Day One Animal Rescue: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The Covid grant funds we received were used in several ways. We were able to fill an entire shopping cart full of dog and cat food, cat litter, nursing bottles, puppy and kitten formula, baby food, and more supplies to help care for both our rescue animals and animals in our community. We were able to purchase approximately 60 doses of flea/tick/heartworm prevention, and enough vaccines to fully vaccinate 25 dogs. We were also able to spay/neuter 11 animals through our local low-cost clinic.
This grant provided much-needing funding for our rescue at a time when our storefront was required to temporarily close, donations slowed down dramatically, and all of our fundraising events were forced to be cancelled. We were able to stock up on pet food that has gotten us through many weeks, and offer free pet food to the most at-risk families in our community who lost their jobs and could not afford to feed their pets. Our rescue takes in a lot of pregnant and nursing moms and families, and the cost of keeping so many bellies full is high. The Covid grant helped us make sure our animals had the food they needed and allowed us to continue helping animals at a time when many other rescues and shelters have shut their doors.
All of the animals in our care are vaccinated, treated for parasites and kept on monthly preventatives, and spay/neutered before they can be adopted. The Covid grant provided us funding to continue on with these vital services, which allowed us to continue moving animals through our rescue system and into forever homes, all while keeping them healthy and making sure they will never contribute to the pet overpopulation crisis. Because the grant allowed us to provide for these animals and get them into homes, we were able to continue taking in more animals who needed us, and providing the same lifesaving services for them.
How many pets did this grant help?
Our estimation is that about 105 animals were helped with this grant money!
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Bella is a 3-year-old pit bull terrier who broke our hearts into pieces when we met her. Bella had been neglected to the point that her body was skeletal, she had nearly no fur left, and just about every part of her was infected (first photo). The pain and sickness she felt never broke her spirit, and she has always been one of the kindest and most gentle dogs we have ever known.
The Covid grant we received allowed us to provide nutritious food for Bella to put some much-needed weight back on her, and vaccinate and treat her for the fleas that covered most of her body. When she was strong enough, the Covid grant also covered the cost of her spay surgery, ensuring that she would never again be forced to breed to produce puppies to sell.
After four months in our care, strong, healthy, beautiful Bella was adopted to the most loving home and today she is almost unrecognizable as the dog who first came to our rescue (second photo).
Sydney, Kassidy, and Emerson were just tiny baby kittens, eyes barely open, when someone packed them into a shoe box and threw them out on the side of a road. By some miracle, they were found, soaking wet in the rain, still inside their shoe box and very close to death (third photo). The Covid grant we received allowed us to take the babies into our rescue on a moment’s notice and provide their new foster home with Kitten Milk Replacer formula and nursing bottles to keep them going.
Within a few weeks, the babies were graduating to solid food, and the grant money again provided them with the “big kid” foods they needed to grow strong. Today Sydney, Kassidy, and Emerson are thriving, and patiently waiting for their forever homes to find them (fourth photo)! Their profiles can be viewed on our Petfinder page for anyone who would love to give a home to one of these very special little fighters.
Sienna came to our rescue after being brought in to the County Animal Control Shelter as a pregnant stray. After no one claimed her, we pulled her into our rescue, where she delivered eight beautiful puppies less than a week later (fifth photo)! The Covid grant we received provided critical help for us in keeping mama Sienna well-fed, which in turn helped her puppies grow big and strong (sixth and seventh photos).
When they were ready, they had plenty of puppy food waiting for them thanks to the grant funds. Vaccines and preventatives were purchased for them using grant money, making sure they would be well-protected from illnesses and parasites that could hurt them. After receiving all of their needed medical care, all eight babies and sweet mama Sienna found amazing forever homes through their Petfinder adoption profiles!
