Hi Nadine- so in order to get to that $300 mark, I took my overall operating budget, less revenues received, to start. Then I removed all animal control related expenses (officer salaries, fuel, vehicle repairs, uniforms, equipment) to back that out to a shelter-only expenditure number.
Once I had that total cost to operate the shelter, I divided that by our average annual intake for the past several years (excluding 2020) to arrive at a figure of $309 per animal.
I felt it was important to work backwards rather than trying to add up costs per animal for daily care, vet time, etc. because you have to include your adoption counselors, administrative staff, utilities, etc, as all of these expenses are directly related to animal care.
Hope that helps!
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Alexis Pugh
Director, Memphis Animal Services
www.memphisanimalservices.comOrganizational Management
& Pet Support Services Specialist
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-29-2022 02:34 PM
From: Nadine Dolby
Subject: Helping owners with emergency medical expenses
this is great and very important. I run a community based organization, Animal Advocates of Greater Lafayette (Indiana) and we are always trying to educate the public on how much it costs to keep pets in shelters. We try to make both emotional (keep pets with families) and financial (it's less expensive) arguments. We are intake diversion, so we try to help families who have small, one time needs for food and supplies. We would love to expand and do more. I am wondering how you came up with the $300 number. We have a new shelter opening here in town (municipal and county) in January 2024, and it would be great to go to them with hard numbers to convince them to partner with us on a Pet Resource Center or equivalent. Nadine Dolby, President, Animal Advocates of Greater Lafayette
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Nadine Dolby
Professor
Animal Advocates of Greater Lafayette
Original Message:
Sent: 11-29-2022 01:03 PM
From: Alexis Pugh
Subject: Helping owners with emergency medical expenses
Hi Megan- so we do this here in Memphis. We looked at our average cost of care per animal to come into the shelter (roughly $300) and said if we can spend less than that to keep a pet out of the shelter, that is a win, especially because we pay for our Pet Resource Center completely through donations and grants.
We went around and established relationships with about 5 partner clinics that give us discounted pricing, created referral forms where we list what care we are authorizing that we will pay for, and then we send owned pets to these clinics for everything from wellness to illness to injury- basically whatever we can do under $300 to help.
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Alexis Pugh
Director, Memphis Animal Services
www.memphisanimalservices.com
Organizational Management
& Pet Support Services Specialist
Original Message:
Sent: 11-28-2022 09:05 PM
From: Megan Fogliano
Subject: Helping owners with emergency medical expenses
We do not have a veterinarian on staff but we are investigating how to best help people afford emergency care for their cats by offering a voucher to subsidize payment to our partner veterinarians. Has anyone here successfully managed a similar program? If so, we are keen to receive any and all advice. Thank you!
#AccesstoCare
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Megan Fogliano
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