Need some help on something

[Betsy]

Me and my fience has been talking and we both have decided that we want to start an animal rescue!!

But I was wondering how do we start?

Also the animals in our rescue will NEVER BE TURNED AWAY AND LOVED AND THEY WILL BE WANTED THERE!!!!

We LOVE animals!!!!

And they will NEVER BE PUT TO SLEEP!!!!

If anyone can help us with information on how to start, we will be appreciated!!!

Thank You all!!

 

[Jill]

I can understand wanting to do such a thing. A lot of us can, I'm sure. I'd say the place to start would be with a lot of money. It takes a lot of money to keep animals healthy and to have room for them all.

You could also gain valuable experience and insight by volunteering to help an existing rescue operation

 

[Steph_D]

I can understand where you're coming from. I was there, too, many years ago. My husband was behind me 100% and even brought some home. We had some of everything. At one time, we had 14 dogs. We couldn't take a vacation (couldn't afford one) or even stay overnight somewhere because no one would feed all of these animals. We were going through about 100 pounds of dog food a week. That's not counting the horse food, cow food, goat food, and cat food. There's no animal shelters here to even help and when people found out that we'd take the animals, they came in droves. I nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to figure out how to feed the animals and the family.

Now I have 2 dogs, 4 cats, 2 horses, 4 hamsters (soon to be 2), and my fish. I can afford to feed my dogs the "good stuff" and go through a 40 pound bag of food once a month. It's so much cheaper and easier to manage. Not counting vet bills and shots, my feed bills were outrageous. Spaying and neutering cost about $100 each here.

Please, don't be angry. I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm just letting you know what happened to us so you can be realistic and not make the mistakes that we made. I've had to learn to look away because I can't save them all. I have to take care of my own first. Good luck to you and your fiance in whatever you decide to do.

 

[stormy]

You might try starting as a personal rescue. It is not cheap but as you said it is very rewarding. I have been privelaged to take in 10 horses in the last 12 months, 3 I have found homes for, three have serious health issues that would require a very knowledgable home (and have cost lot's of $$$ to get stable and pain free), 1 is very old and will stay here for the rest of his days, 1 has proven to be more than I can handle since gaining back her weight and will go back to the rescue she came from, the others await the right person! I only take an animal when I know I have the means to support it. I have had to turn many down unfortunately.

Try saving a life one at a time, do not go beyond what you can afford and still have something set aside for an emergency. See if you can handle the heart break of losing some, euthanizing some that have gone too far down to come back, than if you can take the emotional stress find out what it takes to become a non-profit animal rescue.

 

[Sonya]

I would start like Stormy said...being a foster for an organization...first one that comes to my mind is of course Chances here on LB, then SAFE (save animals from euthanisia)...that's where I got the guy in my avatar. You could be a foster Mom to a dog like mine until someone adopts him. Good luck, it's great you and your fiance want to help!

 

[txminipinto]

As a Registered Veterinary Technician for over 10 years, I understand where you are coming from. But like others have said, it's not all that it's cracked up to be. First and foremost, some animals have to be euthanized. It's just a fact of life and it's not right to keep them alive for our own selfish reasons if they'd be better off at the rainbow bridge. I've seen a lot of animals needlessly suffer at the hands of their well meaning caretakers.

2nd, running a rescue is a 24/7 hand to mouth type of job. It's not fun. It's not glamourous. And it can get out of control very quickly. What animals REALLY need is for people to help already established rescues by donating time, money, supplies, food, and shelter. I would recommend that you foster a few animals at first through an established rescue. Learn the ropes.

3rd, you will have to check with your zoning laws as many communities heavily restrict these types of establishments. It's an effort to define and regulate what is a honest rescue verses the "collector" who thinks they're a rescue.

4th, what is your education in regards to veterinary medicine? To run a rescue also means to be very knowledgeable in many of the diseases that rescue animals present with. One parvo or distemper puppy will wipe out a kennel. And that brings into what facilities do you have? You can't keep them all in transport crates. You need large kennels with runs. A seperate cat ward. An isolation ward. And you need to learn correct animal husbandry skills to prevent the spread of disease as well.

5th, who is going to help you and what kind of insurance do you have? Animal bites are serious, especially in "rescues" with unknown history. Can you afford to pay for someone's rabies treatment? Have you been vaccinated against rabies? If you've never been bitten, you will eventually in this business. An animal bite can have serious physical as well as mental consequences.

 

[Reijel's Mom]

Hi Betsey,

Good for you for wanting to make a difference in the lives of animals! You've been given some fantastic advice so far. I volunteer many hours a week for Safe Haven of Iowa County (www.wesavepets.com), a rescue started just a couple of years ago by a woman in our community who saw that their was a serious need for the animals in our community. It takes a huge amount of time, money, and volunteers to make a rescue successful. Some people that go into rescue with good intentions become hoarders, and that is scary and sad!

