The Cat Connection: Cat Enrichment Grant Report

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

The grant allowed the shelter to purchase a bunch of cat scratchers and cat-dancer toys to provide enrichment for cats while they are at the shelter. We want the cats to have a fear-free experience and to exhibit all their natural behaviors, and scratchers and cat-dancer toys allow them to engage in play, reducing stress and socializing them.

The funds were received late in the year, so they didn't help as many cats as we anticipated in the application, but they will help many more next year!

How many pets did this grant help?

50

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

Charlie is one of the cats helped with the cat-dancer toy. He was having a hard time relaxing in the shelter and in fact tried to bite people a few different times and spent time in quarantine, despite appearing to be very social and wanting attention.

We had to have volunteers keep their distance and use a back scratcher to pet him until we were sure his behavior was changing. Interactive play using a cat-dancer toy helped relax him and give him an outlet for his energy and need for attention.

Soon he was socialized well enough to be adopted! He is happy now in his forever home.