Twin Cities Pet Rescue: Senior Pet Adoption Assistance Grant Report

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

Our Senior Pet Adoption Assistance grant helped us find the right home for Ella -- and she didn't need to go far to find it! Ella was initially placed in a foster home with a college-aged student at the University of Minnesota, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit and campus closed, we needed to move Ella when her foster returned to her hometown. Ella found a new foster home with a great couple who ended up falling in love with her. Ella's adoption fee was sponsored, as well as a reactivity-focused training class and a year's worth of meds to help with her anxiety.

This grant helped us find the right match for Ella, but not only that, Ella's foster was so touched that she'd like to pay it forward and sponsor another harder-to-place dog's adoption fee.

How many pets did this grant help?

1

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

Ella, a 10-year-old pit mix, was surrendered to TCPR by her family in January 2020. Ella was adopted by the family at 1.5 years old and notes from the shelter had indicated that Ella showed some resource guarding, but the family was able to manage the behavior and prevent any escalation with the other resident dog. However, the family recently had a baby and felt they could no longer safely manage resource guarding and subsequent reactivity with the other resident dog and devote the time necessary to behavioral management.

Ultimately, it was the right decision both for the family, but also for Ella — as a senior, she shouldn’t live out the end of her life quarantined and separated from her people. In the right home, we believed Ella could live her golden years happily, as she was sweet and friendly toward people. Given her prey drive and resource guarding, she was unable to be adopted to a home with other pets, making her placement as a senior more difficult.

Ella was adopted by her foster (see details in above paragraph)! This grant not only helped Ella, but it will indirectly help another dog find their home, as the adopter would like to pay it forward and sponsor the fee for another dog in rescue!