Grant ID: 1788
Title of Proposal: SPAYS for the STRAYS...and other PARLEYS
Agency Type: Non-Profit
Total Funding Requested: $25,000.00
Check Payable To: Suwannee PAWS, Inc.
Application Information
Demographics
Name of Applicant Agency: Suwannee PAWS, Inc. Website Address: http://www.traciedanielsdvm.com/suwannee-paws/
Person Submitting Proposal: Tracie Daniels Position: Founder and Executive Director
Person Submitting Proposal Email Address: [email protected]
Agency Head: Colleen Burke Agency Head Email: [email protected]
Organization Business Address: 1427 N Ohio Avenue City: Live Oak
State: Florida Zip: 32064
Phone (xxx-xxx-xxxx): 386-362-1754 Fax:
Cell:    
 
Agency Details

Date of 501(c)(3) Incorporation: 02/19/2014
Dates of Last Fiscal Year: Begin: 01/01/17    End: 12/31/17
Organization Income in Last Fiscal Year: $198,098.00
Organization Expenses in Last Fiscal Year: $191,080.00
Number of Paid Employees: Full Time: 0  Part Time: 5
Number of Active Volunteers: 0
Total Volunteer Hours per Week: 0.00
How did you learn of the 2009  Florida Animal Friend grant competition? We have been aware of the FAF license plate spay/neuter funding for many years, and other clinics where our veterinarian has worked consistently received it on alternate years in the past.
Year(s) of previous Florida Animal Friend grants (if applicable):
Previous Florida Animal Friend Applications: Years Funded: 0 Year(s) denied/incomplete: 2
Auto-Generated (Previous Applications):
Grant #Proposal YearProposal TitleStatus
14292014Suwannee County, Florida Feral and Community Cat Initiative 2014Denied (not completed)
17422017Suwannee County Feral and Community Cat InitiativeDenied (not completed)
17882018SPAYS for the STRAYS...and other PARLEYSFunded
Describe your Organization:
Services Provided Organization Structure:











List your current board of directors:

NameTitlePhoneOccupation
Colleen BurkePresident813-833-8554Corporately employed
Mary DanielsSecretary386-935-1689Retired School Administrator
Ross SearsTreasurer386-935-2499Retired College Professor

Applicant Qualifications
For your organization, in the last complete fiscal year:
172  cats and 0  dogs were admitted.
168   cats and  0   dogs were adopted.
2   cats and  0    dogs were euthanized.
1208   cats and  525    dogs were sterilized.
  
Briefly describe your animal programs:
 
If your program performs adoptions, are all animals sterilized before adoption? 
Yes
If not all, what percentage of animals are not currently sterilized before adoption? 
If not all, how are animals selected for sterilization before adoption? 
All are sterilized before adoption, performed at our clinic, if they are intact when we select them (either by pulling from our county shelters, through owner relinquishment, or stray cats who are brought to us.) The above numbers represent animals who were pulled and transferred out for adoption. (100% were adopted after transfer for 2017).
If not all, describe your sterilization policies and procedures for assuring sterilization after adoption:
 
