Spay Stokes: Grant Report

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

Product: Thundershirts

Spay Stokes has received our donation of Thundershirts and began using them immediately. They came in the middle of thunderstorm season so the timing was perfect.

How many pets did this grant help?

Two

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

We already knew who our dogs were that were terrified of storms so when the first storm came, we put them on our two most frightened dogs, Piper and Chance. Piper seemed to be the one who I saw the most benefits from wearing the Thundershirt, as he sat calmly and did not shake and pant as much as he does without the Thundershirt. This summer, Chance has developed a severe storm phobia. The Thundershirt seemed to calm him somewhat but I was not able to leave the Thundershirt on him all night due to him climbing the kennels and escaping! I was just too afraid he might catch the shirt on the wire and injure himself. Both dogs are in a shelter environment with six other dogs so they are not observed throughout the night.

Piper is the long-haired, cream-colored albino dog wearing the pink-and-white Thundershirt. Chance is the short-haired, blond dog wearing the blue Thundershirt.

We are very thankful to the Petfinder Foundation for sponsoring this grant that has allowed us to receive these Thundershirts free of charge. The two dogs that are wearing the Thundershirts have been in our program for several years now. Piper, unfortunately, cannot be adopted into a forever home due to reoccurring melanoma cancer. He will spend his days here with us at Spay Stokes. Chance is still looking for his forever home and hoping that being in a home environment will also help with his storm fears!

Thank you, Petfinder Foundation!