Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

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

Money from the Covid-19 grant was used to purchase food and litter to distribute to more than 20 foster families. We currently have 110 cats in our care. Although we get a small amount of food donations, it is not nearly enough for the volume of cats we care for. We also have some cats with special dietary needs and that food is generally more expensive and not donated.

This grant helped us to continue caring for cats in the community and accepting strays and relinquishments despite the pandemic. We did not have to turn people away because we actually increased our foster base. Many people had to work at home and schools were closed, so fostering a cat became a popular activity to fill the day. Another unexpected benefit from people staying at home was they spent more time on the internet and our adoptions were higher than normal. To date, we have adopted 451 cats. Last year, our total adoptions were 510, so we expect to exceed that number by the end of the year.

How many pets did this grant help?

120

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

Vinny (first photo) was a beautiful black cat who was living behind a strip mall in Easton, PA. In a nearby apartment complex, he found a caring cat lover who started feeding him. Soon another cat, Bella (second photo), started to come for the food also. She was ear-tipped but extremely shy.

Diedra, the feeder, had a lot of patience, and during March and April was able to socialize both of these cats. Soon Diedra reached out to FURR because the apartment complex manager banned feeding feral cats and insisted she stop feeding them or she would be evicted.

Although she was heartbroken, I assured her that FURR would care for them, and both became my fosters. Vinny, the more outgoing of the two, was adopted quickly. Bella stayed at my home for another two months before she found a home, mostly through Diedra’s Facebook postings. Both adopters keep in touch and send pictures of Bell (her new name) and Vinny.

Both Phoenix (third photo) and his mate, Violet (fourth photo), were abandoned by their owners. They were declawed and on the verge of being put out on the street, almost surely a death sentence for a declawed cat. FURR stepped up and accepted them into our foster program. They are waiting to be adopted together.
Meet Phoenix here.
Meet Violet here.