Animal Aid of Tulsa: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

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

The Petfinder Foundation COVID-19 Operation Grant was utilized to help offset the closure of the Animal Aid Thrift Store, which typically brings in $25,000 per month.

This grant helped pay for the vet bills for pets already in our care and for new intakes. Even though most of our town was shut down, animal rescue never shuts down! We were able to still rescue several dogs and cats during this time thanks to the COVID-19 Operation Grant.

How many pets did this grant help?

34

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

Probably one of the most compelling rescues we have taken in is Nicky (first photo). He was found by a good citizen who thought his bottom jaw was missing. It turns out that the jaw is not actually missing, but all the calcium and potassium are gone. We’re hoping that with proper nutrition and medication, we may be able to re-calcify it. However, it will never go back to the shape it was.

We are still waiting on the results of blood work to narrow down the possible cause of the loss of bone in Nicky’s jaw. He seems to have been neglected for a while, as his nails were exceedingly long and he is covered in a bad skin condition, possibly mange. Because of the COVID-19 Operation Grant, we were able to take in this sweetie, get him cleaned up and on the road to recovery.

As we are still treating Nicky’s medical issues, he is not available for adoption yet. We are looking forward to seeing him find a loving home in the near future.

From Facebook: “This sweet senior, whom we named Nicky, was found in pretty rough shape on someone’s property. His lower jaw is there, but it’s lost all calcium and potassium, leaving only the cartilage behind. There are several possibilities as to why this happened, including, but not limited to, kidney failure, inadequate nutrition for an extended period, or tumors on one or more of his parathyroid glands.

“This is definitely not a new condition, though, as Nicky has adapted to it. He can use his tongue to get food into his mouth and can still swallow once it reaches the back of his mouth.

“He was completely infested with fleas, so the primary cause of his skin condition was likely severe allergy-based flea dermatitis. They will be doing a skin scrape today to determine whether or not he may also have mange.

“Once the bloodwork is in and they have the cause of his jaw issue narrowed down, they can take steps to recalcify his jaw.

“On top of all that, his nails were so long and twisted, he was probably very uncomfortable even walking. He is in the best of hands now and we will do everything we can to make the rest of his life easier for him, and of course find him a loving home he so deserves.”