A local nonprofit pet rescue group from SaddleBrooke is readying its annual fundraiser to aid other rescue groups in helping pay off their veterinary bills.
SaddleBrooke Pet Rescue Network will kick off its Payoff Debt Vet campaign July 12. The event aims to help other rescue groups in the Tucson-area with their ever-growing veterinary bills.
“With the really huge debt that some of these rescue groups carry, they all for the most part are volunteers — these people have full-time jobs and families,” said network director Leslie Rocco. “They are vetting dogs, going to adoption events. They do not have time to fundraise.”
Now in its third year, the event has raised more than $52,000 combined in its first two years, translating to 2,650 pets saved, Rocco said. This year’s goal is to raise $45,000 to be split equally between 15 local rescues.
While the goal is lofty, the group has help. Local animal rights and social justice activist Bonnie Kay has pledged to donate $15,000 of her money to match the $15,000 raised in SaddleBrooke. “I’ve never done any match where the group didn’t make it,” Kay said.
Then there is the additional $15,000 the network hopes to raise throughout Pima County during the campaign. That potential for a 2-to-1 match for any donation is a game-changer, according to Rocco.
The money will go directly toward the various groups’ vet accounts, Rocco said. She noted participating groups in the fundraiser must meet certain criteria, like having $10,000 or more in veterinary debt and operate as a nonprofit.
For rescues like Lil’ Bit of Love, the $10,000 in veterinary debt is no problem. “For us, typically, we’re running anywhere from $60,000 up to, well one year, we did $110,000,” in veterinary care debt, said Lil’ Bit of Love director Nichole Linnen.
While most pets require only mandatory shots and spay or neuter operations, pets in the care of Lil’ Bit of Love and other rescue groups can require more extensive — or lifelong — care. That can be expensive, especially when fostering nearly 1,000 pets a year.
“Last year we did 893 animals, this year we are at about 490, and we’re barely through half the year,” Linneen said, adding that the rescue adopts out about that many animals a year.
On a warm summer Saturday morning at an Oro Valley PetSmart, Linneen and her team of cheery volunteer’s readied crates filled with pets up for adoption: cats and dogs looking for a forever home.
On this Saturday, more than 30 dogs and cats Lil’ Bit of Love fosters were on display, with placards including their names, stories and any special needs resting atop the kennels. Although not all the dogs have special needs, each has been spayed or neutered, said Linneen.
That’s why events like Payoff Vet Debt are so important, Linneen said. She estimated that on average, it costs about $100 for shots and spay or neuter operations when the rescue group initially takes a pet in, and that’s for healthy pets.
The population of pets Lil’ Bit of Love serves can be much more expensive, Linneen said. In addition, all pets are fostered at volunteers’ houses before they are adopted by the public.
“They are all in individual foster homes, so they are never in a shelter; they are all in private homes,” Linneen said. “We know if they are house-trained, if they get along with kids, if they get along with cats and other dogs.”
It’s the same model followed by Rehabbing and Advocating for Dogs Rescue, better known as RAD Rescue. Like Lil’ Bit of Love, RAD also focuses on adopting dogs with special needs — as well as senior dogs.
For RAD co-founder Jenifer Radcliffe, the Payoff Debt Vet campaign helps in raising awareness of what rescue groups go through, even after the initial financial investment of fostering a pet.
“It’s huge,” Radcliffe said before telling the story of another local rescue group that lost a dog after it licked a poisonous toad.
“Stuff like that happens, and you can fundraise for it,” Radcliffe said. “So when SaddleBrooke comes in and does something like this and pays off what we potentially owe — last year when they did it, they raised so much we got a credit balance with one of our vets.”
That helps pets like Sweet Pea, a rescue dog RAD is currently fostering. A boxer mix between 4 and 5 years old, Sweet Pea was found on the street emaciated, according to Radcliffe.
After receiving care at Pima County Animal Care Center, volunteers discovered Sweet Pea was diabetic and blind. When she didn’t respond to insulin shots at PACC, RAD began to foster Sweet Pea. That’s when Sweet Pea’s health started to improve markedly, Radcliffe said.
“As soon as we got her in a foster home, she started responding great to the insulin,” she said. “Almost to the point we thought we could take her off of (insulin), but the vet was like ‘Yeah, she is going be on it for the rest of her life.’”
A story like Sweet Pea’s might not be possible without an event like Payoff Debt Vet said Radcliffe. It allows non-profit rescues to help dogs that might otherwise be deemed “un-adoptable.”
“Especially for RAD, it gives those seniors a chance,” Radcliffe said. “We do have a lot of seniors and people say ‘Oh they are old, they are going to die soon.’ Not necessarily, and what better way to go than to be in a loving home where you get spoiled rotten for six-months to a year?”