Give additional background information on your organization's programs as they relate to this application and the qualifications of the personnel who will be in charge of this program. Show that you have the ability to carry out this program. 
Suwannee PAWS, Inc. Spay/Neuter Clinic was founded in 2014 as a reduced-cost high-volume spay/neuter clinic in a rural underserved area of Florida. Our single ongoing founding mission is to reduce pet overpopulation in the Suwannee Valley Region of Florida to include Suwannee, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Dixie, and parts of Columbia county. (Please see website for full mission statement and programs offered). Our veterinarian has performed over 20,000 spays and neuters locally (within a 60-mile radius) and has been trained by Humane Alliance. She also attended the University of Florida's Community Cat Management Class in 2015 and has served as a student surgery coach at UF's Operation Catnip. She is also a fifth-generation lifelong resident of Suwannee County. Suwannee PAWS reached our 5,000th spay/neuter surgery in 2017. We have also donated over $20,000 of services to local shelters and strays since opening in 2014; we began a feline diversion and adoption program to help our county's overcrowded shelters; and we were the veterinary staff on hand at the human/pet evacuation shelter in Live Oak during devastating Hurricane Irma in 2017. Our county's municipal shelters have undergone tremendous improvement in the past calendar year, and Suwannee PAWS pulled nearly 150 cats from our city shelter which heavily contributed to the 2017 live release rate of over 90% (historically a kill-only facility for cats). This year we have already pulled and adopted over 40 cats from our county shelter since the inception of our adoption partnership with PetSmart in February 2018. We are currently working with the county shelter in 2018 to improve live release rates. There is no budget for surgical animal care or for a shelter veterinarian in our county, but we are doing all we can to help at this time. Our application entitled "Spays for the Strays and other Parleys" simply refers to our proposal to focus comprehensively on feline overpopulation by expanding our TNR and Community Cat spay/neuter outreach, and also to "parley" to find funding for the sterilization of cats we pull from our shelters for adoption.
If you currently have a program for sterilization of cats and/or dogs, describe your current level of funding and productivity and why additional resources are needed? 
Suwannee PAWS began as a "bare-bones" bootstrap operation in 2014, and after years of hard work we received our 501(c)(3) designation in late 2016. From the beginning, we have sustained the business primarily on clinic operations revenue that we generate. We have only been eligible to apply for grants and ask for donations for just over a year. Because of this, our prices have always been much lower than private practices but higher than many traditional spay/neuter operations so that we could remain solvent. We received one small $3,750 grant for public TNR/community cat spay/neuter in 2017 and used it in less than 3 weeks to sterilize 134 cats. The response was overwhelming! We received a $5,000 Maddie's Grant for a pilot feline shelter spay/neuter project, and used it to fund over 100 feline surgeries who were then adopted or transferred for adoption from the city shelter through our organization. With regard to the shelters, there is zero budget for spay/neuter and we are only able to sterilize by donating services and/or through individual sponsorships and grants for given animals. We also offer a 25% discount on top of our reduced fees to any shelter animal after adoption for sterilization. While our efforts have been successful and have proven our point that euthanasia does not have to be the only outcome, we cannot continue to absorb all of the associated costs of pulling these cats for adoption. We are not at surgical capacity; we currently perform surgery three days a week with an average of 3.5 surgical hours per day. There are so many people who call and want to use our services but who cannot even afford our reduced cost levels at this time. Unlike many larger nonprofits in bigger cities where donor underwriting and development teams raise money to uphold the business, we still operate very much on the revenue that we generate. We are in a very poor rural area where donations and fundraising is not often highly productive. Since we were overwhelmed by the positive swift response of our pilot TNR/community cat grant in 2017, we are confident that making these funds available to us will have similar results. This grant will allow us to spay and neuter the cats who are overbreeding in our county whose owners and/or caretakers cannot currently afford surgery, which is the largest proportion of our current demographic.

