Benld Adopt-A-Pet: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The grant funds were used to purchase enough vaccines to vaccinate at least 50 of our pets. All of our pets are kept up-to-date on vaccinations.
In the past couple months, our intake numbers have not necessarily increased, as they have at many shelters, but we have taken in more animals needing immediate and follow-up medical care. The increased medical expenses have greatly impacted our budget. The Petfinder Foundation grant enabled us to ensure that we had the needed vaccines on hand so that pets at the shelter stayed up-to-date on vaccinations and all pets adopted were up-to-date on vaccinations.
How many pets did this grant help?
50
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Lou Anne (first photo) is a kitten who was brought to the shelter in August. Below is part of the story we posted about Lou Anne on Facebook. We did the vaccinations for Lou Anne as needed, and she received emergency care and surgery at vet clinics in Springfield.
Friday afternoon, the shelter office manager did not get to go home as planned. Instead, she drove an injured kitten towards Springfield. She was met partway by our acting shelter director, who then took the kitten to the Animal Emergency Clinic in Springfield, IL.
The kitten had been brought to the Benld shelter that afternoon. She had been found in the middle of a road by Lake Lou Yaeger in Litchfield. A lady stopped to check and move what she thought was a dead kitten. She found two kittens; one was deceased and the second was alive, but severely injured. She wrapped up the injured kitten and brought it to the shelter looking for help.
We decided that bringing the kitten to Springfield was the only option, as the local animal hospitals were closing for the night. The kitten’s mouth was bleeding, her jaw appeared broken, and a back leg was shattered with bone exposed.
They could not hear her lung sounds at the shelter because the kitten would not stop purring. We had to take a chance that the doctors at the Animal Emergency Clinic could help her or, if not, to at least help her pass away free of pain and fear.
Little kitten Lou Anne spent the weekend at the emergency clinic on antibiotics and fluids. She was even able to eat a little. Monday morning, Lou Anne will go to Coble Animal Hospital. The plan is to amputate her shattered leg and stabilize her jaw.
Lou Anne was an excellent patient! She was sweet to everyone and healed quickly. She was just recently adopted by a friend of the shelter, who several years ago adopted a dog from us named Ruby. Ruby had also been in horrible shape (emaciated — she’d been purposely starved by her owner) when she arrived at the shelter. Ruby and Lou Anne are the best of friends now (second photo) and Lou Anne races around the house like a mad kitten!
Cinnamon (third photo) came to the shelter very pregnant! She soon had 10 pups at her foster home. They are almost ready for adoption.
Callie (fourth photo) was also brought to the shelter pregnant. Her owners had taken her to the vet to be spayed, but when they learned that she was pregnant they did not spay her and the vet contacted us to ask if we would be able to take her. Callie and her kittens will also be ready for adoption soon. Callie is such a good mom!
