How do you help keep families together when a pet has a loving home, but the family cannot afford to treat a medical condition?
This is a problem that has plagued our industry for years. While we may routinely offer free or low-cost wellness services now, what do we do when disaster strikes? No one wants to see a pet lose their home over a treatable condition simply because of finances.
There is usually no option for low-cost, free, or incremental full-service medicine due to laws, vet associations, and lack of willing providers. This is also complicated by the lack of data to help understand how to target a solution to an affordable level while preventing 100% of owned (but wanted) medical shelter intake. As the Maddie's Director of Feline Lifesaving, I have witnessed too many cats -- very loved cats -- be surrendered to shelters simply because their family could not obtain medical care. I know you have, too.
GOOD NEWS: We have a toolkit for that!The External Facing Medical Care Toolkit includes in-shelter support care program information, how to utilize existing veterinary practices to provide external-facing medical care, and how to start a facility from scratch.
Let's use this thread to provide feedback, ask questions, and make this toolkit the solution to needless shelter surrenders due to solvable medical conditions. This is a living document and your experience and feedback make a difference in the lives of pets, and the people who love them. I look forward to connecting with you and helping keep these loved pets in their homes!
#AccesstoCare#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization#PetSupportServices*#AccesstoCare#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization#PetSupportServices*------------------------------
Monica Frenden
American Pets Alive
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