Buster

First, I want to thank everyone who donated to Buster's heartworm treatment. We were able to raise the money for his first treatment within two weeks of starting a ChipIn.


I have written about Buster before, but I will give a brief summary again for anyone who may not have heard about him. Louisa County Animal Shelter contacted us about Buster a little over a month ago. I guess word has gotten out that we rescue dogs, we have a heart for Australian Cattle Dogs, and that we use an Australian Cattle Dog as a therapy dog. I LOVE Cattle Dogs. I have every since I was young. The farrier that put shoes on my horse when I was a kid had an ACD named Boo. I fell in love with her and Cattle Dogs have been my favorite breed ever since. Cattle Dogs are popular in Georgia, but not so much in Northern Virginia. At the time I was contacted about Buster, we had just rescued an ACD out of a high kill shelter in North Georgia, so we could not bring another new one into our home. I knew a girl who was wanting a dog to do therapy dog work with, so I contacted her about Buster and we went down to Louisa Shelter to meet him together. He was the sweetest dog and she adopted him that day. A few days later, during Buster's wellness check, he tested heartworm positive. Heartworm treatment is expensive. Buster's new owner was right out of college and working a new job. She couldn't afford to treat him, but she didn't want to give him back to the shelter to be euthanized. The Foster Zoo stepped in and pitched in with No Kill Virginia to raise the funds for Buster. The vet gave us an estimate of $200 per treatment. Within two weeks, we raised $170. Once PayPal took their share, we had $160 for Buster. Buster went in on Halloween for his first treatment and did really well. He was picked up that evening. To our surprise, the bill only came out to $179! Wes and I funded the remaining $19 and Buster's new owner was able to get Buster treated without the financial hardship of the bill. We were so happy!


Because The Foster Zoo and No Kill Virginia are not yet Nonprofit Organizations, I want to keep our expenses and donations as transparent as possible. No Kill Virginia is working on becoming a Nonprofit Organization and we hope to add The Foster Zoo and Kittins Impossible as two rescues under the organization. Kittins Impossible is another one of our volunteers rescues that help feral cat colonies.