Emergency Veterinary Assistance

NOTE: Due to our current financial situation, as of July 13, 2019 we are no longer able to support emergency veterinary assistance.  If you have not yet applied for CareCredit, we encourage you to do so to see if that can help.

Diabetic Cats in Need sometimes provides assistance with the cost of hospitalizations or emergencies for diabetic cats with low-income caregivers. This includes hospitalization for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), hypoglycemia, and other related diseases to diabetes such as pancreatitis and hepatic lipidosis.

We know this is a stressful time for you right now, but we have a few requirements before we can agree to cover all or part of the cost of your pet’s hospitalization.

After reading everything on this page thoroughly and completing the application form below, please call 234-738-3246. If it is the middle of the night or late at night on the east coast, you may need to call several times to wake us.

Requirements

    • Proof of low-income status (IRS 1040 or statement of benefits for TANF, SSI, SSDI, SNAP, or Section 8 Housing) OR proof of denial of Care Credit application and written justification of your inability to pay (we may require your most recent tax return). If you are already in our Compassionate Assistance Program and have provided proof of low income within the last year, this step can be skipped.
    • Several recent pictures of your cat, a description of your cat’s personality, and a description of the current illness. We will publish this on a fundraiser that we share for your cat.
  • Submission of the Compassionate Assistance Program form, if you are not already a CAP client: https://goo.gl/MBsRRE. If you are currently at the vet clinic and cannot load the form on your mobile device, we can work with you on collecting the information another way, but we must have all of this information and proof of income status before paying the vet hospital.

Notes

    • If we have agreed to pay the bill, we must be the primary contacts with the vet clinic during the stay. We need to receive an estimate (faxed to 757-257-0030) at the beginning of the stay and be able to talk to the veterinarians in charge of care at least once daily, ideally twice, to get updates on your cat’s condition and make decisions about further diagnostics and treatments and any changes to the estimate. We will, of course, keep you informed and make decisions alongside you, and you may talk to the veterinarians as well, but it is essential that we are able to talk directly to the veterinarians daily.
    • Please do not consider us the only source of funding for this hospitalization. Please apply for Care Credit for at least part of the cost and help us to fundraise among your friends and family if possible. We will provide you the link to the DCIN fundraiser and hope that some of the cost can be covered through your own network.
    • We may have to cap the amount that we will cover, or deny assistance outright at particularly expensive veterinary clinics. If possible, please research lower cost hospitalization options in your area.
  • Please keep in mind that we are a small non-profit with limited funding that needs to go towards helping hundreds of cats every year. We are not a foundation with an endowment and rely on donations from the public and a limited number of grants to stay running. Anything you can do to assist with fundraising or keep costs down will help us immensely.