I agree completely with your thoughts on having a vet or vet tech "on duty" for the new rescue! Even though we are in a big city; these professionals are in very high demand. I have approached quite a few and none are willing to commit because we're just starting and don't have any funds yet. These professionals are in very high demand here and have lots of paid opportunities. (We likely won't have funds for any paid positions over the next few years. )
I'm very fortunate to have learned a lot of "medical knowledge" and can narrow down most diagnoses before going to a vet. I can also perform most tests & treatments. I can usually identify kittens who aren't going to make it and those who will have a chance with proper timely diagnosis and treatment. However, I am not a veterinary professional so I count on being able to rely on the actual professionals.
Do you have any suggestions for getting a veterinary professional to be our partner? Perhaps I'm not using the right approach.
In any event, there will be situations where we need to get emergency care for a kitten. At one emergency clinic I asked, it would cost about $8000 for testing, basic treatments & 24 hours of hospitalization. This is for a single kitten and that estimate doesn't even include any surgical procedures.
Is there somewhere that lists stats on the number of kittens in care who require emergency care? I take on the youngest kittens and kittens who require a higher level of care so my foster kittens are more likely to require a visit to ER. If I had to make an educated guess for 2024, I would say 2 out of a litter of 5 required emergency care. I do utilize incubators, oxygen units, nebulizers, subQ fluids, tube feeding etc . (I learned proper techniques from licensed vet professionals.)
(This will not necessarily be the primary focus of the new rescue.)
I could really use help coming up with the right budget. I never want an animal in our care to be euthanized because we weren't able to get them the care needed immediately.
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rosalie hathcock
Founder & President
Family Furst
GA
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-28-2025 09:49 AM
From: Sheila Segurson
Subject: How to budget for emergency vet care
Hi Rosalie,
Some thoughts for consideration... coming from someone who is a veterinarian who has treated these kittens in an emergency clinic, a foster caregiver who cared for bottle babies, and a leader of a foster based adoption program (that had a large number of bottle babies).
If at all possible, it's really important to have a veterinarian or vet tech who has lots of experience trying to save these kittens during emergent situations and therefore has a good idea of when in makes financial sense to invest in emergency care and when the prognosis is grave (which obviously doesn't mean there's no hope) and you really need to consider whether its worth it to invest your limited financial resources (assuming they're limited, cos they are for most of us!). It's not that their life doesn't matter, but if there's a less than 10% chance of survival and spending that money would allow you to help two other kittens with a much higher chance of survival... It's really tough...
When we ran our foster-based adoption program, we were lucky enough to have our own veterinarian and vet tech (our program focused on animals with medical and behavior needs). That REALLY kept costs down because we could identify problems in early stages and rarely had kittens need to go to emergency. You'll save a lot of money by training your volunteers and having a way for them to get help during non-emergency hours and at the first sign of a problem. While most orgs can't afford a veterinarian, it made financial sense for us and kept our overall veterinary costs down. Our mortality rate for kittens who we intaked under 8 weeks was only 6%, which is pretty good for this vulnerable population!
Sheila
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Sheila Segurson, DVM, DACVB
Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorist
Director of Shelter Solutions
Maddie's Fund
Pleasanton CA
9258608284
Original Message:
Sent: 02-28-2025 07:50 AM
From: rosalie hathcock
Subject: How to budget for emergency vet care
We are in the process of creating a new nonprofit animal rescue. Neonatal kittens are so fragile they can appear perfectly healthy and then start crashing. I want to make sure we have the funds to cover emergency vet services for every animal in our care. In my area, a single emergency visit requiring 24 hours of in hospital stay can easily be $8000!
How do you budget for potential emergency care?
How do you anticipate the number of animals who will require emergency care at some time prior to adoption? For example: you intake a litter of five one week old orphaned kittens. Do you plan your budget to include emergency vet care for all five or just for a percentage of the litter?
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rosalie hathcock
Board Member
Little Lives Animal Rescue
GA
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