Vet care is expensive. I easily spend much more on my pets than for health care for myself. If I leave the vet’s office with a bill less than $100, I feel fortunate. This isn’t to criticize prices for vet services, as we all understand it’s a business, and some vets give back to the community in various ways. Still, it can be very expensive for individual owners (and honestly our organization too).
The costs can skyrocket especially if:
- You have multiple pets
- You have older pets
- You have a pet with an injury or health condition that needs treatment
So when a person in the community contacted us for assistance with costs for surgery for a young rescued cat, the board discussed what we should do. We have limited funds and we must be good stewards of these funds, ensuring that we maximize how many animals we benefit in the community (such as through spaying and neutering).
The owner has rescued many stray and homeless pets over the years, dumped near her home, and in fact rehabilitated this cat when she was a kitten (she’s the tortoiseshell one) when she nearly lost her eyesight to a bore-worm. But she is a single parent who has fallen on hard times (although she has steadily worked 2 jobs & managed to stay off public assistance). She needs help to come up with the funds for this surgery (~$300). She called around to different vets to see if they would work with her, such as setting up a payment plan, but no luck. So she broadened her search and called different organizations, including ours. We were the only one who returned her call, a fact she appreciated.
So we decided to try a new strategy: setup a “Save Scamper” online campaign to see if we could at least raise part of the funds through Good Samaritans in the community helping a fellow Good Samaritan. And so far we’ve raised $160 (as of 3/27/2013). This should be enough raised to go forward with Scamper’s surgery so she can look forward to years of a healthy, happy life.
Once again we’re touched grateful for the generosity and caring of the community–thank you for helping make this a happy ending! –Mary Aycock
