Infinite Hope: Cat Chow Building Better Lives Grant Report

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

We used the grant to subsidize adoption donations. Our usual adoption fee is $150 and we reduced the fee to $75-125, depending on the cat's future medical expenses (e.g. the cost of an additional future vaccine) and the cat's adoptability.

The grant was very helpful in incentivizing the adoption of cats who were less outgoing and may have been otherwise overlooked by potential adopters. Four of the cats adopted through this grant were taken in by Infinite Hope from a person of limited means who rescued cats off the street and kept in them in a basement. The cats were provided with care, but their rescuer had no process in place to adopt them out, and the cats had very little interaction with people. Once they were adopted by families with help from the Cat Chow Building Better Lives assistance, these cats have come out of their shells and have blossomed.

Seven cats who were adopted through this grant were taken into our care through TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) projects. Infinite Hope is active throughout Brooklyn in TNR efforts to reduce the feral-cat population and to bring cats into foster care who can be homed. Reducing the adoption fees for these cats helped to place them in homes sooner, making more room in foster homes for other adoptable cats and kittens. In addition, we used the grant to subsidize the fee for the adoption of three pairs of kittens. Infinite Hope has a policy to adopt young kittens out in pairs or to homes where there already is a cat in the household. The grant helped offset the initial expense that might have been a deterrent from adopting two kittens.

How many pets did this grant help?

18

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

Marcie (first and second photos) was a very sickly kitten when we found her on the back deck of a home in Brooklyn. She had an upper respiratory infection and her eyes were nearly sealed shut. She literally did not see us coming when we scooped her up as part of a targeted TNR effort that Infinite Hope conducted. We brought her into foster care along with six other kittens, named for the Peanuts gang. The Peanuts gang were underweight, anemic, and required treatment for multiple parasitic infections. One kitten did not survive and several others required eye removals, but Marcie was fortunate to recover from her eye infection with only limited corneal scarring. Even before she gained her health through our care, Marcie showed herself to be a loving, charming kitten. When receiving treatment at one vet visit, she stood up on her back legs to knead the shirt of a vet tech, purring happily at the chance to make another friend!

Marcie’s best feline friend is Snoopy, a kitten who was trapped with her and who spent months with her in a foster home while getting the medical care they needed to be ready for adoption. Marcie is outgoing and athletic, and inspired Snoopy into active games of chase and wrestling (even when Snoopy might have preferred to spend the time snoozing on the couch). They were a happy, bonded pair and we were very hopeful to find them a home together. The Cat Chow Building Better Lives grant helped us to incentivize their adoption together to a young couple who saw them on our Petfinder page, came to meet them, and fell in love with their personalities and antics. The attached photos include a picture of Marcie on the day that we found her, as well as a photo of her happily napping on the lap of her adopter. The contrast between Marcie’s condition in the “before” photo – when she very likely would have died from her infections and malnutrition – and the “after” photo, which shows a content cat and an equally happy adopter – is the reason why Infinite Hope volunteers are dedicated to animal rescue. We truly appreciate the support of the Petfinder Foundation and the Cat Chow Building Better Lives grant in helping us to find loving homes for deserving animals.