Ruff Start Rescue: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

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

Funds were used to purchase puppy pads, wet puppy food, and martingale collars.
Wet food: 28 cases of puppy food
Puppy pads: 11 bags of pads, 150-count each
Martingale collars: 20 collars of varying sizes

This grant was invaluable in ensuring we had sufficient supplies available for the large influx in foster dogs we experienced over the summer. With the advent of COVID, general donations and fundraising-event revenue were significantly down from anticipated figures. We rely so heavily on our fundraising events and annual campaign to support our animal-care program. There were so many unknowns with the pandemic and still are, and we could not be more grateful to the Petfinder Foundation for supporting our rescue in acquiring some of our most-needed supplies during this uncertain time.

How many pets did this grant help?

112

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

Barry (first photo) was a pup who came up from Laredo, Texas. He was found as a stray. It was suspected that the injuries he had were the result of being hit by a car. He was also heartworm-positive, which would require treatment along with surgery for his injuries once he arrived in Minnesota.

When he arrived in Minnesota, Barry began heartworm treatment. Once he was strong enough, he underwent surgery to repair his injuries from the car accident. This surgery included wiring his jaw (to repair his broken jaw), eye removal, and pulling 21 teeth. He was rotated into a foster-to-adopt home to finish out his heartworm treatment. Once he is retested for heartworm in a few months and as long as he tests negative, he will be officially adopted by his current family. This little guy is definitely a fighter and is well on his way to a better life.

Cayden (second and third photos) was a dog found in South Dakota. He had been shot with an arrow, which was embedded approximately 15 inches into his left side. He underwent surgery quickly after his arrival. Cayden will make a full recovery and has already been adopted by a loving family.