Small Lives Matter Kitten Rescue: Cat Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
We used the money for two tall, rugged large scratching posts (SmartCat Pioneer Pet Ultimate Scratching Post and PetFusion Ultimate Cat Scratcher Lounge), an On2Pets Luxury Cat Tree that is 60" tall and has fake leaves to make great hiding places for our bush dwellers, and four other types of cardboard scratchers.
We purchased eight electronic interactive toys and several tunnels that entertain the cats for hours. We also purchased 100 feather refills because our visitors love to play with the cats with these teaser toys. The feathers have to be replaced daily, but they are, by far, our kitties' favorite toys. We also purchased a large stock of healthy cat treats to help with meet-and-greets.
This grant supplied scratching posts for our largest cats. These guys needed an extra-tall, extra-long place to scratch! It also helped adoptive families see that giving cats the right enrichment toys can prevent damage to furniture in the home.
We feel that interactive enrichment toys which actually move like prey are very entertaining to our kitties. We also believe that encouraging human interaction with the cats helps potential adopters get to know our felines, and the feather toys are the cats' favorites. We used to only have one or two of these toys; now we are able to supply dozens, which makes our kitties very happy.
We also have a number of treat-mongers who love to meet people with treats. We had not been able to buy good-quality snacks for picky eaters, but we bought a dozen packs to get our hard-to-reach cats interacting.
How many pets did this grant help?
More than 50, and it has helped support 25 adoptions so far.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Pumpkin (first photo) is a very big orange tabby cat who weighs more than 15 lbs. He desperately needed a scratching post that was tall enough to allow him to completely stretch out. We positioned the post at the front window and everyone greeted him as he scratched his post when they walked in. Pumpkin is also very picky about snacks, but he loves Churu push pops! His debut at the cat window got him adopted in nine days!
