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Our team captured this precious elusive girl back on October 15, 2022.  She was in rough shape but we got her all of the veterinary care she needed, helped her gain weight, and now she is healthy, happy, and ready for her forever home or a new foster home.    Read more of her story.  

One-Time Donation

Recurring Donation

We are often asked, “Why does it cost “up to” $300 to adopt a rescue animal?” and “Where does the money go that I donate?”  Because we operate translucently, we thought we might share a little bit about how your money is used in this great cause.  We believe that most people would like to get involved in helping save these precious animals, however don’t have the time to volunteer but they would donate a little here and there if they knew more about how their hard earned dollar was used.    Mutts & Mayhem Animal Rescue is a non-profit corporation dedicated to saving the lives of homeless, unwanted, neglected and abused dogs and cats.  In order to fulfill this mission and meet the day to day financial obligations of caring for the animals we rescue, we depend on and operate solely with the funds from our adoption fees and monetary donations from individuals like you.  At the present time, we can accommodate approximately 30 animals at a time and sometimes more as we gain more Foster families. As we continue to grow and inch closer to solving the homeless animal epidemic, so do our expenses in caring for the animals.  First, let’s identify those financial obligations.   On average, our veterinarian and medical bills can run as high as $2000 - 3,000 per month. This includes giving each animal that comes through our door a thorough exam, any required treatment or medication and all state-required vaccinations. And because about 95% of the animals we rescue have not been spayed or neutered so we take care of that too.  Spaying and Neutering involves anesthesia, medication, and antibiotics. We also microchip our Rescue Animals so that they will forever have an identity and a better chance of finding their way home should they accidentally stray.  This cost also includes providing all of our animals with monthly heartworm and flea/tick preventative medication.    Sometimes animals come to us needing more advanced medical care or surgical treatment, which requires a plea for special donations.  This can often be hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars for one animal.  90% of stray dogs will be diagnosed with heartworms because they have not been receiving monthly heartworm preventative.  Depending on how advanced the heartworms are, the average cost for this treatment is $800.00 over the course of several months.    Coming in around $1,500 per month, our second highest expense is food and cat litter. One way we contain these expenses is by collaborating to find opportunities for quantity discounts and special offers. For example, sometimes distributors will give away food and litter – outdated for retail but still very usable, safe and delicious – we jump at each and every chance to find quality nutrition for our animals but at the best discounts possible.  It is very rare that we would ever pay retail prices.    Coming in third are shelter type expenses that keep us running, like cleaning supplies, maintenance, utilities, etc.  We make every effort to provide an exceptionally clean shelter at Mutts & Mayhem.  In order to keep our animals safe and healthy we have to purchase items like laundry detergent, surgical cleaning solution, gloves, paper towels, etc. However, we also try and supplement those expenses by maintaining our “Wish List” where those items may be donated to us by individuals and corporate sponsors.      Mutts & Mayhem has a very low administration to operations cost and we work hard to keep it that way. Our entire operation is made up solely of volunteers including our Board of Directors, President, Vice-President, our Chief Financial Officer, our Foster families and our wonderful Rescue Team of Volunteers.   So where does the money come from?  There are a few different sources and one of them are the Adoption Fees we collect.  Our adoption fees vary in price and are determined on an individual animal basis ranging from $25.00 to $300.00.  We take into consideration many different aspects when determining this fee.  We consider the animals’ previous medical expenses, length of time in our care, adoptability factors, future needs, etc.   Although the adoption fees collected are used in the same way donation funds are used, they only cover approximately 10% of our operational costs.  The reason for this is because our expenses per animal far outweigh the money we could ever collect in adoption fees.  The next source and our most impactful resource are monetary donations from individuals such as yourself.  Even a $5.00 donation will make an impact in saving a life.  It’s amazing to think about, but if each and every person in America were to donate one dollar, we would be able to save an astronomical number of homeless animals and perhaps make a larger dent in Spaying and Neutering the animals who continue to multiply.  Pennies turn into dollars quicker than most of us remember because coins are mostly an afterthought in our era of “plastic”.  Pennies are the little things we dream about each night at Mutts & Mayhem!  We just need so many of them!  We are currently in the process of implementing a Corporate Sponsorship program which will allow for employees of participating companies to donate money and their company will match their contribution dollar for dollar.  We also have a Bequest Program where you may donate past your lifetime by making a planned gift through your will or estate plan.  Most people tend to think this is a complicated process requiring an attorney, but actually you can write it yourself, sign it and have it witnessed by two other persons.  It’s that simple.   With careful planning, fiscal responsibility, the dedication of our staff, board members and Volunteers, and most of all the generous, on-going donations we receive from you, our supporters, we will continue saving the lives of these innocent animals!  Thank you for your generous support!