Animal Shelter Assistance Program of Santa Barbara: Cat Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The 2026 Petfinder Foundation Cat Enrichment Grant allowed ASAP Cats to purchase Mmmeow Mats by Jackson Galaxy for cats housed in our new arrivals (intake), sick bay, and isolation areas. These areas care for cats who are under medical treatment, disease monitoring, stray hold, or limited handling protocols and who often receive less direct volunteer interaction due to safety and medical restrictions.
The lick mats are now incorporated into our daily enrichment program and are used during feeding, medication, and behavior sessions to encourage natural licking behavior, provide mental stimulation, and reduce stress in high-stress environments. Staff have observed improved engagement, calmer behavior during treatments, and increased willingness to interact in cats who were previously withdrawn or fearful.
Because of the strength of this funding, we were also able to purchase enough mats to expand enrichment into our main adoption floor and foster program, allowing more cats to benefit from stress-reducing enrichment throughout their stay with ASAP Cats. This grant directly supported both the mental and physical wellbeing of approximately 1,000 cats in our care this year and provided staff and volunteers with an additional low-stress tool to assess behavior, build trust, and improve overall welfare outcomes.
How many pets did this grant help?
1,000
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
One cat who particularly benefited from this grant was Romeo, a cat transferred to ASAP Cats from Santa Barbara County Animal Services in Santa Maria. Romeo had previously lived in a home, but arrived at our shelter extremely shut-down and fearful. He spent most of his time hiding in his feral den and would hiss or growl when staff approached his kennel.
As part of our enrichment program funded through the Petfinder Foundation grant, staff introduced Romeo to a Mmmeow lick mat during enrichment time. Initially, Romeo hissed and retreated when the mat was placed in his kennel. Staff gave him space and returned later to find that he had licked nearly half of the mat clean. We were able to quietly observe him emerging from his hiding space to engage with the enrichment on his own terms.
This small but meaningful breakthrough helped staff better assess Romeo’s behavior and demonstrated that despite his fear, he was still willing to engage and begin rebuilding trust. Since then, Romeo has progressed enough to move onto our adoption floor, where he continues working with our Behavior Team through behavior modification and confidence-building exercises. He continues to make progress every day as he works toward finding a future adoptive home.
