The Sunshine Fund is an ongoing chip-in to help the dogs and cats rescued by The Animal League who have special medical needs.
Broken bones, puppies with parvo, skin diseases…all part of our everyday shelter life. With rising veterinary costs and so many pets in need, we appreciate any donation to our Sunshine Fund. Because of our generous supporters, we can help save animals that require extensive veterinary care.
The Puppy Mill Rescue
In 2019 The Animal League was called by a rescue partner to assist in an extremely large scale puppy mill case involving nearly 800 small dogs. Imagine living in a wire crate for 12 years. Their little feet were swollen and splayed out. Some flinched when touched, others were more accepting.
These tiny creatures were living in small wire crates year after year with no relief from boredom or pain. Forced to breed over and over. We took in 80 dogs, all with medical issues totaling $60,000. Diagnoses included blindness, pregnancy, extreme fur matting, ear infections, leg injuries, abscesses, skin disease, yeast infections, severe tooth decay, mouth infections, heartworm, tumors, and breast cancer.
Charlie’s Rescue
Charlie was found on the side of the road with a badly mangled and mutilated leg, and a slit throat. The Animal League immediately stepped in and within minutes, we rushed this sweet boy to an emergency surgeon. Charlie’s leg required amputation, his neck required reconstructive surgery, and he needed months of physical therapy. Charlie learned to walk, run, and play while recovering at his foster care home. After three months and multiple surgeries, Charlie was ready for adoption.
Baby Red’s Rescue
The Animal League rescued Baby Red and his kitten siblings at five weeks old, after hearing they were homeless and destined for euthanasia if a rescue did not step in. These darlings somehow lost their mom at an age when they couldn’t have possibly survived on their own.
The kittens were diagnosed with severe upper respiratory infection. To add to the trauma of having no mom to look after them, Baby Red and his orphan siblings had severe upper respiratory infections when we took them in. The infections were so bad that mucous had glued their eyes shut. Thanks to The Animal League’s Sunshine Fund, we were able to treat them right away.
Cookie’s Rescue
A tiny little dog weighing all of 7 pounds with a gentle and sweet disposition. A dog who should be someone’s darling little friend, sitting on a lap protected and cared for. Instead, Cookie was found wandering the streets all by herself in search of a morsel of food. Her eyes and skin were full of infection. One eye was completely crusted over. She had been over-bred and discarded, then shot at with a bebe gun. A caring but underfunded County shelter picked her up and called us for help. On top of the gunshot and infections, Cookie had pyometra, a deadly infection of the uterus if left untreated. We performed emergency surgery. Cookie then spent some time in foster care as our staff and volunteers helped her to recover, both mentally and physically.
The Ocala Pups Rescue
Four hungry and itchy puppies were discovered abandoned in the Ocala National Forest. We received a call… “They look really bad! Can you help?!”
We immediately arranged for transport back to The Animal League and contacted our veterinarian to prepare them for their journey back to recovery. They were very hungry, scared and obviously in very poor health…
The puppies were named Luke, Loretta, Lucy, and Lily and they needed several weeks of veterinary care and TLC as we treated them for a variety of ailments. The tiny five pound puppies were malnourished, anemic, and had Sarcoptic mange and skin infections.
