Sunshine's Friends Cat and Dog Rescue: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
We used the grant funding to purchase dog and cat food and cat litter from our online suppliers. The $1,000 grant allowed us to purchase about a 10-day supply of consumables to keep the dogs and cats in our care fed and healthy. It covered some of the cost of vaccines for new intakes to keep them protected while waiting for appointments with our vets.
In order to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, severe restrictions were put in place by Maryland’s governor. All municipal shelters and many private rescues closed their doors. Our organization never halted its rescue operations. The restrictions resulted in longer stays for cats and dogs awaiting adoption, which increased our food and litter requirements. The grant allowed us to order and purchase enough cat and dog food and cat litter to supply our adoption center and sanctuary for about 10 days.
Our rescues normally go to one of our vets within a day or two to be examined, vaccinated and spayed/neutered if they are not already. Cats and dogs that we rescued during the COVID-19 outbreak required immunizations to protect them against feline/canine diseases during the extra holding time. Thanks to the grant, we were able to purchase extra vaccines that we needed to administer upon intake.
How many pets did this grant help?
175
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we anticipated an influx of cats and dogs being surrendered or abandoned due to families not being able to care for them. One of the cats who came to us under these circumstances was a beautiful calico girl whom we named Asha (first photo) – an appropriate name for her because it means “hope.”
She had been abandoned and showed up at a colony of cats to get a meal from the caregiver. Asha was very pregnant. It is likely the family that left her behind didn’t have money to spay her. The caregiver knew this little girl was in trouble – a friendly cat does not do well on her own.
We had assisted the caregiver in the past with managing his colony by performing TNR (trap, neuter, return), so he knew where to turn for help. Asha had six babies within a week of coming to us.
After eight weeks, the kittens were weaned. We gave mom and babies their first vaccines using ones that we ordered with grant money. When our vets reopened for non-emergency services, Asha and her little ones were spayed/neutered and fully vaccinated. Once they had recuperated, they were adopted by families and went to wonderful forever homes.
Many of our adopters said Asha (Hope) and her kittens were just what they needed to help them through the isolation they were experiencing during the COVID-19 shutdown. Asha is just one of the many animals in need that we fed and cared for using food and litter purchased with grant funding.
