MACS Friends Animal Rescue, Inc.: Emergency Medical Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

We received this grant to help cover the costs of an emergency surgery for our coonhound May.

It was thought that May had mammary cancer. The costs of this surgery, even with donations, depleted the rescue's funds. We applied for this grant hoping to be able to cover that cost, or at least part of it, because we had many other animals scheduled for vet care the same week.

As a rescue, we do not believe in holding a balance at our vet and we pay for all visits at the time of care. This grant was a blessing not only to the people of MACS Friends, but to our animals.

May is cancer-free, thankfully! With the support from this grant, we were able to recover most of the costs for May, allowing us to continue with our vetting for other animals.

How many pets did this grant help?

1

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

May is a 3-year-old redbone coonhound. She was saved from a life lived on a chain and being overbred.

When May joined the MACS Friends family, she was in dire shape. Weighing in at 26 lbs., she was covered in fleas and had feces and pinecones stuck to her. We did not know for sure, but suspected at the time that she would have heartworms.

On her road to recovery, May received vetting, and we learned that she had been overbred from the time she was a puppy; she was also full of heartworms and very malnourished.

Our rescue started getting her body healthy straightaway so she could undergo heartworm treatment. In two months, May started that treatment. She did not have the best time and it was very painful for her.

After four months of treatment, we couldn’t bear to wait, so we had her tested to see if it had worked, but the test still showed positive. Devastated, we listened to our vet and waited another three months to get her tested again. This time she was negative! May was spayed two weeks after her negative test and put up for adoption.

Today, July 8, 2023, May found her forever home! We could not be more thrilled that this special girl is finally in a home where she will be loved by a family and have a coonhound older brother to play with on her five-acre farm. Miracles happen and we are so thankful!