Desert Cat Rescue & Sanctuary of AZ: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

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

With the funds from the Kia Pet Adoption Grant, we have been able to offer selected cats at half off the normal adoption fee. These are cats who have been with us for an extended period of time and have not found homes. They have various issues that make them less adoptable. To date, two of the cats in the program have found their "fur-ever" homes. They are Basil and Oatsie. We will continue throughout the year to advertise through the media available to us. We have attached a photo of our full-page advertisement in our local newspaper.

How many pets did this grant help?

Two have been helped; we hope to help 10 more.

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

Oatsie was surrendered to us when his owner died. He is a senior cat, very gentle and sweet. However, he became very depressed and sad in the rescue environment, plus I’m sure he was missing his home and his owner. He began to lose weight and was perfunctory at best about grooming himself. He was needy and begging for attention.

The woman who adopted Oatsie has cancer, and knows she has limited time to live. She needed a companion for comfort and affection, and to improve the quality of life she has left. It proved to be a perfect match. They love and care for one another. The two of them couldn’t be happier.

The first, “before” photo is Oatsie in his cage with us; the “after” photos (2 and 3) show him in his new life. You can see the difference in his looks.

Poor Basil (photos 4 and 5) was adopted and returned to us twice. By then she was 5 years old, and had gained a reputation as something of a problem cat. Thanks to the Kia grant, we offered her at half the normal adoption fee, and she was adopted by one of our own volunteers! A very happy arrangement.