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In April 2015, a young Husky- German Shepard pup was struck by a car and left alongside the road to die.  Siskiyou County Animal Control officers picked him up and saw to his immediate needs.  They realized that county staff didn’t have the time, resources, or facilities to care for him and so they called Rescue Ranch.  The Rescue Ranch community of staff and volunteers stepped in to help with Kitu’s bandage changes, provide good nutritional food and have his injuries examined by veterinarians.  His injuries were numerous and included an older injury of a fractured pelvis and vertebrae and his new injuries included a leg broken at the hip joint and broken toes on his right front paw.

Kitu’s whole story we can only imagine, but to know Kitu you would never guess the trauma he has experienced in his life.  A year later and Kitu is a happy, energetic young boy with a happy smile and a helicopter tail wag for all he meets.  He has turned out to be an incredible nanny to puppies in foster,-finding his way to give back to those who helped him when he needed it most.  Kitu’s buoyant “can do” approach to life has inspired us to develop a special medical needs fund called “Kitu’s Fund” to allow us, humans, to give back and to help with current and future costs of special-medical-need dogs

Some of our dogs have experienced physical trauma, some are diagnosed with cancer, and others require heartworm treatments or extensive dental care.  These special dogs need our care on the way to wellness and a forever home and those medical costs are beyond those we can afford without additional funds.  Please consider contributing to the care of these special-need dogs and specify a donation to “Kitu’s Fund”. Your Donation to KITU’s FUND will only be used to assist with the extra veterinary care for those dogs with extra special needs.  Kitu says thanks.

We are continuing to pursue our dream and plan for our on-site spay/neuter and basic care veterinary clinic. Last year we kicked off our building campaign at our first-ever fall Gala. We raised $50,000 thanks to the generosity of Gala attendees and a matching contribution from an anonymous donor. During our October 12 Gala event this year, we have a goal of surpassing last year’s amazing success. To date, we have raised $42,000 of our $300,000 building goal. To reach our goal to break ground and start construction we need to raise $250,000.
A medical clinic is needed to support our expanding lifesaving mission. We are currently running transport to our vets in Ashland 5 days a week and performing our own routine medical support such as vaccinations and bandage changes without a designated clinic space. Our staff and work are excellent … but our shelter facility is not a medical clinic. Our dogs, our community of supporters, and all who love dogs know we need this on-site medical clinic.
What an on-site medical clinic will achieve:

Why we need an on-site medical clinic:
1. Rescue Ranch needs an on-site clinic to enhance our ability to save lives and serve the community.
Rescue Ranch has gained a reputation as a small but mighty dog rescue organization committed to saving lives and supporting our community. We have excellent staff and volunteers who are dedicated to saving lives but we are severely constrained by the limitations of time needed to travel to Ashland for spay/neuter, health exams, and basic medical care. We are also taking in more medically challenging dogs such as parvo virus-infected puppies. These puppies need special care and an isolation unit in an onsite facility will provide that safe space for healing these puppies and back-up for our dedicated volunteers. We urgently need a clinic to support and streamline our lifesaving work.
2. Rescue Ranch needs our own dedicated space for veterinary care due to dramatic increases in the number of dogs' lives saved.
Rescue Ranch has grown dramatically over the past five years. Intake of dogs from Siskiyou County shelters, owner surrenders, and transfers from high kill shelters elsewhere in California has grown our lifesaving efforts from 240 dogs admitted and 168 adopted in 2014 to  400 dogs admitted and 310 adopted so far in 2019. Our puppy saving program alone has grown from 0 in 2014 to over 144 so far this year. This growth has taxed our ability and the ability of our wonderful partner vets at Ashland Animal Medical Hospital to keep up with timely spay/neuter, routine medical needs, as well as all of our special medical needs dogs helped through “Kitu’s Fund”.
3. We want to better serve our community and other small rescue organizations.
Our dream is to provide affordable low-cost spay-neuter and vaccinations year-round to the dogs belonging to families in our area. We also have a dream to be able to help small rescues that currently have the same limited access to spay/neuter in a timely manner and at an affordable rate. Currently, there is no low-cost spay/neuter clinic within 75 miles of Yreka. And those clinics within an hour and a half drive are booked out for months, making it impossible for many families to spay/neuter and vaccinate their dogs in a timely manner. Having a clinic in Yreka will allow us to provide this basic veterinary care to the families in our community. More spay/neuter and vaccinations equal fewer dogs needing homes, fewer abandoned dogs, and fewer cases of heartbreaking parvo puppies in our community.
The Clinic