Target Population
Geographical target area (name of city, county, zip codes, geographical Information service (GIS), etc.):
 Suwannee Valley Region (Suwannee, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Dixie counties) 
Total human population in target area: 101947 
Percent of residents living below poverty in target area: 25.98 
Estimated number of pet cats in target area (human population divided by 3.3): 30894 
Estimated number of pet dogs in target area (human population divided by 4.0): 25487 
Estimated number of feral cats in target area (human population divided by 6.0): 16992 
Number of cats admitted to animal control shelters in the target area last year (if known) N/A  
Number of dogs admitted to animal control shelters in the target area last year (if known) N/A  
Number of cats euthanized in animal control shelters in the target area last year (if known) N/A 
Number of dogs euthanized in animal control shelters in the target area last year (if known) N/A 
Please explain if you believe your target area animal population is significantly different than above.
We believe these numbers greatly underestimate the actual feline population, and moderately underestimate the actual canine population. In this very rural area, we have a larger holding capacity per residence and per square mile for excess stray and unowned animals, since many of these survive as feral or community animals (term inclusive for dogs as well). We have hoarders and pre-hoarding situations readily identifiable in some of these counties with almost no animal control enforcement. There are still many abandoned homes and businesses which also harbor these animals, including mobile home parks and economically depressed areas.
Please explain what you believe are the most substantial sources of dog and cat overpopulation in the target area:
 Based on phone calls we receive, our surgery client distribution, and personal residence in this county for over four decades, it is our opinion that the overpopulation comes from both owned and unowned pets, with cats representing approximately 70 percent plus of the problem due to their prolificacy in our temperate climate. The greatest sources of owned animals are from families living in poverty, in housing projects, low-income developments and mobile home parks, and also those in rural environments where animals are kept outdoors and allowed to roam. The largest sources of unowned animals are from abandoned hoarding situations, from cats and/or dogs living out of abandoned residences, and free-roaming community cats in the small towns around food establishments. Sterilization is not the standard here, it is the exception. Even the litters from owned animals, who breed without restriction (often for "sale" in the case of dogs) subsequently become free-roaming strays, for dogs as well as cats. It is also notable that our shelters here do not sterilize before transfer or adoption, and we see many adopted animals for their post-adoption examination whose owners do not intend to sterilize them. Finally, since October of 2017 we have seen an increased number of stray cats at our practice who showed up to people's homes after Hurricane Irma.
What kinds of spay/neuter services are currently available in the target area and in what ways are these resources currently insufficient to meet community needs?
In the target area we have proposed, with the exception of Suwannee County, there are very few full-service veterinary clinics in each county. While a few of these practices have an occasional reduced cost option for spay/neuter, they understandably have very limited capacity and frequency of availability. Many offer payment plans but most clients do not qualify if it is through third-party funders such as Care Credit. The primary mission of our clinic is and always has been spay/neuter for our local community, to serve the poorer region of the Suwannee Valley where it is demographically challenging from a business perspective. We are the only high-volume model in this target area that currently practices the 2016 ASV Standards of Care as guidelines. One other 501(c)(3) in our county re-opened for low-cost services in the last few years after temporarily closing, but the high-volume surgeon who was there initially is gone, and spay/neuter is only a small part of their rescue. That organization also pulls heavily from shelters outside our target area and state including south Georgia. We concentrate our efforts inside the state of Florida. We believe that the residents of these counties continue to be underserved, especially those who have large numbers of feral and community cats.
Florida Animal Friend is highly supportive of proposals that are focused on animal populations that are identified as substantial sources of dog or cat overpopulation rather than being diluted over too broad of a geographic area or diverse animal populations. Describe the specific target animal population of the spay/neuter project proposed for this grant:

   Shelter cats from Suwannee who are in our program
 
TNR Managed Colony Feral Cat Program/Community Cats (Free-Roaming and/or Owned) Program
Define the precise boundaries of the colony or targeted area, including estimate of square miles.
 Suwannee, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison and Dixie counties. We understand the concept of cat population dynamics and limiting the target area size, but our clinic is only 7 to 15 minutes from three of the adjacent counties, and Lafayette and Dixie also have large land areas with no zip codes (uninhabitable land / government land). For practicality we designate the physical borders of the five counties as the target area. Square mileage of counties: Suw(688); Ham(513); Laf(543); Mad(695); Dix(705)
 
What is the criteria used for determining the target area(s) and/or eligibility for this program?
Our target area is based on calls we receive for help, and also the locations where most of our managed colonies are. Eligibility: Free-roaming cats, stray cats, owned community cats, and feral cats or kittens who reside and are trapped inside the target area will be considered for the program. All cats must be left ear tipped, even if they are highly socialized. See section entitled "Other Information" for more narrative.
 
Describe whether the targeted area is rural, suburban, or urban. Is it commercial, residential, agricultural, or a designated special land use?
The target area is overwhelmingly rural, with the vast majority of land used for agricultural purposes (Ag-1 and 2 zoning). In the cities of Live Oak and Branford, and even in outlying residential locations, there are many abandoned or low-income housing areas which are contributing to a large cat breeding reservoir. There are over 3500 vacant housing units in Suwannee County alone. As discussed, a large area within the southwest part of our targeted zone is not residentially occupied.
 
Estimated number of cats in the target colony area : 16992  
Estimated number that are currently sterilized: 5000
Projected reduction after utilizing the grant:  650
 
For TNR program, describe the ability to maintain lifelong care for remaining cats, commitment level of volunteers/organizations, etc.
Suwannee County, especially the northern half, has several rescue groups and individuals who have been dedicated to TNR for years. These groups help feed the colonies and maintain oversight for new cats. These same groups care for the colonies and mentor others in the counties that are next to us in the northern section of our target area. We have managed colonies also in Lafayette and Madison counties, and several county officials have reached out to us from Dixie and Madison for help.
 
