State of the Shelter

I figure I would do a quick what is happening and what we use our donations for before I go back to burying my head in financial statements, and such. I tend to get blinders when I do that. Why am I doing it? Well, since our accountant's heart is bigger than his day is long, so we kinda fell behind the paying customers.

Any way, this is a list of "average" costs per month, with a small explanation of them.

$2,000.00 (yes you are reading it right) veterinary costs. Health checks, surgeries, emergency appointments.

$45.00 medical supplies, things such as syringes, needles, distemper medication, Pepcid AC, Prilosec, and prescriptions that are filled (if we can bring in lupron, that would add $100 per month 2 prescriptions ordered in is $1000 approximately plus the insulin syringes)

$180 laundry, figuring that 15 loads a week 4 weeks and it would cost approximately $3.00 at the laundry mat

$100 water and sewer, remember the laundry? Add to that washing the water bowls, water bottles (takes over seven gallons of water to fill the water bottles times a minimum of 4 times a week plus washing the litterboxes, scrubbing the floors) (The bill is actually $152)

$100 electricity, air conditioners cost lots too run, but at least I don't have any ferrets suffering from heat stroke (the bill is actually $170)

$140 food (self explanatory)

$40 wood stove pellets (40 lb bags, we tried using yesterday's news, but it costs .31 a pound versus .16 for the wood stove pellets)

$40 Duck soup fixings, yes I cook for the animals

$100 Gas and insurance for shelter wagon.

That brings it to a grand total of $2745.00. I didn't add in the cost of cleaning supplies, paper towels, laundry soap, garbage bags, vehicle repair, or fund raiser items purchased, although I can tell you we lost money on the car show, but it was a great learning experience and two ferrets got adopted. The items like cleaning supplies and such are donated, we get about half of what we use donated, along with the laundry soap, why I didn't include that in the cost of doing ferret laundry. That list doesn't include the cost of ADV tests either.

In July, we received $320 in donations, plus one Ferret Nation cage. That leaves $2425. Where does that come from? Right now I have no clue, already behind in the mortgage and other things to make things work for the shelter, so right now I cannot answer that, but I can promise I will keep asking, ebaying (well that really doesn't work, anyone want to buy some basketball cards from the 80's? How about baseball cards?)

We'll be doing another bowling benefit near October, and start planning next year's car show, it will be profitable if people help.

It isn't easy fund raising and we'll be doing another meeting for ideas, and possible events we can do to educate and perhaps generate funds.

The veterinary costs are going to go higher, that is a given, so put on your thinking caps, figure out how you can help, and when you see the post for the general shelter idea meeting, please come and share your ideas with everyone.

Now, I must take a nap (it is 12:54 AM) before I bury my head in numbers and loose all track of time, and this thought falls into the depths of my mind of chaos.

Remember folks, hug your fur children, your skin kids, and each other.

A Great Weekend at the Shelter

I know it has been awhile since there has been a post here, things have been a bit hectic.

When summer arrives, it seems we end up more shorthanded than normal, and it makes things a bit more complicated.

Currently I am working on a newsletter that will be mailed out, I am waiting on my proofreaders to finish up and make suggestions for changes.

There will be another general meeting for ideas on fundraising, education programs and more. Keep watching for the date, and keep track of your ideas. I will mail out a postcard a couple weeks ahead of time.

We are in process of planning a bowling fundraiser in October. Watch for the date. We'll have good food, fun, bowling, raffle and door prizes.

Now to this weekend. We did the quarterly cage scrub. What is that you ask? Well the ferrets are put into carriers, the cages totally striped down, and thoroughly scrubbed. The cages are wiped down weekly, but this was a good scrubbing. catching all those nooks and crannies.

We also put a third level on on five two level Ferret Nation cages, no we did not increase our capacity. We worked things around so there is more floor area for the ferrets to run and play in. The humans just need to use the step ladder to clean the third level.

There was help to. Help from CALIFORNIA, and INDIANA. Lance flew in from California, he spent part of his vacation here, busting his rear.

Let us not forget Melissa, who drove 6 hours to spend the weekend here, using her personal time off to help.

And an online friend of mine, Kevin from Washington State, brought his son on Sunday and scooped poop. Kevin and his family came to area for a family event, and made time to stop and help at the shelter and chat. I asked his son how he got talked into coming to scoop poop on a family trip. He said, "That is easy, my dad said the "f" word. FERRET!" Great young man.

There were suppose to be some other folks show up, but they didn't show. But that is normal.

Now if I can find a way to motivate local folks to find a way to volunteer 4 hours a month, or donate $10 a month. If 100 people donated $10 a month, that is $1,000.00 a month, half of what we spend at the vet.

Now this is the great part. We had adoptions!! Six ferrets were adopted! On the down side, one ferret showed up in a cage being hauled in the trunk of a car.

No, we still do no have open cages for surrenders. Yes we had adoptions, but they were ferrets that were willing to live with others.

No quarantine room. No empty cages. Sigh. We so need that building.