PAWS Atlanta, Inc.: Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
One of the most obvious barriers that must be addressed for a senior pet to be adopted is how to minimize the financial impact of their medical care for potential adopters. The dog which we were seeking assistance for was Mischief, a sweet senior dog who battles with arthritis and maintaining a healthy intestinal tract. In order to move Mischief into his forever home more quickly, grant funding is allocated to support his adopting family by 1) waiving Mischief’s $150 adoption fee; 2) funding just under two years of Proviable DC probiotic to reestablish healthy intestinal balance ($29.99 per 80-capsule bottle [taken once a day] x 8 bottles = $239.92); and 3) funding one year of Galliprant 60 mg to treat Mischief’s osteoarthritis pain ($50.74 per 30-capsule bottle [taken once a day] x 12 bottles = $608.88).
It is well documented by shelters and humane societies across the country, including PAWS Atlanta, that individuals and families looking to adopt are most often drawn to younger animals, particularly puppies and kittens. Adoptions take longer and become less frequent in direct correlation with a dog’s age. Many, many wonderful senior dogs come into our shelter, but they just do not move into their forever homes at a pace similar to younger, more active dogs. Our current length of stay for a senior dog is 105 days, compared to 65 days for younger dogs. Our goal is to reduce this length of stay for senior dogs, because we know that new surroundings and circumstances create an enormous amount of stress on an animal. Their worlds are turned upside down. To reduce this stress, dogs (and all abandoned pets) ideally need to be placed into their forever homes as quickly as possible. Being able to reduce the length of stay for a dog at our facility—especially a senior dog—is critical to reducing this stress and settling them into their new homes.
Grant funding through the Petfinder Foundation’s Senior Pet Adoption Grant will help us, most importantly, find a forever home for Mischief and reduce the financial burden on his new family because of the medical care he requires. Funding also helps our organization because, as we move animals into their new homes, this opens space at our facility to help yet another dog or cat.
Unfortunately, Mischief has not been adopted yet, but he is in a wonderful foster home while he waits to find his new home. We know that once he is adopted, he will be greatly helped by this grant. Mischief’s photo and story have been highlighted repeatedly on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, since we received the grant. He has also been highlighted in our email blasts, is posted on the Petfinder site, and our shelter manager and adoption counselors have been talking about him to potential adopters.
How many pets did this grant help?
1
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Grant funding will be used to support Mischief, an 11-year-old, 75-lb. pit bull mix who came to us for safekeeping after his beloved parent passed away over a year ago. Mischief has not been adopted yet, but we have been working very hard to publicize Mischief using a variety of communication tools (e-newsletters, social-media outlets, etc.).
Currently, Mischief is staying with one of our foster families. Our foster family has really been enjoying Mischief, providing him with a lot of much-needed love. They recently told us, “Despite his name being Mischief, he’s a real easy-going kind of guy. He loves to be in the same room with us, especially his foster dad. He’s a good companion to his people and does exceptionally well with other dogs. Mischief loves to play with toys and adores treats of all kinds. Being an older dog, Mischief is really a low-key guy and would thrive in a home that is quiet. He has a tiny bit of separation anxiety and would probably love to be in a home with someone who is retired or works from home.”
We will continue our outreach efforts to find Mischief a permanent home and the funds generously donated by the Petfinder Foundation will be used for the purposes outlined in the grant. We are extremely grateful to the Petfinder Foundation for its support of our organization and its commitment to join us in finding Mischief his forever home.
From his Petfinder profile: “Walking Mischief yesterday, he seemed like the happiest boy in the shelter — happy to have his paws on the trail, happy with all the delicious smells, happy to be outside, happy to have a human friend to walk with him. He’s a leisurely walker at 10, prone to many ‘sniff-stops’ to investigate who’s been where doing what. Mischief came to PAWS Atlanta for safekeeping after his beloved owner died. He loves that all the volunteers and staffers are making a big fuss over how handsome and sweet he is, and he loves it even more when they give him treats for being a good boy. Mischief is friendly with other dogs and would probably love to have a dog companion. Most of all, he would love to be back in a home with someone he can love and watch over. He seems house-trained and very used to being around people. This guy is just smooth, easy company. And, also, his tiny picket-fence teeth. Can we talk about his tiny picket-fence teeth?!” You can meet Mischief here.
UPDATE March 2, 2020: “We submitted our senior dog grant report for Mischief back on January 21, and at the time we had to sadly report that he had not been adopted yet. Over this past weekend we had some great news! We thought you might enjoy knowing that Mischief found his new forever home. We have attached a photo of Mischief with his new family (first photo). He came to us back in September 2018, after his longtime owner passed away, and now he finally has a new home. We cannot begin to thank you and everyone at the Petfinder Foundation enough for helping to make this special day possible. The Senior Pet Adoption Assistance Grant is just what Mischief needed. We are incredibly grateful for your support and I know Mischief is incredibly happy too.”
