Tanners P.A.W.S. INC: Shelter+ Challenge Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The grant money was used for vet care. When Tanners PAWS takes in dogs, they need to be vetted right away. Typically we receive stray dogs from animal control officers in the surrounding areas. Their municipalities only allow them to keep the dog for five days, and if the owners cannot be found, they have to euthanize. They reach out to us. We vet them usually for rabies vaccines and begin series of shots. We flea treat and deworm them. A lot of the time the stray will have other issues, such as skin ailments or ear infections. The other vet bill we used the grant for was emergency treatment for our Rottie, Tessa. Tessa was abandoned in September with her two puppies (Romeo and Juliet). We successfully placed the pups in loving homes. In October, Tessa had a GI bleed. We found her on a Sunday morning with a kennel full of blood. She had to be taken to Cornell University Vet School. It was the nearest vet available on a weekend for emergency treatment. She was given X-rays, blood work and IV's and had to return to our vet in the a.m. She was out on two prescriptions and given a special dog food for dogs with GI issues. After a few days of close monitoring and lots of TLC, Tessa recovered from her bleed.
Without the help of such grants as this, we would not be able to rescue dogs and take care of them properly. We are a total volunteer- and donation-only kennel. We all work full-time jobs and devote every additional minute we have to taking care of the dogs, creating fundraisers and taking care of the kennel. Our volunteers help us with coordinating adoptions, foster care and manning our events. Without funds, we could not exist. Grants make it possible for us to exist. We use donations to make our shelter and buy kennels and supplies. We are very grateful to all of our supporters, as you can see by the volume of our followers. They made it possible for us to win this grant. Thank you all so much.
How many pets did this grant help?
Several
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Tessa, our abandoned Rottie (abandoned with two pups), became very ill in October with a gastrointestinal bleed. She was found in her kennel surrounded by blood. She was vomiting and defecating blood. We cleaned her and the kennel all up, trying to find the source. Later in the evening, she had another episode. Of course it had to be a Sunday with no vets open in our area. We called Cornell University Vet School and took her there. It is about an hour trip from the kennel. Tessa was very lethargic at the time. Upon examination, she was dehydrated and needed fluids, along with X-rays and blood work to determine where the source was. She needed to be NPO [nothing by mouth] overnight and returned to her own vet in the a.m. No known cause for the GI bleed. She was placed on a special diet and given two prescriptions. Our beautiful Tessa recovered and is the beautiful loving dog she was before the incident.
