Ellen M. Gifford Sheltering Home for Cats: Senior Pet Adoption Assistance Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The $600 grant was used to sponsor the adoption fees for three senior cats.
Our senior cats were getting overlooked, due to the shelter regularly having cats who were much younger. Having their adoption fees sponsored gave more adopters an incentive to want to meet these seniors. All were lovable, sweet cats and they just needed adopters to give them a chance to show their wonderful personalities. This gave them the advantage they needed to find forever homes.
How many pets did this grant help?
Three senior cats who have all been adopted.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Miss Little (first photo) had been surrendered by the only family she ever knew and was not doing well at the shelter. She would find places to hide when volunteers, staff or visitors would come by and she would shrink and make herself as small as possible. Her potential adopter had come in looking for a much younger cat. Our adoption specialists knew that Miss Little would be a great match for her and the cat she had at home who needed a companion. When the adopter visited the room where Miss Little was staying, volunteers were surprised that Miss Little popped her head up and did not scurry away! She let her visitor pet her and talk to her and seemed to enjoy the attention. It looks like Miss Little chose her person!
Pablo (second photo) was so handsome and chatty, the shelter staff and volunteers thought he would get adopted fairly quickly. Days turned into weeks and Pablo was still at the shelter and became a volunteer favorite. Those same volunteers started taking his photo and posting it on Facebook and Instagram. One of those photos got his adopter to the shelter to meet Pablo in person (third photo). Finding out his adoption fee was sponsored made the decision to adopt him even easier, since she had clearly fallen in love. She is a grad student who lives alone and was looking for the perfect cat companion — and it was a match! Pablo now has a forever home and his adopter has updated the shelter staff to let them know he is settling in and has already claimed “his side” of the bed.
Mission (fourth photo) was a long-term shelter resident who had spent part of his life outside in a small cat community. The staff and volunteers noticed that he loved the other cats in the room and, as some of his friends got adopted, he would find a new cat to bond with. Most often, his new bonded pal would be the cat with the least confidence, and his compassionate and nurturing nature would give the other shy cat the bravery to become more social. His adopter had been visiting Mission frequently to make sure he would be a good match for her own shy cat. After many visits, she decided to take Mission home, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that the grant money received would sponsor his adoption fee. Mission is settling in with his new family, and his adopter has kept us updated on the progress of introductions between Mission and his new kitty sister, including a long “meowing” conversation between the two a couple of days after he arrived at his forever home!
