Groundbreaking research focusing on cats can be hard to find. But that’s what EveryCat Health Foundation is for!
A nonprofit organization, EveryCat Health Foundation advances cat health by supporting research and education in this field.
According to Jackie Ott Jaakola, who serves as the Executive Director of the foundation,
“We work with individuals and the cat-loving public to do great things in the world for cat health. We fund cat health research, and we’ve been doing that for 54 years.”
All for Feline Health With EveryCat Health Foundation
According to Vickie Fisher, who is also the Board President, EveryCat’s story started many years back. It began when the legal counsel for another cat association thought there was a need for a cat-focused organization.
The hero in the story was Robert Winn.
“He had this crazy idea that The Cat Fanciers’ Association needed to put together an organization that’s specifically focused on cat research. The reason for that is that, over the years, a lot of money and a lot of focus in science has been placed on dogs, but not as much on cats because cats have never had the same perceived value as dogs.”
Eventually, they funded their first grant in 1971, with Robert as its first President.
Years passed, however, and in 2020, they rebranded to become “EveryCat Health Foundation”.
This time around, their goal was to broaden their appeal to the owners of hundreds of millions of cats around the world.
With the tagline “every cat, every day, everywhere”, EveryCat is running all types of cat research nowadays.
Throughout their history, however, they’ve worked with different universities, scientists, researchers, pharmaceutical companies, pet food companies, and even the cat-loving public.
With all these partners, EveryCat Health Foundations gathers the information they need to advance cat health as a whole community.
“The way it works from the foundation’s perspective is we send requests for proposals several times a year. Sometimes, those are disease- or nutrition-specific proposals,”
Jackie shared.
As a matter of fact, a research study they funded way back figured out cats’ need for taurine in their diet.
They were also the ones funding some of the very first studies that helped find a cure for debilitating diseases like Feline Infectious Peritonitis.
Today, they work with researchers all over the world, trying to fund more cures or make cat wellness drugs more available.
They also push out education relating to teaching veterinarians and cat owners about the new cat treatments coming down.
Many of the people they talk to have connections with a veterinary school, are statisticians, are veterinarians, are researchers, have MDs, and even have PhDs.
“Something that I’m really proud of in our process is that we receive way more grants than we can possibly fund. And they all have merit because they’re all looking to help advance cat health.”
Learn more about EveryCat Health Foundation!
Visit their website at https://everycat.org/.
