Adopt a Saint: All-Star Dog Rescue Celebration Grant Report

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

The entire grant of $1,000 went towards our vet bill, which was over $5,000 at the time.

The grant money was used to help pay for spays, neuters, eye surgery and medication for several Saint Bernards.

How many pets did this grant help?

6 saints

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

After we received the grant, a local shelter called me to ask if I could come and pick up a stray female, so I went the next day. When I got there and saw the condition she was in, I wasn’t surprised: She was very dirty, very skinny (weighed 80 lbs.), had a very bad case of kennel cough, and had been used as a breeding bitch. I named her Bella and took her directly to our vet. We started her on medication for the kennel cough and we had to hand feed her three to four times a day until she started to feel better, which took a couple of weeks. She is a sweet, loving girl who would let the vet do anything to her just for the attention. After the kennel cough was gone, we gave her a much-needed bath and got her spayed, vaccinated, and microchipped. After two months at the vet, she was finally ready for adoption. A wonderful family adopted her and renamed her Heidi and now she is living the life of leisure.

Here is a note from her adopted family: “We had lost our Great Pyrenees to bone cancer and our family had a big hole in our hearts. I approached Carole at Adopt A Saint requesting a young girl who is good with children, and boy did she deliver! When Heidi came to us she was still somewhat underweight. Even with that, she was filled with nothing but love. I’ve never seen a tail that wags so much. Slowly, we got her to a healthy weight and worked on her muscle strength with lots of short walks. In return, she gives our whole family gentle love and companionship. With my husband working from home, she is by his side all the time. They are crazy about each other! She is a tremendous help with his stress by being available for pets or just offering her cute expressions and snores. She is so well-behaved, and very sensitive to commands, so you only have to tell her things once. She is very kind to our other pets and our children. I can say that she is one of the best dogs we have ever had and we are all so grateful to have her. She has filled all of our hearts!”

I have attached a picture from the day I rescued her and a picture from her adopted family so you can see how she looks now.