Home Fur Good Animal Rescue and Placement: Senior Pet Adoption Assistance Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
We take in many medical and senior cats and dogs. We raise funds and do what we can to make them adoptable. The ones who have ongoing or chronic illnesses that require attention, medication, and regular vet visits are the most difficult to place; add being a senior to the label and they tend to be in our care for a long time.
The thought behind this grant was that we would offer assistance to an adopter so that, should it be a good home and a good situation for this rescue, the adoption wouldn't be immediately stymied by incurring medical bills right off the bat.
We do offer a free initial vet visit for all our rescues. If a dog or cat is on medication -- drops for dry eye, for example -- we give them the remaining medication and one refill. Some of our animals require more than that and we have to seek out adopters who are willing to incur this added cost.
How many pets did this grant help?
This grant was specific to one cat: Snorlax
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Snorlax, a 9-year-old black domestic short haired cat, was surrendered to Maricopa County Animal Care and Control in early September 2022. His owner had died four years earlier and Snorlax had been passed from person to person. At one point he was kept outside.
Snorlax was trapped by a trap-and-release program and ear-tipped. When he was returned to the area, the person feeding him took him to the county shelter. Staff there determined that Snorlax was so skinny because he had rotten teeth and needed a dental. They asked Home Fur Good to take him and we did.
Snorlax received a dental, but his blood work revealed that his kidney function was subpar. His lethargy and lack of appetite was due to kidney disease, not bad teeth.
Home Fur Good got him into a foster home and, with regular care and proper meds, he was brought to an adoptable state. Snorlax has kidney disease but, with proper care, he can live out a fairly normal lifespan.
One of the things Snorlax needs is to be on renal-support food for the rest of his life, which is expensive. This grant provided for one year of renal-support food to be sent to Snorlax’s adopter to support the adoption.
It took a while to find the proper fit: someone who was familiar with kidney disease in cats (the adopter had previously had a cat who had kidney disease and lived to age 14) and was willing to bear the added cost of care.
Snorlax was adopted in February 2023. We don’t know exactly what experiences he’d had in his past, but he was untrusting and shy. He was leery of other cats and would hide.
Today, almost three months in, Snorlax has made much progress. His adopter says he has warmed up and loves chin and cheek rubs. He is still leery of the other cat in the household but has stopped hissing and growling. They are co-existing. Best of all, he isn’t hiding anymore and will seek out affection, particularly when he is on the adopter’s bed. He is bolder about moving around the house, enjoys watching mice on the computer, and he has finally gained some weight!
