Humane society grant offers cats free to seniors

Senior citizens will be able to adopt a cat from the Cheboygan County Humane Society for free as long as funds are available, thanks to a recently awarded grant from Purina Cat Chow.

Cheboygan County Humane Society Director Mary Talaske said the $1,000 grant was one of 50 awarded by Purina Cat Chow as part of its Building Better Lives program.

According to Purina officials, all of the recipients are organizations that support and help cats find permanent homes. The grants are earmarked to help subsidize cat adoption fees. The grantees, all of whom list their pets on Petfinder, can choose to offer either free or fee-reduced adoptions.

“This will pay the adoption fee for senior citizens who want to adopt a cat,” Talaske said.

“All they have to do is come in and pick out a kitty and fill out the paperwork. We see a lot of seniors that want cats, a lot of senior housing facilities allow them to have a cat.”

Talaske said the normal adoption fee for an adult 6cat is $10, so the grant funding should last for a while.

“All of our kitties are spayed or neutered before they are adopted out,” Talaske said. “Especially for a senior that is home alone, a cat can be a wonderful companion. They are not high maintenance, and a person can be gone for a day or two and leave some food out — the kitty will miss them, but will be okay. They don’t need to be walked, and they are already litter trained.”

Talaske said some of the adult cats are even declawed.

Seniors will also be eligible to adopt a kitten, but Talaske said kittens may be more high energy than a senior wants.

“We usually try and talk them into something a little calmer,” Talaske said.

According to Talaske, this is a new grant for the Humane Society. She applies for a number of grants throughout the year and said these alternative funding sources help the organization greatly.

She said a grant from the Michigan Animal Welfare Fund to help fund its spay and neuter discount program was not awarded this year, so funding for the spay/neuter assistance program will not be as abundant.

“We do still have some coupons left for large dogs (more than 40 pounds), and we can do one cat per household with the money we collect in our donation canisters,” Talaske said. “We also try to take care of special cases when they come to our attention.”

Anyone seeking more information can call the Humane Society at 231 238-8221.