If you’ve ever worked in rescue – or loved an animal like family – you know this truth: emergencies don’t wait until you’re ready.
Today was like so many others. Emails. Phone calls. DMs. All carrying the same heartbreaking theme: “My cat/dog needs help. I can’t afford it. What do I do?”
We get these messages daily.
A dog needing surgery after swallowing something he shouldn’t.
A cat suddenly very lethargic, possibly due to a UTI.
A senior companion with a mass that might be cancer – and no way to cover the diagnostics.
These aren’t rare cases. This is every day.
Many of the times, the person calling loves their furry companion. Fiercely. But love doesn’t pay vet bills. And emergency clinics don’t offer payment plans. So they turn to us – rescues already stretched thin – begging for help, or worse, asking if they can surrender their beloved animal because they can’t afford to save them.
It’s one of the hardest parts of this work.
The truth is, we’re constantly doing triage – not just with animals, but with finances. Who can we afford to help today? Who might we have to say no to? These are decisions that weigh on us every single night.
And here’s the thing no one wants to say out loud: Pet insurance could have changed the outcome for so many of them.
Pet insurance isn’t some luxury. It’s protection.
It’s about making sure a broken leg doesn’t break your bank.
It’s making sure a urinary blockage doesn’t end a young cat’s life.
It’s making sure you get to stay the hero in your animal’s story – even when things go sideways.
We aren’t saying it’s perfect. Policies vary. Reimbursement timelines aren’t instant. But it does create a buffer. A plan. A chance.
So, if you have a companion at home right now – sleeping on your couch, chasing shadows across the floor, watching you as you read this – ask yourself: could you handle a $2,000 emergency tonight? What about $4,000? Because those are real numbers we see every day.
And if the answer is no, we urge you: please look into pet insurance. Before the unthinkable happens.
It could save your animal’s life.
It could save you from heartache.
And it could give rescues like ours the space to help the animals who truly have nowhere else to turn.
– Just a reminder from someone who’s been on the other end of far too many “What do I do now?” calls.
