Rescue Journal

nixing the permanent foster program.

Carol  ·  Jan. 12, 2012

up at 530 cuz daph, (still sound asleep)...peed on me.
thx so much babe.

oh well..i have a lot of shit i need to get done today if i want to be able to take off at least one day(tomorrow) in this set of holidays. it will be dicey in any case..staff sick calls...animal sick calls..sure as shit someone will be sick and screw up either tomorrow or today. anyway..it is worth a shot..maybe it will work out for a change.

i think i will be glad to get back to work this time around...a least my paid job is somewhat predictable and it is not my job to solve every freaking problem. not that this changes much when i go back to work..but at least i have something else to use my head for then just things going sideways around here.

i do wish some of these dogs would find a great home...jelly, tess, bear,may, trudi, marie, mini me, nicky, bambi 1 and 2, tina, ed...all may be old and bit worn around the edges but they are still adoptable.


which reminds me...we are ditching the permanent foster program. we will grandfather the foster animals already out and continue to provide for their medical care but we won't be sending out any more. in theory the program sounds great..the animals get a good home and we cover any expensive medical care that sometimes follow senior animals, making them less of financial risk.

but the same reoccurring issue comes up year after year.. the real and potential risk of foster homes nickle and diming us to death over even the least costly things. with more than 20 fosters out there and things being charged to us from nail trims to cleaning dirty ears..accumulated from everyone, it adds up to hundreds of dollars each month instead of just one animal costing 20 or 50 bucks one or two times a year.
the program was supposed to be so families did not get financially overburdened with huge vet bills because of a serious underlying medical condition..it wasn't so folks could have a free pet to whip in and out of the vet for nail trims or simple and cheap to treat occasional non-chronic ear or eye infections. if they have chronic long term eye or ear issues..like maybe, like fergus..fine cuz that type of chronic condition adds up to a lot in vet bills over time and they need daily meds and frequent vet care for the rest of their lives. but most animals don't have those chronic long term issues...just like you and me, they sometimes just get an occasional sore ear or eye. and many times it is because of poor hygiene not because of an underlying medical disease.

the program doesn't work for one very simple reason..foster homes think their particular animal is the only saints animal that specificlly needs something because that is the only animal they are currently caring for. but in reality...between the sanctuary and foster animals..there are more than 160 animals who need things paid for and the little stuff adds up big time when accumulated from all directions.
i would love to be able to take all of the shelter animals into the vets for nail trims when they need them instead of trying to grab our over worked volunteer vet techs to trim the most urgent of them when they are volunteering here...but that doesn't happen simply because we can't afford this here.

anyway..the program doesn't work..too expensive and far to open to innocently and unintentionally taking advantage of too good of a free vet thing so we won't be sending out any more animals into permanent foster care except in rare cases..like with board members or very senior volunteer and well proven, saints resource responsible foster homes.

we just cannot afford to be the happy go lucky vet fairy and cover every single little thing. sadly, the reality is if the animals stay here we can clean their ears, and trim their nails for free.

Comments

Brenda

Yeah, I'm ok Lynne. My lower back is still a bit sore, but it's ok. I won't be in this Sunday tho, due to one of my dogs having surgery, so see you next weekend. I heard there's SNOW in the forecast for Sunday too!! I hope not too much.

lynne

hope you are feeling better caylee, you did not look too good on sunday. take care of yourself. and brenda are you okay from your nasty fall on sun. your body took quite a beating. let us know.

Carol

not to worry caylee..i will call the clinic for her starting dose tomorrow (i have some here) and will pick up her script to fill on monday when i go back to work.

Caylee

Carol, thought you should know I won't be able to come in this weekend but if you haven't already picked up the script for those meds I can drop them off at some point, it just won't be during volunteer hours. Very sorry I can't come in to help out.

Ian and Mary

Sugar is one very lucky pet to have Zoe and Saints caring so much for an elderly, diabetic animal.

