Pets Bring Joy: Bar Dog Operation Grant Report

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

We are deeply grateful for the 2022 Bar Dog Operation Grant we received from the Petfinder Foundation. The grant funds of $500 have permitted us to fund basic medical expenses for seven felines in 2022, removing them from overcrowded shelters or rescuing them from a life outdoors where their lives may have been at risk, ensuring that they are spayed and neutered so as to stop the cycle that leads to animal overpopulation, and vaccinating them against the most common and dangerous illnesses to which they are susceptible.

In the metro D.C. area, even basic veterinary care is expensive, with the cost of spay/neuter surgery, rabies vaccinations, and FVCRP vaccinations coming to an average of $70 per cat when performed at low-cost clinics. These costs significantly constrain not only the number of animals we can take in annually, but also how many animals with significant medical issues we are able to support as a broader part of our mission.

With the support of the Bar Dog Operation Grant, we have been able to fund these basic expenses for seven additional animals, freeing up other funding to support more severe medical and senior wellness cases in our rescue.

How many pets did this grant help?

7

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

As indicated in our original proposal, we planned to use this funding to support adoption preparation expenses for a lovely cat family composed of Tootsie (mother) and her four kittens: Tommy, Freddy, Cocoa, and Mocha. The first photo shows Tootsie and three of her kittens; the second photo is of Mocha.

One of our rescue partners found this lovely family outside a store in the cold. Someone had been feeding them, but they had little shelter against the inclement winter weather.

Once safely in rescue, they blossomed into the playful, happy family they deserved to become — just in time for all of them to find their perfect forever homes. They have all been happily adopted!

Thanks to the 2022 Bar Dog Operation Grant from the Petfinder Foundation, we were able to fund their vaccination and spay/neuter expenses in order to stop the cycle of homeless animals. This was Momma Tootsie’s last litter, and she now gets to be a kitten in her own right in her new home as well!