Do current city/county ordinances address TNR or free-roaming cats?
Yes

Please explain what is allowed:
There are no trapping restrictions, but there is a loosely-enforced feeding ban specifically at garbage collection facilities in Suwannee County. Our feral trappers simply move down the road from those facilities to trap and have had no problems. We are currently in discussions with city and county managers to explain why this hinders TNR, we are certain this was not explained years ago when the feeding ban was enacted. This ban was primarily a reaction to one individual group's actions.
(NOTE: FAF will not fund any program this is inconsistent with local ordinances.)
 
For TNR program, list any groups or government agencies who support this TNR effort:
In calendar year 2017, we met with several county commissioners and the Sheriff's Department (direct oversight of county animal control), and we presented them with ideas for improvement and collaboration. We discussed TNR and SNR as a means to decrease the feline shelter overcrowding. While the concepts are still new to them, they are currently supportive of our efforts and have let us suggest many changes in the local shelters.
 
Describe any effort to lessen the negative impact on local wildlife.
Last year we reached out to our regional conservationist Rebecca Shelton with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, based out of Tallahassee. She agreed to be our resource for evaluation of TNR and SNR program impact on wildlife when needed. She is a Conservation Planner/Biological Scientist III.
 
Describe efforts that will be made to mitigate current or potential nuisance issues.
We recognize that nuisance complaints and concerns are consistently a challenge in the early stages of any TNR program. We have discussed these issues in the past with shelter ACO's, shelter phone personnel, and more recently with the Sheriff's Department leadership. We advocate training shelter employees and ACO's to support TNR and SNR as a means for redirecting the flow of nuisance cats, we currently take nuisance calls at our desk and direct large colony issues to Dr. Daniels for mediation
 
Will the cats be ear-tipped? Yes
Will the cats be microchipped? No
 
Provide any additional information that will help the grant selection committee understand how this program will operate to achieve its goals.
We would like to emphasize that we are an extremely feral-friendly practice and our support staff has become much more skilled at handling unsocialized ferals over the past few years. They are also better at speaking to caretakers and private citizens, and they are more skilled now at recognizing disease signs when cats present to us ill or potentially infectious. We have worked very hard to train the staff with feral widsom :) In 2017, 35% of our feline surgeries were feral and community cats.
 
