As a new CVT / RVT one of the things that really surprised me was the number of treatable trauma or acute disease cases that I've seen end in euthanasia due to the owners not having the money for treatment. While it is easy to get angry at the owner I think it's a bit more complicated than that. Most of the time we have no idea what our clients' histories are. Who knows if they lost their job 6 months ago, got divorced, or maybe even lost a spouse which left them in the situation of having a pet without enough money for advanced treatments. I mean, on our salaries, many of us should be able to relate, right? And those with parents, friends, or relatives willing to loan or give money in emergencies should count themselves lucky. Without them or our spouses who's income we depend on, I think all of us could easily find ourselves in their shoes.
So, what to do about it? Our clinic offers CARE credit, but many clients are declined. We also have a donor who's willing to pay for select animals and we do our best to work with any others as far as discounts, or payment plans are concerned. For the rest, the only answer is often euthanasia and after seeing several in the span of 3 weeks I decided to do some digging. I wondered if there was a charity out there to help pay for veterinary medical bills or how difficult it might be to create one. Turns out there is at least one out there called Red Rover.
I don't know much about them yet and can't fathom how I'd find the time to create a charity of my own, but I'm still researching and mulling options in my head. Ideally we'd save them all, but with my background in shelter medicine I completely understand that this is not possible. Still, it's important to try.
