If watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" has you wishing for a Max of your own, it's time to make a trip to the shelter.
Animal Care and Control on Byrum Drive is in its end-of-year fundraising campaign, a "Season of Second Chances."
The campaign helps pay for medical care and daily support for injured or sick animals that come into the shelter.
“It is our end-of-year monetary donation campaign, which we help to pretty much support all the animals in our care, whether it be through medical, behavioral or even enrichment. Some of the funds that we use it for are like emergency and specialty surgeries, diagnostic testing and medications, long-term and complex medical care,” said Davier Lopez-Rodriguez, special projects specialist at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control.
Similar to when people go to an emergency room, any animal that comes to ACC gets a physical done and if they have underlying medical issues, they will be addressed.
“After they do the initial health assessment by the staff, that’s when they are actually able to get whether they need any sort of treatment immediately or if it’s something that can actually wait until, like, for instance, the stray hold is over, or if it’s something that needs critical attention where it would need a veterinarian to get pre-approval to go ahead and move forward with anything critical going on,” said Lopez-Rodriguez.
Those medical services are supported by donor funding through the annual campaign. From Nov. 17 to today, Animal Care & Control has completed 44 special surgeries and medical cases at its Byrum Drive location.
“Those things include amputations, cherry eye repairs, and any other critical treatments that may be needed for the animals. And the average in-house cost per special surgery or case is about $500 per animals, which means we use approximately $22,000 in donor-supported funds to help supplement life-saving medical care,” said Lopez-Rodriguez.
The Season of Second Chances campaign runs through Dec. 31 and If you’re home for the holidays and looking for something to do, taking a shelter dog out for a daycation might just lead you to a lifelong friend.
