A Second Chance Puppies and Kittens Rescue: Orvis Dog Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The medical care and promotional materials for the animals in our program. We are 100% volunteer and 100% foster-based, so the grant went directly to the care of the animals. We spay/neuter, microchip, and vaccinate every cat and dog before they are adopted out. We provide all supplies to our fosters, including food, litter, and toys. We also provide flyers and brochures to the public with information on how they can help us save lives by volunteering, fostering or donating to the organization.
As we are 100% volunteer, the grant money went directly to the medical care of our animals, helped provide them with food and supplies (cat litter) and allowed us to continue saving lives of animals in need.
How many pets did this grant help?
We have approximately 200 animals in our program and the money is applied to all of them.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Vinnie and Vic are English Setter mixes that were rescued from [an open-admission] shelter in Alabama along with their mother and nine siblings. Vinnie and Vic were the last two from the litter to be adopted; they came with us to an adoption event, and almost immediately they were spotted by the owner of Pawsitive Independence Service Dogs, Inc. who was also at the event. Vinnie and Vic were evaluated by the group to see if they had the traits and personalities necessary to become service dogs. They both did!! The boys were adopted by the group and are currently in training to become full-fledged service dogs who will be placed with adults and children with disabilities. We are so proud that two of our puppies are going to be helping people! Vinnie and Vic are now called Crosby and Scout and are both doing excellent work!
Milo was adopted out of a county shelter and returned two months later after being starved to half his body weight. The caregivers of the people who adopted him did not feel it was their job to feed him. Our organization rescued him and discovered that he was also diabetic. We started him on twice-daily insulin injections and a special diet of diabetic food. It took a year to get him to the point of being healthy enough for adoption! His diabetes is now in remission, and to prevent it from coming back, he sticks to a diabetic-food diet. This food is not cheap, and with this grant we were able to continue buying the food he needs to stay on the right track. Milo is an amazing kitty; with everything he was put through before we rescued him, he is one of the most loving and trusting cats we have ever had in our program. He is one of a kind and a true survivor.
