Dear Old Mario's Long Journey

Poor old Mario had been through so much already as an abandoned dog, scrounging to survive. Before we knew of him, he stoically suffered with a broken leg for an entire week in the August heat. When we found out, we immediately got Mario the surgery he needed to set the broken leg and end his excruciating pain. We took him into our Dear Old Dogs program which provides for life-time care, no matter how long that is or how expensive.

Then we found that Mario had cancer in his foot and an infected tooth. So he had surgery to remove the cancer from his toe and to extract the infected tooth. It looked like all the cancer had been caught.

Thanks to the support of our generous donors, we are able to say "Yes" to the expensive surgeries and life-time care he needs.

His permanent foster family has fallen in love with him. They told us: "Yesterday we took Mario for a walk. He was running around like a puppy chasing sticks and balls. He loves attention, and he loves to be brushed."

After so much happy news, the bad news...
"Mario's foot is inflamed and he is going to need another surgery. The vet feels the cancer is still localized but I'll be meeting with him tomorrow to talk about Mario's surgery options. They said this second surgery will be under $1000, unlike the first surgery that was over $1,500. May we proceed?"

We said Yes. Of course.

Our foster family will continue to give Mario the care he deserves. And Animal Advocates will be there for Mario to pay his ongoing medical expenses for as long as he lives.

Most of AAS's rescued animals are in life-time care. Because they are old, or because they have behaviours that make them unadoptable, we pay for their care as long as they need us. Life-time care of old dogs and cats is expensive, but we will not put an animal down because it's expensive to give them the lives we promised them.

Thank you for your generous support of our dear rescued animals. You make it possible.