Objectives
What do you hope to accomplish with these funds (objectives should be specific and quantifiable)?
We will sterilize a minimum of 450 feral and community cats in our target area to reduce our breeding population. We will prioritize Suwannee County cats and those within 30 miles from our clinic location. The final number will depend on the distribution of males and female surgeries, and also on additional donations or grants made toward our program which would allow the grant funding to serve even more cats in need. Our goal for our two county shelters is as follows: Suwannee County: Decrease feline intake by 10%, increase feline live release rates to 80% City of Live Oak: Decrease feline intake by 5%; maintain feline live release rates above 90% Through our adoption program, our goal is to use FAF funding to help provide surgery for at least 100 Suwannee County municipal shelter cats after they are transferred to our Feline Shelter Diversion Initiative program. We continue to encourage the shelters to track spay/neuter compliance so that we can measure the percentage of animals that are actually sterilized before and after adoption, but at this time they are not following up with that information.
How does this program increase the number of sterilization surgeries above the existing baseline?
Our clinic baseline for feral and community cat surgeries in 2016 it was 269, and in 2017 it jumped to 419. This increase was largely due to a small pilot TNR grant we received that allowed us to perform 134 surgeries for $25 each. Because we have only been 501(c)(3) approved for a short time, we have previously relied on the client assuming approximately 90% of the complete surgery fee unless a sponsor was found. (We estimate that we absorb 10-20% overall costs including donated surgeries and services such as antibiotics, fluids, free surgeries). The addition of grant funding will decrease client cost per surgery and allow the extension of our services to those who could not previously afford them. When we were able to briefly decrease our feral pricing in 2017 after Hurricane Irma from the grant, the results were outstanding and prevented many kittens from being born. In some of our target counties, there has been no outreach for help due to their remote location and socioeconomically challenging demographic. Our baseline numbers for these areas is very small (less than 20 community cats a year per county), and this would be a way for us to potentially increase baseline by 100% or more in a given zone of the target area. Some of these individuals and colonies just need for a program to exist that they can afford, and then as neighbors and friends and political leaders see results, they become more willing to help fundraise and support the efforts. We have seen this in our home county over time, where perceptions are changing for the better due to intervention in some cat colonies and in the shelter. There is no allocated budget for Suwannee County shelter sterilizations, so any funding we utilize for shelter cats raises baseline numbers (technically the baseline for the shelter reverts to zero funded spay/neuter per year from municipal funds). We have also accepted assistance from the student spay/neuter programs at the University of Florida for the shelter animals, but transportation has always been challenging and we only have a designated transporter for the dog program at this time.
Methods
What criteria will you use to determine eligibility for your program? 
Part 1: TNR and Community Cats: Cats presented for sterilization surgery must reside in and/or be trapped in the target area, which will also account for caretakers who do not live within the county boundaries but travel to manage colonies inside our county. Cats must be close to 2 pounds minimum weight and healthy enough for surgery, and owners or caretakers must agree have their left ear tipped. Grant funding will be extended to include unowned feral cats, unowned free-roaming community cats, owned or rescued strays, and privately owned free-roaming cats. Part 2: Cats must be medically cleared and pulled from one of our two Suwannee County municipal shelters and transferred into our program to receive spay/neuter surgery.
How will you advertise the program? Explain how the advertising will reach the target audience.
We currently have an active Facebook page with over 3,500 people following us and we have excellent return-on-investment when we advertise with social media. We also have a website where we can post information and updates. Over 85 percent of our Facebook "likes" are within our target area. We also have an outstanding relationship with local media including local newspapers, radio, and the Chamber of Commerce email blasts when we promote an event. We will also contact the caretakers of our established colonies inside the county, and we will visit food establishments that have feral cats and dumped cats inside Live Oak and Branford. Finally, we will organize a grass-roots campaign where ferals are present in high numbers with door hangers or flyers in economically disadvantaged population bases in our county (such as the town of Live Oak city limits) who may not be reached through these other forms of communication, including some notices in Spanish when the neighborhood indicates this need.
How will you address barriers to full use of the program such as transportation, illiteracy, and cultural hurdles? 
Most of our target counties are within a twenty-mile drive to reach us. We have several private citizens who already support TNR and routinely reach out to help other private citizens and businesses with trapping and transportation challenges. We have two active ongoing sponsors of cats (on a case-by-case) basis who reside at or near a local retirement village and already help extend services to the elderly residents living there. Some of the counties we have listed in our target area have political officials who have expressed interest in organizing a transportation mechanism to our clinic (especially Dixie county which is the most distant). At this time we do not have a transport vehicle but we are applying for funding in the coming years to have this option. We also have a bilingual staff member who helps when we have clients who speak Spanish, and will use the Alley Cat Allies Spanish literature in predominantly hispanic areas.
Does this project involve the transportation of animals by someone other than the client? If so, describe the vehicles, methods for confinement, personnel training, liability releases used to assure the safety of the animals and handlers.
 All transportation is currently done privately by clients/caretakers or their personal friends and relatives.
Veterinary Services
 

What arrangements have you made with veterinarians to perform the surgeries? 
Our clinic will perform all spay/neuter surgeries. We currently take feral / TNR cats on a walk-in basis when it is not possible for trappers to schedule ahead, and we allow community cats and owned managed colonies to schedule without cancellation penalty if they cannot trap on a given day. (Refer to Feral and Community Cat section on our website for comprehensive details.)
Are they:  
 

Veterinary Practices
Practice NameAddressCityStateZipPhoneLead Practice
Suwannee PAWS, Inc.1427 N. Ohio AvenueLive OakFlorida32064386-362-1754

Fee Range
What is the fee range to be paid for spay and neuter and what is the distribution to be paid by the client vs. the grant program? Keep in mind that Florida Animal Friend grant funds may only be used for costs directly associated with sterilization surgery (including anesthesia and pain control) and not for other items such as vaccines, testing, licensing, and capital purchases.
Amount Paid by Client Amount Paid by Project Total Amount
Range for Male Cats
Range for Female Cats
Range for Male Dogs
Range for Female Dogs
Please check each item below to indicate additional services offered at the time of surgery, whether the client is required to pay for them, and if so what the fee is. For example, if an examination is required for surgery but is not charged to the client it would be marked: Required  Yes, Fee to client No
Required, Optional, or Not Offered Fee to Client?
Examination   
Rabies Vaccination if Due   
Other Vaccination if Due   
Pain Medication   
Parasite Medication   
HW Testing   
Feline Leuk/FIV
County License   
Ear tipping   
Microchip
Other   

