York Adopt-A-Pet: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

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

We have several senior and hard-to-adopt pets in our shelter. We are a no-kill shelter, so these dogs and cats will remain with us until a home is found for them, even though senior pets and pets with anxiety problems are harder to adopt.

This grant allowed us to adopt these pets with no adoption fee, which enabled families that could not afford the care of a pet and the adoption fee the ability to adopt a pet that needed a home.

How many pets did this grant help?

At least 20

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

Zumi had been adopted from York Adopt-A-Pet as a kitten in 2014. In August 2021 she was relinquished because a baby had arrived in the home and it had caused great anxiety for Zumi.

Zumi’s human tried everything to help calm her, but nothing worked and, with great distress, she felt she had no choice but to bring Zumi back.

Zumi sat in her kennel for months, very depressed. The volunteers spent extra time with her, but she refused to come out of her kennel. We decided to try an anxiety medication and, after several weeks, she was leaving her kennel for short periods.

The day finally came that she decided to live outside her kennel with the other cats in her room. Several of the volunteers took a special interest in her, myself included, and spent extra time with her in the hallway.

It took time, but we finally got her to jump on our laps and give back some of the love that we gave to her.

One day, an adoption application was received for Zumi that we felt would be the perfect home for her, but this person was not able to cover the adoption fee along with the deposit that was required at her apartment. Because of the Kia grant, we were able to adopt Zumi with no adoption fee.

It was a bittersweet day when Zumi left; she had been with us for more than nine months, so tears were shed. We were a little concerned that Zumi would revert back to her anxious self, but we have received reports and, although it took a few days, Zumi is showing her appreciation to her new mom. Another happy ending because of the Kia grant!