CATastrophe Upstate Rescue: KONG Toys Grant Report

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

This helped us tremendously! I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of toys we were given for the kitties. They loved them immediately! There was something about the purple caterpillar that all of them really liked. It was definitely a favorite.

Having fresh, new, clean toys meant a lot to us. There were more toys than cats, so I think they all really felt special by getting to choose their own toys and not needing to steal them from each other. That came later as they took breaks from their chosen toys!

There were enough toys that we can have some out and keep others sanitized so there are always toys revolving instead of the same ones getting used and washed. We were able to throw out a lot of the older toys so we could start fresh with the Kong toys!

How many pets did this grant help?

80

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

All of the cats enjoyed the toys. Even our dogs liked to steal them. Some of the kitties enjoyed them more while still attached to the packaging, like Leroy (first three photos), our handsome blue adoptable baby. (You can meet Leroy here.)

Emma (fourth photo) went straight for the box. Granted, that is normal cat behavior, but she was hogging all of the catnip smell. (Emma is adoptable, but has an oral issue that is getting resolved prior to re-clearing for adoption.)

Cinnamon (fifth and sixth photos) is one that is here to stay. He takes care of all of the little babies as they come in. He is our resident Safety Coordinator. He is very loving and protective so, naturally, he wanted to check each toy before handing them out to be played with. He seemed to think there was something amiss with the caterpillar toys (as did our recent rescue Doberman) and he could proudly locate them no matter where I hid them to preserve them for future residents.

We always keep catnip, but none of the cats have ever been this diligent in locating it, so I have to believe that these must have something special that really draws the cat to them, whether it is a more desirable quality of catnip or something else entirely. They would be great for hiding games!