Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA: P.L.A.Y. Pet Beds Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The P.L.A.Y. pet cooling mats were provided to foster families as part of the supplies and equipment we send home with our foster pets. Each pet is provided with a collar and/or harness and leash, food and water bowls, a bed, toys and Hills Science Diet pet food. Cat foster families are provided with non-clumping litter and a litterbox. The P.L.A.Y. cooling mats were sent home with 12 foster families to make their foster pets comfortable in their temporary homes.
Since the pandemic started in March 2020, we had a huge increase in the number of families participating in our foster program. Because of this, we have increased the number of pets in foster care from approximately 40% at any one time to over 70%. While expanding our foster program has had many positive impacts on the pets in our care and on our shelter, it has required us to be able to provide many more resources to foster families. The P.L.A.Y. pet cooling mats helped relieve us of a small part of that burden by allowing us to provide safe, comfortable bedding to several foster families for the pets in their care.
How many pets did this grant help?
The P.L.A.Y. pet cooling mats were sent home with 12 foster families, who have fostered 17 pets from December 2020 to March 2021.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Ducky, formerly known as Valerie, has had a bit of a rough go. She arrived at the SPCA back in 2017 as an owner-surrender. We provided her with routine veterinary care, spayed her, and she was quickly adopted. However, three years later, we heard that Valerie had arrived at the Fluvanna SPCA and her owners could not be contacted.
We transferred Valerie back into our care and provided her with some much-needed TLC. She was treated for internal parasites and kennel cough and sent to a foster home, where she quickly settled in with the help of a comfy P.L.A.Y. bed.
Valerie, now known as Ducky, was adopted by her foster family, and today she happily shares her P.L.A.Y. bed with the resident cats and a new foster puppy named Pip, a 5-month-old beagle transferred to the SPCA from Buckingham County Animal Shelter. Ducky’s foster (now forever) mom says: “Ducky and our foster puppy really like it — but the cats like it the most!”