None of the anticipated grant funds can be used for any of the above services, except for pain medication.
If necessary, please explain the procedures and fees described above: 
 (The amount box does not allow for ranges to be entered, also please note the following:) RABIES 1 year: $10 **this is included in the $25 "Amount Paid By Client," which includes a full printed separate Rabies certificate and the tag when requested. Our county does not register tags or ask for licensing fees. OTHER Vaccines: $10 (FVRCP) required, also included into the $25 client copay. However, FeLV is optional and costs the client $20 additional. PAIN medication: All are given a dose at the time of surgery but optional pain medication is sent home for 3 days (no charge for cats as of the time of this submission) PARASITE medication: $5 for pyrantel if socialized cats, $17 for Revolution, and up to $20 or more for medications involving tapeworms [depending on which type of tapeworm]. When we have donated medication such as Frontline, we use it on feral cats. HW testing: Not an option for cats at this time at our clinic Microchipping: $10 for animals adopted from one of our county shelters, $20 for general public or TNR/community cats OTHER: Convenia, $15 to $25 for most cats when needed. If client cannot afford it we donate it. In addition, we provide comprehensive supportive care including fluids, vitamin injections (B complex or cobalamin), antiemetics when needed, oral glucose or Enercal, steroids for severe allergic dermatoses, all at no additional cost to the client. Our pain medication regimen may include up to three days of Onsior for advanced pregnant [socialized] females. Suwannee PAWS will absorb these costs as our part of the project (we currently absorb these costs already in our feral packages). We offer free Frontline Plus to all ferals when we have it on hand, unless the caretaker declines or elects to purchase Revolution instead at a charge of $15 to $18 per cat. We offer wound care, wound repair, and Convenia or other antibiotic protocols as needed or practical, all are charged to the client with a fee ranging from $15.00 to $35.00 for extra large cats. Final note: On our computer (IBM), we had trouble with the above selections reverting to choices we had not selected. We made this problem known to the grant administrator, whose screen showed the correct selections at the time. If there any inconsistencies with this section please contact us for clarification.  
Is this a voucher program? No
 
If so, how will you assure compliance with the program?

 
For your voucher program, how have you determined the capacity of the veterinarians listed above to handle the projected capacity?
 
 
Will you have the ability to report the number of vouchers issued and the percentage that result in S/N surgeries?

 
Community Collaboration
To assure the success of your program, are there any local groups (such as rescue groups, animal control agencies, TNR groups, local businesses, local media, social service agencies,etc.) other than your organization and your cooperating veterinarians who are committed to assist?
 
