Homeless Animal Rescue Team of Maine Inc (HART)

The HART Adoption Center & Shelter for Cats traditionally takes in strays and surrendered cats and kittens with special issues. Many times, these fur-babies require extensive, and expensive, medical care and might have been euthanized in different circumstances. We just can’t turn them away because, well … cats, they are our everything, our family. Animal lovers can’t imagine lives without their pets. Because of our beliefs that every cat deserves a fighting chance, we are experiencing some very high costs right now. HART receives no public funding and is mostly staffed by a committed group of volunteers. We are supported entirely by individual donors, foundations, and businesses.

Who is this?  Find out in a future update!

To help us continue this humane and valuable work, our “GoFundMeow” goal is $50,000. Any amount you can fit into your budget will help, even $10! HART has adopted out approximately 10,000 cats and kittens during our existence! We estimate that at least 5,000 homes have adopted their beloveds from us. If every one of the 5,000 homes, along with other animal lovers, donated just $10, we’d hit that goal! Only $10…that’s about 3 cups of coffee or 3 gallons of gas!

 

Below is a list of our expenses for 2021 directly related to the care of our cats (not including building or other operational expenses) through September:

 

All the felines that cross through our door become one of our family members, both in the love we share with them and in their medical care, as we get them ready to move on to their forever homes. To continue to provide the highest level of care, HART hired a full-time Medical Manager which is making a huge difference to our cats’ well-being. We have also brought a local veterinarian into the shelter, on a weekly basis, to perform routine wellness checks, diagnostic exams, tests and vaccinations on the ‘newbies’ and for our existing in-shelter and cats and kittens in foster care. To help us increase our level of care we are also going to purchase some additional equipment such as an autoclave and an infusion pump.

 

As a result of our in-shelter medical care, we are seeing savings of multiple thousands of dollars. Those of you with your own darlings are very familiar with the importance and expense of bloodwork and routine care. We are now able to do our own bloodwork, reflecting a savings of approximately $140 per test, plus exam costs. Blood pressure tests are also a very important component in diagnostics. With thanks to all who donated to our Facebook fundraiser, we are now also able to do this in-house, thus giving us another avenue of costs savings; but equally important, eliminating a huge stress factor of travel to a vet office. Other challenges that we have been able to overcome is shortening the response time for test results.

If you have a pet cat, dog, horse or other creature, you too know the expense of pet ownership. Those costs have increased significantly over the past year for everyone.  Whether they be veterinarians, hospitals, clinics, and rescue groups. The costs for vaccines, tests, dental and well-care appointments, medications…they’ve all gone up. Besides being in short supply, specialty foods have increased 10 to 30%! Exam gloves alone have quadrupled in cost since the pandemic, now $25 a box! HART is not immune to these costs and shortages. Because HART is doing more in-house, issues are being found quickly, meaning that we can follow appropriate treatment protocols immediately, helping ensure the best care, prognosis, and recovery. 

With so many families adopting pets during the pandemic, veterinarian appointments for our shelter and fostered cats and kittens can be harder to obtain, and test results can take longer to receive, delaying final diagnosis, development of the treatment plan, and putting the overall health of the cat at risk. This build-up of our in-house medical care services are a huge benefit, all around, for all our cats and kittens. We still rely on our wonderful local veterinary partners for spays and neuters, surgeries, and other specialized medical care. We could not operate without them! Although we are seeing significant savings in some areas, other areas are much more costly and unfortunately we have been experiencing an influx of cats and kittens that require expensive consultations, tests, procedures and medications. 

 

We wanted to share the tales of two unique kitties who, most recently, needed urgent, costly care.

THINK TINY!

Tater Tot is a very handsome, and very small, 6-month-old that came in almost dead one night. Thankfully, our medical manager and veterinarian were able to rush to the shelter. Tater Tot had very low blood glucose levels, couldn’t eat, needed 3 enemas, and an IV catheter. He also had to have 24-hour a day care for over 3 days to save him. Fortunately, after a great deal of love, attention, testing, and medical care this adorable black & white boy pulled through that crisis! After collaborating with several veterinarians it was determined that he has congenital dwarfism. He also is hypothyroid and has a megacolon due to that condition. He has small, slightly deformed legs and will never have adult teeth. Only less than .01% of cats have congenital dwarfism. The life expectancy for this adorable, sweet boy is unknown, but he is being fostered by a loving family and as soon as he is cleared by our medical staff for adoption, a wonderful home was found to adopt him into! Oh, that face!

 

NOW, THINK BIG!

Chase is a very large and long 10-year-old boy that was originally adopted from HART. Our belief is “once a HART cat, always a HART cat”. He has been diagnosed with acromegaly – do you remember the professional wrestler, Andre the Giant? Chase is a diabetic due to this disease, has quite poor vision, along with very high blood pressure. The handsome guy was surrendered because his treatments were too difficult in his home. When he arrived at HART, this all-gray boy was feeling so badly that, of course, he was quite difficult and would act out. After many costly tests, exams, consultations, and medications, he is definitely feeling better, although he moves slowly, cautiously, and very deliberately. HART’s goal is to ensure that he is loved, happy, and comfortable for as long as possible. He is such a beautiful, incredible kitty.

 

We don’t see that the shelter’s costs will decrease in the future. Very sadly, some animal organizations are even closing their doors for financial reasons. HART is being very conscientious by bringing lab work and vet checks in-house to reduce our expenses, and we are trying to stretch our dollars as far as we can without sacrificing the care our kitties deserve.

 

Many people think that if they can’t donate a large sum, it won’t matter to an organization. That isn’t true! EVERY dollar adds up. That is partly how HART has survived for so many years. Yes, we have some incredibly generous donors that have made a huge difference, but we also have many repeat donors giving small amounts. YOU can make a difference in the lives of shelter cats by contributing what you are able, even if it is $10. Thank you so very much for helping the HART cats & kittens get healthy and have the happy, long lives they deserve! We so appreciate your support of our “GoFundMeow” fundraiser to help us reach our goal of $50,000. Please also share our fundraiser with your family and friends to help support our fundraiser!