St. John the Baptist Parish Animal Shelter: Disaster Response and Recovery Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
We were able to order medications through MWI Vet Supply to replace a portion of what was lost. We were also able to alter 27 dogs and 10 cats to send to local rescue groups and to send on a transport offered by LASPCA. This allowed us to free cages for incoming animals and send adoptable animals out of our shelter alive at a time when we were at capacity with animals coming in daily. Recovery lasted several months so it wasn't until the beginning of 2013 that we were able to start playing catch up and use the funds that were awarded to us. We purchased Nobivac Canine vaccines, for Parvo/Distemper prevention, antibiotics to treat infections from wounds or URI, pain medication for animals recovering from spay/neuter as well as those injured, tapeworm tablets to treat tapeworm in canine and feline, lyme sulfur dip to treat skin infections/ringworm, and syringes to administer the vaccines.
We are a small parish shelter that has a limited budget. We were not able to replace lost medications and most of what we had were donated to us by local vets or humane groups because they knew we had a need but not the means to acquire medications. It was upsetting to say the least that we lost supplies necessary to treat animals with minor illnesses and injuries. To be able to treat certain animals gives us the ability to place them for adoption rather than having to euthanize due to a lack of funds.
How many pets did this grant help?
More than 50
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
We took in two Akitas from a local backyard breeder. They were both severely underweight and riddled with heart and intestinal worms. We posted their pictures and sent out emails requesting assistance from anyone with an Akita rescue. Their story spread far and wide and because we were able to vet the dogs for the two rescue groups they were able to afford the transport and heartworm treatment which allowed them to pull the dogs and get them to safety. The smaller male was 11 months old and weighed only 30lbs. Akitas are normally in the 70-100lb range and sometimes even larger. The are now thriving and waiting for their forever homes.
