Florida Keys SPCA: Other Animals Grant Report

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

Thanks to this grant, we were able to provide food, treats, enrichment items, and bedding for our guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits; ex-pens for our rabbits; and a ferret cage for the ferrets that come into our shelters. While in our care, we work to give our animals a healthy diet as well as the enrichment and habitats they need to keep them social, stimulated, and adoptable. This funding also enabled us to provide care packages for adopters, helping to overcome barriers to adoption.

Because our shelters are located on an island chain two to three hours from the mainland of Florida, pet owners have limited places they can purchase proper items for the animals they adopt from us. This grant gave us the ability to educate our adopters as to what these pets need on a long-term basis and how they can purchase them from the retailers in our areas or online.

How many pets did this grant help?

26

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

You may not know it, but hamsters can win the lottery too! Hamilton the Hamster was a definite winner and hit the jackpot of homes when he was chosen by Dannyelle (photos 1 and 2).

Hamilton was part of a litter of baby hamsters who were surrendered to the Florida Keys SPCA along with their mother. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for a person to unknowingly purchase a pregnant hamster from a pet store and end up with a whole family, who then often end up at a shelter or rescue.

From the start, Dannyelle and her mother Chantelle were everything any shelter could ask for in terms of adopters!

When Dannyelle first decided she wanted a hamster, her mother wanted to make sure her daughter “understood the responsibility of owning an animal, how to properly take care of him, and the costs associated with a new pet.” She was told she had to learn as much as possible about hamsters before she could get Hamilton.

Dannyelle did her homework and wrote an impressive paper with all the important bullet-proof facts on hamster care, and was granted permission to adopt Hamilton. With the quality food, treats, bedding, and supplies we were able to provide to Dannyelle through our Petfinder Foundation grant and additional habitat enrichment items she bought with her own savings, Hamilton now has the best hamster house and the best life a hamster could ever want!

We think Hamilton found a kind and trustworthy friend and so has Dannyelle. Her mother tells us, “she definitely earned Hamilton. She is so in love with him and his personality is amazing.” We are grateful and so happy for both of them!

Dannyelle now has her sights set on educating others in our community (including our local pet store) on the humane care of hamsters!