford to vet them due to COVID-19. We vet them, get them spayed and neutered and encourage the community members to foster them so they can show the cats and kittens with our rescue to re-home them, if applicable.
We also help cats stay in their homes if their pet parents are experiencing hardship due to COVID-19. With the fund, we were able to extend more vetting to families who could not afford veterinary care right now and provide medical treatment, food and litter to keep cats in their homes.
How many pets did this grant help?
We were able to help eight cats.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
We were contacted by someone in our community who had found a super sweet Persian kitty (now renamed Floof) on the streets, dehydrated, flea-infested and emaciated. The woman had lost her job due to COVID and was unable to provide the vetting that Floof needed in her condition.
With the Petfinder Foundation grant, we were able to have the woman take Floof to our vet, who gave Floof fluids, vaccines, and flea meds and performed a fecal test and bloodwork because Floof was so flea-anemic. Floof also had two fractured, infected teeth and was in pain.
We were able to provide the much-needed dental that Floof needed to get on the road to recovery. In the matter of a month, Floof had gained 3 lbs. and looked like a completely different kitty! She went from looking like she was 18 years old to her true age of only 4 years!
Floof was officially adopted by her finder and is loving her new life! Thank you, Petfinder Foundation, for helping Floof and so many other lives during the COVID-19 crisis.
