Helping Pets Fund closes
July 19, 2012
By: Edie Lau
For The VIN News Service
The Helping Pets Fund, a source of aid for strapped pet owners needing veterinary care for their animal companions, has closed.
The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), which founded the fund seven years ago, pointed to economic hard times as the cause.
?The current economic climate has made it difficult for many non-profits, and closing the fund was a difficult and painful decision for the (AAHA) Foundation Board of Trustees,? AAHA spokeswoman Kate Spencer said by e-mail.
Spencer said she was unable to provide details on the nature of the decline in donations, but noted that the fund awarded a total of more than $1 million in assistance to more than 4,000 pets with medical needs. ?Some examples from this year alone included helping with the cost of exploratory surgery for a dog in Ohio, helping pay for medication for a service dog in Alaska who was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and providing grant funds for a schnauzer in Texas who had severe infections in both ears,? she said.
The fund provided assistance to owners for urgent, non-elective care. Mostly dogs and cats were recipients of the care, plus a ?smattering? of exotic pets, according to an interview posted on YouTube with Dr. Kate Crumley, chair of the AAHA Foundation, the charitable arm of AAHA, which managed the fund...
