FOR CONTEXT: A peek at ABC's finances

I'm sorry for the delay in posting the next segment of my presentation. I thought it might be useful for contextual purposes to post the publicly available financial information about ABC Basset Rescue, so that there's no doubt in anyone's mind that their numerous denials of care for Clara were not determined by a shortage of available resources, but by other considerations. I will not attempt to impute their motivations; rather, I just want people to understand what was NOT driving their decision-making.

Download the images below, which are the first page of each of ABC's last two available Federal tax returns. Use your photo viewer to enlarge them so you can read the numbers.

If you look at lines 9 (total revenue for the year), 17 (total expenses for the year), and 21 (total assets), you'll see that they have been building a cash/asset reserve which totaled about $156,000 as of the end of the last year. So when Clara needed $300 in dental work to clear up a major infection in her mouth that was, in the opinion of the vet, contributing to her loss of appetite (to the extent she had a diagnosis of anorexia) and a danger to her as a diabetic, ABC apparently had more than $150,000 on hand.

 

I hope to have some more time on my hands later next week, and will post more of Clara's vet bills and some of her medical charts when I do.

 

Clara's history - and ours - with ABC Basset Rescue

There has apparently been much interest in, and discussion about, Clara's case among the members of the Basset rescue community.

 

I thought that, given our experience with fostering Clara, it would be useful to open a discussion of the operative standards of care that are actually practiced by ABC, as we experienced in our fostering of Clara.

 

Certainly, there was a significant vector between our expectations (based upon our reading of the ABC policies and various discussions) and the actual practice, a vector which most likely did not operate to Clara's benefit, or ours.

 

I will not attempt to characterize, or editorialize about, the way ABC acted, nor will I attempt to impute motive to their actions. Rather, I will simply present facts, and allow these to speak for themselves.

 

To begin, I am posting herewith our first vet bill for Clara. I think it would be most useful if people would first just look it over and become familiar with it. I will then explain what the vet saw upon her first visit, his diagnosis and recommended course of treatment, what was approved and denied, and what we paid for, and expect to post this in the next day or two.

I will then post the next vet bill, and the next, as well as an income/expense statement over such items as her food (as a diabetic, she was prescribed a special diet) and other care vs the funds actually approved by ABC.

By the end of this process, people will have a complete set of the facts and will be in a position to make an informed decision about Clara's case. It should also - and this is the most important point - help others avoid falling into a similar situation by going in with the benefit of our experience.
 

- Don DeBar

Clara's Struggle

We took in sweet Clara from a rescue organization when she was given up by her family in January. She had many complex medical issues, the least of which was being diabetic and blind.

She lost that long fight this week - and we are devastated by her passing.

Although she was only here a short time, we came to love her very much. She was a joy to have in our home. She was amazingly smart, affectionate and just always a love. She was a very special angel who loved her house, her people, her bed, her food bowl and Spanky (our other diabetic rescue Basset). She brought light wherever she went and the world is dimmer now without her.

In our fight to save Clara's life, we did everything we could - now we find that we need help to pay for her final $3,750 vet bill.

If you would like to donate to help us pay her vet bill, please use the Paypal link.

Alternatively, you can contact us privately via email at bellaroo@optonline.net or PM Bunny Corti on Facebook. No donation is too small.

We can provide details of her bill and/or her story, including her history - and ours - with the rescue organization. Suffice to say that they seemed willing to give up on her several months before we were. In fact, we never did giver up on her; she just finally succumbed to an intractable, systemic, anti-biotic resistant infection.

We would appreciate from the bottom of our hearts any and all help during this very difficult time.

You can use this PayPal account to make a donation. IT IS NOT TAX DEDUCTIBLE, as we are not a legally-constituted charity - just folks who loved their rescue Basset girl and whatever we could to give her a decent, happy life.