Day to Day Operations: Food, Shelter, and Vet Care
Being a 100% No KILL shelter, this means that all animals that come into our rescue stay with us (foster or actual shelter) until they are adopted. This means we pay for their food, care, and medicine every day. Along with the actual care and feeding of the animals, there are also normal costs that most people don’t think about for a small rescue:
- Cleaning Supplies
- Telephone – Land Line and Cell Phone
- Transportation – Gas Costs
- Utilities – Power, Water, and Gas
Of course this all adds up, and without corporate support, small rescues like Lone Pine rely solely on donations from the general public in order to keep operating.
Sometimes we get asked what about grants for the 501c3 companies? Yes, we go after every grant we can, but what most people don’t understand is only 1 grant out of 500 will help pay for operating costs. And out of 500 grant applications, we may get 1 grant award.
Some weeks our volunteers and shelter director just pick things up as they can with their own money. It’s not easy, but it’s not about getting “paid back”, it’s about taking care of the animals that are in our rescue.
We also use our General Fund for routine medical visits, as well as parasite control medications. On any average day, we have 20 dogs, and at least 20 cats. Medicating for fleas and ticks with these kind of numbers adds up roughly to about $10 per animal, per month. With the normal medications, plus the average 4-5 routine medical visits, our vet costs can average around $1000 per month. We do have very good relationships with the vets in our area, and we get discounted services and products, but the cost is still very real.
Please consider either a donation using the button below, or you can drop by our rescue and visit with us in person. If you would like to make a donation in person, please use our Contact Us form and let us know that you are coming and when.
If you do decide to make a donation online, please remember to mark your donation in the notes as “General Fund”, and it will be used for our routine animal care and shelter operating costs.