10/16/2026
What does it take to shelter a cat or dog?
As a pet owner you know the expense you have with your own....now multiply that by a couple hundred!
You can track your pets health if they are not feeling well....now imagine having 50 people living in your house and getting 50 different points of view on what they may see as symptoms. We have 2 shifts of cleaners each day with a minimum of 2 people on each shift ...they clean all the cat cages, change all the litter boxes, med the ones that need it and document any changes they see. We often get text messages or emails with pics of p**p (yup I just said that) and when we have an animal with a loose stool and all of a sudden get a pic of a nicely formed stool we let out this big hooray! Managing that part of the shelter world is a huge challenge!!
When you goto the vet, your vet pulls out your file and has your pets complete history right there. We have vet visits every Friday and 90% of the time we are tackling things very symptomatically because we have zero history. So when your vet asks you how long fido has been feeling like this, you can give them all the answers ...we on the other hand at times say....no clue we've had this animal in our care for an hour, so we tackle each thing as it comes.
Our cats all get feleuk fiv test, fvrcp and rabies vaccines, revolution, dewormer, micro chipped and spayed or neutered. Any cat that is older than 5 gets a complete blood profile. Imagine that cost times a couple hundred for the year! Does that $140 adoption fee cover that expense? NOPE it does not but we choose to do all this vetting because once we commit we commit!
Our dogs all get 4dx test (heartworm, lyme and 2 other tick born related tests), Rabies, distemper, Parvo and kennel cough vaccines, frontline, heartgard, spayed or neutered and microchip. Any dog over 5 gets a complete blood profile. Lyme is on the rise so we are often faced with treating many dogs. Each dog gets fitted with an easy walk harness, Martingale collar and a shelter dog tag. Imagine that cost times a hundred or so for the year! Does that $200 to $300 adoption fee cover that expense? NOPE it does not but we choose to do all this vetting because once we commit we commit!
So when we come up for air....it's a quick breather and then we are back at it for the next one!!!
We choose to do what we do because we love it! We know that our animals will soon be yours and being a part of that journey is a gift that we treasure!
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS AND ADOPTERS FOR ALWAYS BEING THERE FOR OUR ANIMALS IN NEED....WE COULDN'T DO WHAT WE LOVE TO DO WITHOUT YOU!!!!
