A dog with a foxtail imbedded between her toes. A cat with severe dental disease. A kitten whose tail needed amputating.
All pets in Sacramento County whose owners could not afford medical care. All pets who received financial assistance from RedRover.
With headquarters in Midtown, RedRover is a national nonprofit that serves animals in crisis in the United States and Canada.
One way RedRover helps is with Urgent Care Grants.
Veterinary care “is through the roof right now and has been in the last several years,” says Sheri Madsen, RedRover’s director of public relations. “We can’t keep up with demand.”
Pet owners apply online. They must provide a diagnosis and treatment plan from their veterinarian. The average grant is around $250 but can exceed $1,000. The goal is to fill the funding gap that keeps an animal from critical care.
“Even when we can’t help—because we can’t help everyone—we have a great list of resources we can share with them,” Madsen says.
RedRover, formerly United Animal Nations, has brought animals out of crisis for nearly four decades with financial assistance, emergency sheltering, disaster relief services and education.
The nonprofit accomplishes this with 25 employees—14 in Sacramento—and 4,800 volunteers nationwide—169 in the greater Sacramento area, and a $7 million annual budget.
RedRover Relief provides Safe Escape grants to help with the cost of pet boarding while owners are in domestic violence shelters. Many survivors delay leaving an unsafe home environment because they fear what will happen to their animals.
Photos courtesy of RedRover.
“Only 20% of domestic violence shelters across the nation have a pet housing program,” Madsen says. “The goal is to ensure a survivor and a pet can escape abuse.”
Safe Housing, up to $60,000, helps shelters create spaces where domestic violence survivors and unhoused individuals can be with their pets. RedRover recently held a free Don’t Forget the Pets workshop, in coordination with Greater Good Charities, at La Familia’s Maple Neighborhood Center. Hosted by the Sacramento Family Justice Center, the event brought together domestic violence, animal and homeless shelters to learn how to create a pet housing program.
Pet housing can be at a domestic violence shelter or through a foster program or local animal shelter that has space to house the survivor’s pet until they can be reunited.
Grant funding can be used to convert sheds into climate-controlled houses with pet-friendly flooring and furniture. Crates can be added to survivors’ rooms with doggy doors that lead to pet-relief areas. Play yards and cat cubbies provide enrichment.
Recipients of Safe Housing grants include WEAVE in Sacramento, Stand Up Placer in Auburn and Community Beyond Violence in Grass Valley. WEAVE used the funds to make two of its emergency shelters animal-friendly with crates, food and pet supplies.
RedRover also trains volunteer Responders who provide emergency aid for animals displaced by natural disasters or rescued from cruelty situations.
“We deploy our volunteers when a community or shelter gets overwhelmed,” Madsen says. “Our teams are there to support the lead agency and provide a respite,” including cleaning cages and refreshing food and water bowls.
Responders helped Sacramento SPCA care for 286 rabbits seized from a Folsom home where the animals were living in unsanitary conditions.
In 2018, Responders were deployed to assist hundreds of animals evacuated from the Camp Fire in Butte County. “We got them out of their kennels for walks, tried to calm them down and give them TLC,” Madsen says.
Responders were on hand in 2019 to help El Dorado County Animal Services provide care to more than 300 animals rescued from neglect. In 2021, they were called back to El Dorado County to help animals displaced by the Caldor Fire.
“That was scary,” Madsen says. “There were still ashes falling everywhere. It was dark skies, and there were so many animals.”
RedRover Responders help shelters create safe housing spaces, volunteer at animal wellness clinics and participate in community cat trap/neuter/vaccinate/return projects. RedRover Readers implement humane education programs in classrooms, after-school programs and libraries.
Madsen says, “It’s all about strengthening the human/animal bond.”
For information or to donate, visit redrover.org. To become a Responder volunteer, visit redrover.org/readytorespond. To become a Reader volunteer, visit redrover.org/on-demand.
Cathryn Rakich can be reached at cathrynrakich@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
