Eau Claire County Humane Association: Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The Thundershirts have been used as needed for high-anxiety/stressed dogs.
The grant came at the perfect time this summer when we had several dogs that needed Thundershirts due to stress, thunderstorms, and fireworks. The shelter would not have been able to provide Thundershirts to these animals without the grant from the Petfinder Foundation. The dogs would have been treated with medication in order to decrease their anxiety/fear.
How many pets did this grant help?
So far, we have used three of the Thundershirts provided from the grant. The shirts have gone home with the dogs and adopters added a donation to the adoption fee so the Thundershirts can be replaced.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Ritz is a 3-year-old spayed female English springer spaniel who was surrendered to the shelter on June 25, 2014. She had a litter of puppies that the owner was keeping and wanted to now get rid of Ritz because she was gun shy. Ritz found the shelter very scary. In addition, she was afraid of thunderstorms. The Thundershirt we placed on Ritz made her feel more comfortable and relaxed. Because adopters could see how wonderful she was without her trembling and hiding behind staff members, we were able to find Ritz a forever home within a month. At the time of adoption, the new family was shown how to put Ritz’s Thundershirt on and given a handout explaining how a Thundershirt works in addition to why Ritz may sometimes need this extra comfort.
Bashful Beau was properly named because he was just plain terrified when he arrived at the shelter. Bashful Beau is a young Maltese/miniature poodle mix who did not trust anyone. Beau had to be coaxed out of his kennel each time for his walks. So he was fitted with a Thundershirt. He definitely loved his Thundershirt and did not like to be without it. It took Beau almost a week before he started to feel more confident. Beau arrived at the shelter on June 16, 2014. He was put up for adoption around July 1. By this time, he no longer needed his Thundershirt. Beau gained the confidence he needed and felt more secure in the shelter. He was adopted on July 10, 2014.
