Country Cat Lady: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The COVID Grant funding we were generously awarded was used to provide care for a nursing mama and her nine babies. This includes spay/neuter, vaccines, testing, food, and other necessities.
The grant allowed us to accept this mama and her large brood into our shelter and program. Without this funding, it would have been impossible to cover the cost of spay/neuter for all 10 of them, especially during COVID. It helped ease the funding shortages we are experiencing due to reduced donations caused by COVID and its related economic fears.
How many pets did this grant help?
10
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
This grant was specifically earmarked for a nursing mama, Maleficent, and her large brood of nine babies. We took this mama in June 2020, when the babies were under a week old, easing the minds and concerns of the family that found and had been caring for Maleficent.
M, we believe, was abandoned on this family’s property some time ago. They had been providing her with outdoor shelter and food/water. She’d had a few litters of kittens under their care since they, due to financial constraints, were unable to get her spayed (they helped raise and adopt out these babies). However, with this last litter, they knew that they needed help.
They reached out to us, and because we had just received this grant, we didn’t hesitate to provide the assistance they needed. This grant allowed us to tell this family “yes!” We have had Maleficent and her kittens since June, supplementing when needed (since it was such a big litter, many needed help gaining weight) and providing lots of attention to get them socialized and ready for adoption.
They still have a bit of weight to gain before they are fixed, but their surgeries are scheduled for next week (the end of August) and then they will be ready for their forever homes! We’ve already have a lot of interest in these babies, with so many darling calicoes, tuxedos, and black babies. We have no doubt that Carlos, Jay, Dizzy, Mal, Audrey, Lonnie, Jane, Evie, and Uma will find their forever homes in no time.
As for mama Maleficent, now that her job as mama is done, she has been spayed and returned to her family. Their teenage daughter is so excited to welcome her officially into their home, where she will never have to fight for survival, bear another litter of kittens, or live her life outside. She’s officially an indoor cat who gets to enjoy all the luxuries and security that comes with, including a lifetime of love and affection from her humans, where she can rule the roost and demand attention whenever her little heart desires!
Without the COVID grant, this would not have been possible. Many, if not all, of Maleficent’s babies would most likely have perished and she would have been trapped in an endless cycle of pregnancy and birth. But with your generous help, she and her babies will only know love, safety, fully bellies, and no more babies! Thank you!
