Mending Hearts Rescue: Cat Chow Building Better Lives Grant Report

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

I am excited to tell you how the grant has allowed our rescue to make a difference in our community for homeless cats. In just two short winter months (December and January), our rescue accepted 64 stray or owner-surrendered cats and kittens into foster homes. All were able to receive complete veterinarian care, which included SpayNeuter, Microchip, vaccinations, worming, nail trims, Felv testing and any additional care they may have needed to be healthy.

Of the 64 cats and kittens we have taken into foster care through Mending Hearts Rescue, 28 have been adopted to homes and families. We could never had taken on this amount of cats and kittens without the grant funds. We used the funds to subsidize adoptions and pay veterinarian fees for these cats/kittens.

How many pets did this grant help?

64

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

We had one adult female cat whom we named Snowie. She came to us after her owner passed away and she was put outside in the winter weather. A nice concerned neighbor finally earned her trust enough to get her inside and they called our rescue. She is a Long Haired Domestic with beautiful pure white hair. Well, not so beautiful when we received her. She was partially shaved from having fleas and matting. She was extremely shy and wanted to hide all the time. Her foster home provided her a cat shelter of 600 sq. feet where she could begin to feel safe and secure, yet come out and explore when she was ready to do so. After a few weeks, she allowed her foster mom to pet her and hold her. As her coat grew back in, she was groomed regularly and given all the attention she learned to yearn for. After three months in her foster home, an application to adopt a cat came into the rescue. Snowie had her first meet-and-greet with her potential new family; it went so well, she found her new family and a place to call home! It was the perfect home for Snowie, one that was willing to let her adjust and earn her trust too. It is stories like Snowie’s that keep us volunteers hopeful and thankful that we can and do make a difference.

I have attached a picture of Snowie when she was first brought to our rescue in the carrier — no blankets, shaved and scared. What a thrill it was for all of us at the rescue to see her transformation which led to her adoption. The grant helped our rescue to provide her all the care and grooming, food and toys she needed to grow into the beautiful cat she is today. Thank you so much for supporting rescues and shelters with your grants; they truly do make a difference — a difference to the rescue organizations like ours that are solely dependent on donations, and to the animals we are able to say YES to when that phone call comes in to us.