Columbus Dog Connection: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

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

This grant allowed us to increase the number of cat adoptions we had this month, and even allowed us to help someone adopt two cats at the same time! While we try to keep our adoption fees low, we do need to allow for some of the medical expenses for each dog and cat in our program to be covered partially by the adoption fees. This grant allowed us to do that while reducing the adoption fees by 80%.

How many pets did this grant help?

11

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

Peanut (first photo) and Gary (second photo) went from separate, but similar, tough early starts in life to a happy ending.

Peanut, a darling tabby, came to CDC in April 2021. She came from a hoarding situation. She was one of 11 cats and kittens we pulled from that situation when we visited the home and were shocked at the condition in which the animals were living.

Peanut was the sickest of all the cats. We were concerned that she wasn’t going to pull through, but after a few rough weeks, she recovered and settled into the office.

Over the last two years, we posted her on social media, but not one person inquired about adopting her.

Gary came from one of the colonies. He was actually microchipped, but as it turned out, his owner was a hoarder who had been taken to court by the humane society for having more than 22 cats, several dogs, and seven children, all in one trailer. Many of the cats were very ill and had to be euthanized.

The owner was legally ordered not to have any more pets, so when Gary was trapped by us, he did not have to go back to that situation.

Gary was lucky, because it took us close to a year of complaining and reporting to the humane society about this person before legal action was taken. Based on our interactions with her, we know that many more animals perished while in her care (and we use that word lightly). She would often sabotage our TNR (trap/neuter/release) efforts by taking the cats because she is opposed to spaying and neutering.

When Gary came to us earlier this year, he hid for the first month, burrowing under a blanket. He finally acclimated, but he never received much interest from potential adopters.

Well, Peanut and Gary’s luck changed. A young couple who had been considering adopting one cat came by to meet our office cats and, while they leaned toward Peanut, they also really liked Gary.

Once we told them of the Kia Pet Adoption Grant, they knew they could take both home without worrying about the extra expense of two adoption fees. Peanut and Gary went to their new home last week and both are doing great!

Peanut waited 2.5 years and Gary waited eight months. Too long, but we never gave up hope! We love you, Peanut and Gary!