Rancho Coastal Humane Society: Cat Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The money was used to buy items that would enrich the lives of our shelter cats. These items included Scratch & Sniff pads, electronic motion toys, and modular cat trees.
Anything we can do to enrich the lives of our shelter cats/kittens while they are waiting for their "fur-ever" homes is important. The reaction of some of our residents to the items this grant funded verified how important it is to provide stimulating activities. Active and well-socialized cats/kittens make better adoption candidates. We are very thankful for the support from the Petfinder Foundation.
How many pets did this grant help?
We typically house up to 60 homeless cats and kittens.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Little miss Reba McEntire (first three photos) had lost virtually all interest in toys, preferring to just nap the whole day, and I was honestly a bit skeptical about whether she would even enjoy the toy. Much to my shock, she came up to the new motorized toy immediately to play with it in a way I hadn’t seen her play with anything in a long time. I left to do some work around the shelter, and when I came back into the cattery, I heard meowing and realized it was coming from Reba’s room. She was sitting there by the toy, batting it, and when she saw me, ran right up, meowing like crazy and then turning back to the toy and batting it again. So I clicked it back on for her and she immediately went right back into playing with it! Meet Reba McIntyre here.
For Mr. Feeny (fourth and fifth photos), our challenge has always been keeping him mentally stimulated and helping him burn some of his seemingly endless energy. Even with all the time staff and volunteers dedicated to playing with him, it still seems like we can’t tire this guy out. I didn’t even need to press the button on the motorized toy before he was already playing with it. Once I did turn it on, he could not get on it fast enough. He even ignored the remaining kibble in his feeder despite his love of food. It’s been nice having something that staff and volunteers can turn on after spending time with Mr. Feeny to help him get even more playtime in the day. Meet Mr. Feeny here.