I personally could not do rescue work "on my own". I do not have the money to provide proper vet care for several more animals in my life. As an example, last month, Safe Haven ended up having to pay for 2 dogs to get legs amputated. When we got these dogs in, we really didn't think they were going to need such sad and expensive surgery. But they did. One of them would have died a horrible death without the surgery, and the other would have lived with chronic pain for the rest of his life if we didn't do the surgery. I could never have afforded 2 amputation surgeries in one month, and it's a stretch even for our rescue, which gets discounted vet services and has many supporters.

If you don't think you could afford things like that, PLEASE don't even consider trying to "start" a rescue. Look around your area for existing rescues and become one of their committed volunteers, I'm sure they need you, and you will learn a LOT.

THEN, if after a couple of years, you think you have what it takes to start your own rescue, go for it!

Keep us posted!

 

[mininik]

There are already (AT LEAST) 151 animal welfare organizations in Alabama:

http://www.petfinder.com/awo/index.cgi?act...y=&keyword=

Even those not in your city may be willing to place a foster animal with you.

 

[Marty]

Betsy, you are very sweet and I think the humane society would love to have you volunteer in your town.

My boys had their own little cat rescue up here when they were still little kids. They kept picking up strays found along the forest roads and a lot of people were dumping their cats off here on purpose and they all seemed to be sick and always pregnant! We kept them in my hay shed because I am so allergic to cats. A lot of them would be so very sick and we were always having to get medicine and go back and forth to the vet. $$$$$ One year, we had 5 pregnant cats all give birth to a bunch of kittens right about the same time giving us well over 20 cats plus the ones we already had. That's way too many cats for me to feed and worm etc. and vet and the boys wanted to keep every single one. Bringing all these sick cats to the vet was costing us a fortune. $$$$$ Good thing I had two jobs at the time.

We did manage to get a bunch of them spayed and neutered when the low cost spay and neuter mobile clinic finally showed up in town. Wasn't easy, actually it was a disaster, but we did it, but it still added up to be a lot of money. $$$$$The local vets and some teachers at school worked with the boys to help them get them adopted but there were never a lot of takers and we had to keep a lot of them. People just do not want animals and you could end up having to keep whatever you take in and they always need a lot of vet medication, not just food. I still have some of the original cats that the boys rescued first when they were little who still guard my hay shed. They are getting pretty old but they are still here and are very healthy thank heavens.

In 2006 another cat showed up and had 5 kittens and the mother disappeared that next day. We think she got killed because she never came back to take care of her babies who were very weak and dying. Michael took the kittens to the vet in an easter basket and got medicine and formula and stayed up around the clock for days and nights trying to get them to feed but they kept dying. It cost him over a hundred dollars at the vets just to try to save them. One was left who only weighed a few ounces if you can believe that..... she was a fighter and his little baby who he loved and knew would make it. She did live. Michael did save her and it was going good. But when he died, she suddenly died too that very next day too.

 

[Wee Mite Miniatures]

Do NOT start one, instead work at one.

Find one near you, they all need help. The more volunteers they get the more animals they can help. This way you will not need to come up with money up front. You will learn a lot. You will be helping animals.

This will give you the experience you need to start your own shelter, after giving you time to experience that hard work that goes into animal rescue.

Do some research to find one that is run properly.

Good luck.

 

[Reijel's Mom]

Also the animals in our rescue will NEVER BE TURNED AWAY AND LOVED AND THEY WILL BE WANTED THERE!!!!

Betsy, I also wanted to add - if you do start volunteering somewhere first before starting a rescue - please don't think negatively of them if they do have to turn some animals away and if they do have to put some to sleep. The rescue I volunteer with has to turn away many pets in need, as we are only able to handle strays within our own county. If we took in animals from other places, it may well mean the next time a stray needed our help wtihin own county, we wouldn't be able to help. We HAVE to take care of the ones already in our care first. We've also had to make the sad choice to euthanize on a few occasions, usually due to health issues where it would just not be fair to the animal to keep it alive, or on 3 separate occasions we have had to euthanize dogs with behavioral issues. It was incredibly hard for us to make the decision each time, but in the long run, it was not safe to adopt these dogs to the public, it was not safe for our volunteers to work with the dogs, and it would have been unfair to the dogs to live the very isolated lives they would have had to have lived if we'd opted not to euthanize.

 

[Betsy]

Me and My nephew volunteer at the Humane Shelter in Alabama.