1. What are the costs and how did you arrive at the budget?
The total budget for the project is $350,000. This includes architectural design, construction costs, site improvements, permitting, kennels, and medical equipment. It also includes a contingency allowance for unanticipated changes.

2. What are the anticipated revenue sources for the project?
We expect the project to be funded primarily by individual donors, with additional funding from foundations, planned donations through wills and trusts, and grants.

3. How long will construction take, and will it be phased?
The project is divided into two phases. Phase I is the construction of a medical clinic building with kennels for recovery and isolation. If we meet our groundbreaking donation amount construction will begin in 2020. Phase II is an expanded kennel facility to house dogs that are not quite yet ready for adoption. This portion of the facility will house dogs quarantined until concern for contagious diseases such as kennel cough have passed, general post-surgery recovery areas for spay/neuter, and more complicated surgeries such as broken legs and other traumatic injuries. Careful budget planning has given us the most cost-effective way to provide for this facility. The full amount must be raised to complete the project – so any shortfalls in fundraising could delay the construction of portions of the project.

4. Why should donors have confidence in investing in this project?
The Rescue Ranch Board of Directors and Executive Staff are confident the necessary funds can be raised. Rescue Ranch’s Board unanimously supports the project and has committed to our fundraising goal. The feedback Rescue Ranch receives on daily basis from our community is how important and how great the need is in Siskiyou County for this facility.

5. Progress Update

We know that you are concerned about the welfare of pets and people alike and
that you want to know how you can help.
It seems every day there is a new situation that our team of staff and volunteers
are responding to so we can keep our dogs at Rescue Ranch, and in the
community healthy and in loving homes. We are taking extra precautions and
following expert guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC),
the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Veterinary Medical
Association (AVMA).

What you can do to help RESCUE RANCH:

• Donate to our emergency pet food bank. You can donate directly here and
  we will purchase supplies or you can order from Amazon or Chewy and
  have items sent to us directly. If using Amazon don’t forget to sign up on
  Amazon Smile and designate Rescue Ranch as your non-profit. Live in
  Yreka? Arrange to drop off a bag or two of food. We are accepting and
  distributing both dog and cat food, kibble preferred.

• Donate to Kitu’s Fund. As funds are available, we use the donations to
  help families meet emergency vet care needs with no-interest loans so
  they can keep their dogs in their homes.

• Consider a donation that will assist us with transporting dogs from local
  shelters and other shelters in California. As shelters in California need to
  restrict adoption hours or close, transport to independent non-profit
  rescues are the best way to save their lives.
  Other ways to consider helping in your community

• If you have neighbors who are self-quarantined or otherwise in need of
  help, offer to walk their dog or take pets for routine visits. (Be sure to
  follow the CDC’s guidance on interacting with quarantined individuals.)

• Consider volunteering to help support animals and staff members.

• Use social media channels like Facebook and Nextdoor.com to help return
  lost animals to their homes in order to ease the burden on local animal
  control officers.

• Consider fostering a stray animal in your home rather than taking the pet to
  a shelter.

It is during times like these that we know what an awesome community of
supporters we have. We are so grateful to each and every one of you for doing
what you can and “Doing It For the Dogs”. From each and every one of us at
Rescue Ranch dogs and humans alike; THANK YOU.