SPEAK, Incorporated: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
We were able to provide adoptions for long-term cat residents for a reduced fee. This allowed several of our kitties who have been here for some time to be adopted into forever homes.
How many pets did this grant help?
8-10
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Saucy Sally came to us here at S.P.E.A.K. back on April 22, 2021, with her litter of four 4-week-old kittens. She was in good health and nursed her little babies until they were old enough to be weaned; once they reached 8 weeks old, they were put up for adoption. Kittens Tahini, Tzatziki, Hollandaise, and Bearnaise all found their furever homes and after Sally was spayed, she eagerly awaited hers.
The days came and went, and Sally still awaited her home. We knew how special and amazing a cat Sally was, but when adopters came in to visit, it never seemed to work out for one reason or another. We tried placing Sally in our communal cat rooms with our other adult adoptable cats, and at first things would be fine, but after a while, for some reason, Sally would start to seemed extremely stressed out.
Because of this, we decided to make the decision to move her out into our reception area in hopes that she would be less stressed and more likely to show her true colors when potential adopters came in to visit.
Sally’s attitude changed almost overnight, and we could tell how much happier she was being the only cat in her territory. We were worried that this would mean Sally would get less exposure to visitors, but we were hopeful more than anything that she would be able to shine and put her best “paw” forward for those eager to come in and meet her.
Fast-forward to Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022. We received an email stating that someone was interested in Ms. Sally after seeing one of her many stories we posted on social media. We had received a number of emails similar to this one before, but for some reason this one felt different.
From the first email conversation, it was clear that this could finally be the one for Sally, and to say we were excited, anxious, and also a bit nauseous would be the understatement of the century.
Her name was Rachel, and she had taken the time to write a wonderful, in-depth and detailed email showing her interest in Sally, describing how she had raised cats like her in the past, and had an understanding of how some cats have certain quirks and personality traits that maybe were not “ideal” to most people. Rachel clearly could see through those little details and saw the greatness within that we all came to know and love about Sally.
After a few emails back and forth, we received Rachel’s application to adopt. The range and level of emotions we were feeling just thinking of the possibility of Sally finding her home was almost indescribable. The adoption application came in, everything fell into place, and a date was set for Sally’s big day.
We are beyond happy to say that on Sept. 29, 2022, Sally was adopted and finally found her furever home. Exactly one week later, we received one of the best updates for one of our recently adopted cats in recent years. Sally was already completely settled in and was thriving. She had finally found her person and her long-awaited home.
While Sally spent 524 days of her life here with us at S.P.E.A.K., the first day of the rest of her life started that fateful day she finally went home this past September. We will forever remember Sally and her quirky personality that kept us smiling, even on the darkest days.
Thank you to Sally’s new guardian, Rachel, for seeing what we all saw in Sally since she first came into our lives, and for giving us permission to share her story with you.
