Paws and Claws Cat Rescue: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

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

Paws and Claws Cat Rescue focuses exclusively on cats who are often overlooked for adoption. Oftentimes we rescue cats who are under-socialized, FIV-positive, black cats, and cats who will need medical treatment such as those with ringworm or panleukopenia.

To support the adoption of “harder-to-place” felines, we formed the C.L.A.W.S (Cats Looking for Adoption Wins) program, which promotes individual cats who have particular difficulty attracting adopters.

The Kia grant has supported our efforts by allowing us to reduce adoption fees by 50 percent for 12 cats who are part of C.L.A.W.S. We have tracked these 12 cats and determined that their stay at Paws and Claws, which would ordinarily be an average of 51 days, was reduced by 26%.

How many pets did this grant help?

12

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

We rescued Doodle from a shelter in Indiana where she was one of their longest-term cats. She had been overlooked by adopters for several months and the shelter was reaching capacity. We saw a photo of her, heard her story, and knew she was meant to be a Paws and Claws cat.

Doodle spent four months in our care. Her behavior quirks made it more difficult to find an appropriate home for her. Doodle slept through visitor hours at the shelter and did not want physical touch, but enjoyed playtime with a wand toy.

We knew she would be a good candidate for our C.L.A.W.S program that focuses on felines who are having a harder time getting adopted. Thanks to being the Kia grant, we were able to discount Doodle’s adoption fee by 50% and highlight her on social media.

During a Saturday adoption event, a lovely person came in looking to meet Doodle. She spent a long time with her and didn’t push Doodle to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. She said the discounted adoption fee allowed her to focus on preparing to bring Doodle home.

Doodle went home with her new mom that day and now has a feline sister. Her adopter has shared that Doodle settled right in and is doing well!