Pet Haven Awards $18,000 in Spay/Neuter grants

Anja and her kittens

Anja, a momma cat was brought into an animal control facility. She had been fending for herself and was extremely underweight. She delivered 5 kittens during her first night in the cage. Pet Haven took her into our foster program two days later to get her out of a shelter environment. She's in a loving foster home now but is still very thin. She has had good nutrition and the kittens have been weaned and is on the road to recovery. She's finally starting to act like she enjoys life - playing and scampering around.

Anja and her five kittens are all up for adoption through Pet Haven. We believe Anja deserves a second chance ... she deserves to not be in survival mode all the time and to not have litter after litter after litter.

There is a serious pet overpopulation problem and Pet Haven is committed to helping reduce pet overpopulation through our Spay/Neuter Initiative program. From 2005 - 2010, Pet Haven awarded 42 grants providing funding for 1,704 animals to be sterilized. Another 13 groups were awarded grants in 2011.

Every cat and dog adopted through Pet Haven is spayed or neutered prior to adoption – doing so is a measure that we’ve always been deeply committed to. To help combat the overpopulation issue, Pet Haven offers grants to other non-profit groups in an attempt to expand spay/neuter efforts. Some of these groups handle surrendered animals while some help communities get control of feral cat populations. Others work to reduce the number of unwanted litters among large breed dogs or offer low income pet owners the assistance that they need.

Anja

Last year, Pet Haven awarded $15,300 dollars to seven groups whose combined efforts totaled 302 spays and neuters (cats, dogs and even one bunny)!   There’s no end to the creativity and ingenuity that contributes to theses program’s success. In an effort to reach large dog owners (large dog spay surgery is the most costly of the spay surgeries), one group posted spay/neuter assistance flyers on trash cans along bike trails and walking paths where dog owners throw their doo-doo bags, as well as at Laundromats where dog owners come to wash oversized dog beds that don’t fit in conventional machines – their efforts resulted in three times the amount of large breed dog spay/neuters than in past years! Other groups have sponsored “Spayghetti” dinners to fundraise and educate their communities while another launched a Facebook campaign called “Beat the Heat” geared toward encouraging pet owners to spay/neuter early in the spring to beat the first heat cycle of the breeding season.

This year, we had a record number of applicants and awarded a total of $18,000 to 13 organizations.  Part of our program at the Fall Benefit will be to acknowledge the great work our grant recipients are doing, and even be able to personally recognize a few of the recipients, as representatives from some of the organizations will be in attendance!

Pet Haven is an all-volunteer foster-based rescue. All donations raised from our Fall Benefit will go directly to our adoption program and our spay/neuter efforts.

Please help us in our efforts to reduce pet overpopulation. If you haven't purchased your ticket yet for Pet Haven's Fall Benefit on Saturday, October 29th be sure to visit our website www.pethavenMN.org and purchase your ticket today.