 
Please list them and detail their level of involvement with the proposed effort.
NameLevel of Involvement
Catherine Rountree and Gail ChapmanCatherine has been present literally since our grand opening day in 2014. Since our founding, these two amazing ladies coordinate and sponsor a great number of TNR cats that come to our clinic. They have also helped take over another caretaker's colony at a garbage facility on Hwy 51, and achieved 100% "trap out" at several locations, and they routinely foster and care for stray and abandoned cats who can be rehomed. Their help is targeted in the northern part of our county and adjacent counties which are very close in proximity.
Chamber of Commerce and local mediaThe Chamber of Commerce, radio stations WQHL and WQLC, and local newspapers including The Suwannee Valley Times and The Suwannee Democrat are very supportive when we approach them and need to get out PSA's or articles regarding our programs
City of Live Oak Animal ControlThis is the smaller of the two municipal shelters in our county. It is very close to our clinic, and they have difficulty housing many cats at a time and only use wire crates and one outdoor cat area which is challenging for disease prevention. Last year we pulled almost 150 cats from the facility and provided medical and surgical services to prepare the cats for transfer to adoption programs. This factored considerably into the shelter's final feline live release rate of over 90% last year.
Holli MillerHolli is a local representative who helps coordinate and also transports dogs and occasionally cats to other no-kill rescues all over the state. She also transports cats and dogs to any collaborative surgery program that we can do with the University of Florida, including student spay/neuter laboratories. Holli helped develop some of the partnerships with organizations down the state who will occasionally transfer in cats from our adoption program.
Lucky Cat AdoptionsLCA is based out of Jacksonville, and in 2017 we formed a collaboration with them to send cats and kittens for adoption after spay/neuter and basic health services. Many community cats (and some feral cats) whose litters are socialized are taken in by SPI through our foster network. LCA has been very proactive in helping us, and we see this as a fantastic new outlet for some of these cats.
PetSmart (adoption partner)As of February 2018, we have been authorized to oversee and use the in-store cat adoption condos at the PetSmart in Lake City, Florida. Many of the stray community cats and feral kittens who are socialized and sterilized through the use of supporting funds and donated services are going to be adopted locally now when possible, instead of transporting as many to other locations.
Save The Cats of Live OakWe have allowed STCoLO to umbrella under our organization for adoptions at the PetSmart in Lake City during adoption events and on weekends. The vast majority of their cats are strays and former ferals.
Suwannee County Animal ServicesSince new management has taken over at the county shelter, we have become more actively involved by offering guidance for feline housing and disease management. We are also focusing on this shelter in 2018 (like we did in the city shelter last year) to decrease feline euthanasia rates by pulling adoptable cats and offering them for adoption locally through our PetSmart partnership. We also have provided some spay/neuter to the shelter cats that stayed at the facility and were adopted, and we recently helped acquire portals for the new cat room to decrease feline stress during their stay. We continue to help make small changes as they are able to implement them.
Suwannee County Sheriff's OfficeAs of late 2017, a representative from the Sheriff's Office has assumed the role of interim county shelter director, which opened the door for us to become more active in the shelter again. Most of our cats for adoption come from the county shelter. Vast improvements have been made in shelter housing and husbandry, as well as current cooperation with our FSDI program (Feline Shelter Diversion Initiative) to divert cats from entering and also pulling cats once they are in the shelter. We hope that over time forward progress will continue. New dog housing has also been installed and a new cat room has been built, largely in part to the new oversight by the county.

 
Other Information
Provide any additional information that will help the grant selection committee understand how the program will operate to achieve its goals.
 We would like to take this opportunity to clarify our target populations and corresponding target areas for TNR and Community Cats. Clearly it is best to focus efforts on a smaller area to achieve the most impact on long-term stabilization for a given group of cats. We are familiar with Bryan Kortis' publications and concepts regarding these principles. First and foremost we are prioritizing our efforts on surgery for both TNR of feral and community cats in our own county. We have waiting lists with people and businesses who have groups of cats who would like to use our services but who have not been previously able to afford our pricing. We also track the areas such as low-income housing complexes where the largest number of stray cats originate that are taken in to the county shelters, and we have volunteers already lined up in many of these places to help if we receive funding. Our general goal is to focus on a region with an approximate 30-40 mile radius from our clinic, but from a practical client standpoint, there are several towns which are just a few miles from us across the county line because our business is at the very north aspect of our county. Also the orientation of zip codes did not help us after closer examination, so we declared the entire adjacent county as part of the target area to avoid declining subsidized services to a caretaker who is literally 10 miles away from us. We also have several managed colonies in these counties we are working with. We have received several calls from Madison and Dixie County officials for assistance over the years, and we would like to be able to reach out to them with some form of targeted help. In the specific case of Dixie, there are not as many veterinarians willing to go into that part of the state, and some of the residents may be light years from fully adopting these concepts (TNR/SNR/community cats/spay/neuter). Our veterinarian worked in Dixie county part-time for almost 12 years and has many connections in that county. So while we list five counties, the majority of our focus will be on colonies or community cats where we feel the most comprehensive impact will be made inside or very close to our county, while not excluding reaching out to counties who have almost no one else helping them. If we can take just one or two colonies in those outlying counties and make an impact, this can serve as an example of what can be achieved when targeted TNR is utilized in the future. In conclusion, Suwannee PAWS routinely promotes feral/community cat awareness, and we have a large informational section on our website and in our front lobby as resources for clients. We currently have everything in place for expansion of our feral cat surgical load and we are eager to do so.
Budget
Total number of sterilization surgeries projected:
Cats: 650    Dogs:  0 
Total budget requested (Budget should not exceed $25,000): $25,000.00 
Average cost/surgery projected: $39.00 
Describe any expenses that are not included in the grant and how they will be paid for (for example, vaccines, microchipping, ear notching, etc.):
Expenses for surgeries that are not paid for with this grant include a required FVRCP or Rabies vaccine. These are paid for by the client and included in their $25 copay. In addition, we provide comprehensive care including fluids, vitamin injections (B complex), antiemetics when needed, oral glucose or Enercal, steroids for severe allergic dermatoses, all at no additional cost to the client. Suwannee PAWS will absorb these costs as our part of the project (we currently absorb these costs already in our feral packages). Wound repair and Convenia or other antibiotic protocols as needed are charged to the client with a fee ranging from $15.00 to $35.00 for extra large cats, but we often end up donating these supplies as well. We only have three colonies who have elected to microchip, they assume the full cost of microchipping.
 
