Iroquois County Animal Rescue: Grant Report

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

The grant money was used to purchase soft hideaway beds and attachable cardboard scratch pads for our caged cats.

The ability to purchase these much-needed enrichment accessories for the cats in our care has been a huge morale booster for our staff and volunteers. What it has done for our cats is amazing. It has produced a noticeable decrease in their stress levels by offering them enrichment opportunities inside their cages. This had led to a decrease in upper-respiratory infections.

How many pets did this grant help?

The grant helped every one of our shelter cats who must temporarily live in a cage, which is 55 cats total.

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

The enrichment that these cage accessories provided helped a cat named PK get adopted into a loving home. He felt more secure and relaxed because he had a place to hide inside his enclosure, and this actually made him more social. When adopters approached his cage, he would emerge from his hideaway bed and come out to play, be petted, or use his scratch pad! From his Petfinder profile: “PK was relinquished to us when his owner could no longer care for him. We could tell right away something was not right with this baby. We took him to a special doctor in New Lennox where they found he had nasal polyp. It was surgically removed but after that PK was found to have a spinal injury. He needs to eat high-fiber food and also has limited movement in his back legs. He is a snuggly boy who purrs so loud when he is held, but because of his limitations, he’ll need a very special owner who is willing to make the needed accommodations within their home for him.”