Anita’s Animals

Anita’s Animals

By Jackie Kellum

 

You have found or rescued a cat/dog. After your initial action, then the problem arises, what do you do with  this animal? If you think of Anita’s Animals to help you with your problem, you have now transferred ownership of your problem to another person – which is fine. But, the question now is: what help are your going to provide to the person who will now  care for this animal? Sadly, more than half of those who bring Anita an animal, although financially capable, do not give a donation towards the care of their cat/dog.  By this lack of thoughtfulness,  respect  and consideration, that person has now added a further burden to an already stretched care budget. 

In terms of human health care costs, expenses fall into two distinct categories. This cost system very easily applies to an animal rescue sanctuary. The first category called “Direct Care” relates to those costs that directly “touch” the cats and dogs. Direct care costs are greatly affected by population. The most obvious cost item would be pet food, with costs influenced by  the volume/ type  of animals In the hierarchy of costs, wet and dry  cat food  being the most costly, followed by kitten/puppy food and then dry dog food.   

Followed by Vet. bills – treatment, medications,  follow-up care,  and flea-tick control medications – all of which are affected by the animal’s age and in-coming health status. The  majority  of  in-coming animals arrive with no vaccination history, which requires a vaccination regime to be started, costing  200 pesos per animal. In this grouping  also  is  paid  staff  who feed twice a day, help transport animals to Vet.  appointments, do grooming, etc. and  have to be paid per Mexican labor laws,  including  paid sick time, vacations and  holiday time. Anita is not a paid employee – she gets no salary.

The  second  expense category  is indirect Care. These items and services support the daily functions of the sanctuary where the animal resides until it gets adopted. These costs are generally unchanged, and have to be paid regardless of  pet population volume. In order to transport animals  to the Vet., pick up pet food, and etc, a vehicle is required. This creates  bills for car registration, insurance, repairs/maintenance and gas. Services such  as water delivery [not on city water], Telmex, CFE  and garbage pickup  are needed for the sanctuary to function. To maintain sanitary conditions, supplies need to be purchased and utilized. The facility keeps an on-going maintenance system which includes repair materials. Paid  staff  who do the facility care work are also in this category.   

The question arises  – what is the cost to care for a cat or dog that resides at Anita’s rescue sanctuary? Lots of cost factors  were gathered, looking at an average number of animals on a given day [ not during a high  kitten/puppy season ];  lots  of number crunching was done.  The end answer came out to be:  21.4 pesos,  per day,  per animal.

On the face of it, that does not seem like a whole lot of money.  But at last count,  two weeks ago ,   Anita had  85 adult dogs, 27 puppies, 59 adult cats and 39 kittens.  Do the  math. 21.4 pesos   times  210 animals / day .

A thought to consider – what would this community do without Anita  for  just one  day? For  a  week?  Consider “sponsoring” an animal for  a week. Please, make a donation  of  cash or   pet  food – it would be greatly appreciated, and it will help ease  the budget. www.anitasanimals.com/-   with  Pay Pal function.