Describe any other funding sources for this program, i.e. other grants, targeted fundraising efforts, budget allocation, etc.
Extra expenses described above are currently absorbed by the general operating fund. However, we are continually reaching out for donations to help on a grass-roots level and are applying for other grants such as general operations funds and nonsurgical veterinary assistance grants. Examples of funds still available for use in 2018 include a Banfield Foundation grant (means-tested basis, nonsurgical veterinary assistance only) and a private donation for general operations received in March 2018; we have used $1,000 of it to purchase a second used surgery table to arrive in April. We also recently received a grant from Petco which will allow us to add ten new surgery packs to our operating room supply by mid-April.
 
What percent of the total cost of the program would this projected grant cover?
65
Timeline
All projects must be completed within 12 months of receipt of funding.
Projected start date: 09/01/18/     Projected end date: 08/31/19
 
Unexpended funds
Any unexpended funds must be refunded to Florida Animal Friend within 30 days of the end of the project.

Requests for extensions
Requests for time extensions are discouraged and not often granted. If it is imperative to request an extension, such request must be made in writing at least 30 days prior to the end of the project. It is FAF’s policy to seldom grant more than a 30-60 day extension.

Failure to submit reports and requests within the required time period will impact your agency’s future grant applications.
 
Future Funding to Sustain Public Spay/Neuter
*Explain how the organization plans to fund this program in the future. Having sustainable plans including other grants, local donations and other services generating revenue enhances the chances of receiving this grant.
 We have established a solid reputation for providing high quality care, and we are recognized as a community cat and feral-friendly practice. However, now that we are able to apply for grants and receive public donations, there are new options available through fundraising/development and federal nonprofit resources to enhance our outreach. We are also hoping to purchase a transport vehicle and one day a mobile spay unit to extend our services to shelters and counties who have dire need of our assistance. Our priority is to get our immediate area and home shelters in better shape before expanding. With regard to sustainability, our clinic program revenues sustain our base income needs, and the general operating fund subsidizes approximately 10-20% of the cost for our TNR efforts. We have reached out to more local businesses and private donors for sponsorship of shelter pets, program donations, and support of our spay/neuter initiative. Community support already received since last year has included a $1000 Community Rewards Program grant we received from the First Federal Bank based out of Lake City, Florida; a recent private donation of $5,000 which has helped with program needs (new commercial washer/dryer, surgery table, sign damage after Hurricane Irma, and surgical supplies). We have also had four individuals in 2018 start fundraisers on social media which has generated over $1500, and we have received PetSmart adoption partner funds ($836) from our in-store adoptions as of this quarter from the FSDI shelter cat program. Fifteen dogs from our shelter were also sponsored for an adoption event in February by donors, and more people are contacting us on an individual basis to help someone else's pet.
Promotion of Florida Animal Friend Spay/Neuter License Plate
*Applicants selected for funding are expected to publicize their grant in support of their spay/neuter program and promote the sale of the Animal Friend license plate via press releases, newsletters, website links, social media, etc. Please describe your plan to promote the Florida Animal Friend Spay/Neuter License Plate. Grantees are required to submit documentation of promotional endeavors with their final report.
 We will place promotional materials from FAF on our social media pages and also on our clinic websites, including instructions for purchasing the license plates. We have a large banner which is on display in our main lobby for organizations and grantors who support us financially. We will write numerous press releases including the initial grant award announcement as well as conclusion of the program after it is implemented. We will place promotional display items in our lobby by the checkout desk, and we will customize a line item entry on our invoices which promotes the FAF when the funds are utilized on a client's invoice including how to support the license plate initiative.