Cheryl

to the Saints Foster Parents:
I was very disappointed to read Carol's Blog message announcing the cancellation of the foster program & the reason why it has become necessary. I am more disappointed in the foster parents who knowingly contributed to the demise of this program.
When I fostered my "daughter" it was with the full undertanding that all expenses were for my account. that included food, water, housing & clothing if necessary for the animal's well being. It included trips to the beauty salon for baths, haircuts, nail trims, ear cleaning and all the wonderful things that good wonderful groomers do for our pets. It also included trips to the vet for routine maintenance of the animal.
I don't think that Carol explained it any differently to me than to any other prospective foster parent.
I looked upon these expenses as the reason I volunteered in the first place, freeing money for ?Carol to help other animals in need of assiatance. I have been repaid many,many times over with the love and devotion of my little girl. It is all part of the responsibility I undertook when agreeing to foster the animal. She is mine, and will be looked after exactly the same as my other animals & is one of the housejold. I would not trade her for the world.
I look upon the back up of SAINTS as a form of pet insurance. The premiums I pay for this insurance is the expense of the daily care I take of my girl,which is no more than the expenses incurred for the other members of the tribe who call my house their home and who lovingly share my life. If and when she ages to the point that medical expenses get too high for a fixed income household (she is currently 15 years old) then I can call on SAINTS to provide backup to help me through, to make sure she can continue to be looked after as long as her quality of life is good.
In short, when I fostered my girl, I knew I assuming full responsibility for her total welfare, not just providing a place for her to sleep. If you did not understand this, it would probably have been better not to volunteer at all as the expenses for regular maintenance cut very deeply into the overall purse Carol has available to assist other animals in need.
Because of your abuse of the safety net provided by SAINTS, you are depriving other animals of a loving home, whether with Carol or a foster situation. On a selfish note, you are depriving me of enjoying another foster child when the time comes for my little girl to cross the Rainbow Bridge.
To all the other foster parents who have understood the agreement & abided by it - bless you.

Zoe

Nail trims??? Ear cleaning?? Are you serious???
If you can't shell out the 10 bucks then buy some clippers and some ear solution and do it yourself.
I would fully adopt Sugar tomorrow but the reason I felt more comfortable with the foster program was so that I would have security for any big, expensive surgeries. Any vet visit that is $100 or so, I pay for. When she was sick on Christmas Eve, we took her to emergency and it was a few hundred bucks, but we didn't want her to feel like shit over Xmas. I groom her, clean her ears and trim her nails. I get her food and blankets and toys. Her insulin is expensive, but I buy every 2nd bottle of that and all her needles. Very basic necessities of pet ownership.

I'm by NO means rich but I love her as my own and should definitely share the financial responsibility. Not fair to reap all the joy and happiness that a SAINTS animal brings you and leave the less desirable things (like general costs of having a pet) to SAINTS.

That's just too bad. Like you said, taking advantage of a "free" pet

Ian and Mary

Speaking of nail trimming, we found a new vet (our previous vet retired) who did free nail trimming for little Lola (long overdue)during her visit last week. Yay for Brookswood Veterinary Hospital! They also put on an evening seminar a while back for owners of geriatric pets (with us it should have been pets of geriatric owners, haha!

Chris T

I completely agree with this decision. We fostered 4 SAINTS in the past and after they had been with us for a while we adopted them. I always wondered why there was a permanent foster program. If you welcome an animal into your home as a foster after a reasonable amount of time the animal should be yours. Even before we adopted some animals we paid for some vet visits. If/when we were to foster another SAINT we would do the same thing.

jamie bryk

Heart broken to hear, we foster with another rescue facility where we have to have authorization before we go to one of the approved vets. We take care of nail, eyes, ears, day to day expenses, & always have the support/suggestions of other facility workers for everyday issues that may arise. We only go to vet for scheduled visits eg. dental, or emergencies. There are responsible foster homes with love to give!

Bunny Horne

Carol, I was thinking of applying WHITE Vinyl letters (2") on my vehicle saying
1000SAINTS.CA
I drive all over Vancouver in high traffic areas - thought it might help advertise the 1000 Saints program.

Do you have a problem with me doing that?

Janet

Sad to not be able to house your animals in foster homes- I am a volunteer for a Rescue - and the rules clearly state we must get authorization before we take a dog to the vet - unless it is an emergency - and even then, we are expected to call one of the directors and let them know. Oh and nail clipping is not considered "a necessity" - I chase down my dogs and get them in a death grip and manage to cut one or two nails before the critters get loose - but I am always waiting for the next chance to get them!

lynne

that is a big problem with fostering. and it is even more costly because it frees up a space in your home which brings in another dog or animal, hence more money. it sounds really nice in theory, but you are getting nickel and dimed to death. too bad i am sure these foster families really could afford to have their animals nails cllipped and the occasional grooming. that should not be your responsibility. it is bad enough that the vet bills are so high without the added responsibllity of all the frills. oh, okay enough of my going on. hope everyone has a good day and see you on saturday. ryan, if you read this post i am going to leave my phone number on the whiteboard in the kitchen and if someone can not make it in please phone me and if i can accomadate i will come in. or else blog it when you find out as i read the blog early in the morning. usually. lol