When we brought Jake into our system we realized that although we have policies in place for decisions made about catastrophic illness or injury, we really didn't have a plan for stuff that was over the norm, but not really over $1000. We spend on average close to $300 a dog to get it ready for adoption, so our $200 adoption fee makes a substantial dent but certainly doesn't recoup our costs.
As happens when you are dealing with dogs that come from all situations, you run into odd things or things that really should be taken a look at. We had a limping dog who we suspected had an old injury that had healed bad. He got around fine and the leg didn't bother him, but we really felt we needed to know what happened and if maybe we could make it better for him. So we did some X-rays. We had another dog who needed a couple of tumors removed which of course got sent out for biopsy. We've had dogs who really needed dental work, or additional blood work (our "epileptic" Ruby for example).
Basically these were all tests or procedures that would better diagnose an illness or give us a clearer picture of what happened or were a little above and beyond our normal expenditures.
Jake really showed us how much we needed a separate fund we could donations for to cover such "sundries". His hacking cough demanded further testing to really get to the bottom of it. Between X-rays and vet exams and then finally a bronchoscopy and cytology his vet bills crept up to and then tipped slightly over the $1000 mark. Luckily we had most of the money available and many wonderful people made donations for the cause.
You can't run a rescue on "emergency funding", so we have decided to start Jake's Fund. Donations made to this fund go into our savings account at B.O.N.D. Federal Credit Union. The funds are not touched for our normal day to day expenses of spays/neuters, vaccinations, etc.
Donations can be made via PayPal or with a check. You can make checks payable to :
Atlanta Beagle Rescue, Inc.
1619 Jobeth Avenue SE
Atlanta, GA 30316
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