Adopt Me! Bluegrass Pet Rescue: Cat Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
Adopt Me! Bluegrass Pet Rescue’s cat program began in October of 2021, placing about 20 cats in its early days, while slowly growing in unused space in our Oldham County facility.
With loving care from dedicated volunteers, our amazing feline program found homes for 173 cats in 2022! With such rapid growth and a tight budget reserved for spay/neuter, health care, and food, AMBPR previously couldn’t prioritize toys, scratch posts or fun tunnels.
In January 2023, AMPBR used the Petfinder Foundation’s funds to purchase enrichment materials for the cats and kittens in our care. The goal is to give them appropriate, safe toys and places for scratching to provide extra stimulation and entertainment. The enrichment materials we purchased allow the pets to have more activities for socialization and play, which makes them more adoptable.
How many pets did this grant help?
We average 20-30 cats and kittens in foster, kennel, or in our facility and place about a dozen a month. During a three-month period, about 36 animals would benefit.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Kendall and Kylie (first four photos) came into our program from a shelter environment. They were very young, small, and without the care of their mother to teach them how to behave. This could have quickly turned into a feral situation, but with the help of human interaction and enrichment toys, Kylie and Kendall learned to trust and play. This is a critical step, especially with young kittens. Meet Kendall here.
The Gemstone Litter (fifth and sixth photos) had a feral mama who did not enjoy being inside. They quickly became hissy and untrusting when first brought inside after they were born (yes, 3-week-old kittens can hiss)! With the help of enrichment toys and human interaction, this litter of five is now purring nonstop and the sweetest bunch. Our fosters even comment that this litter will be hard to say goodbye to, but know they are going to great fur-ever homes!
