Violet's Friends in Need offers financial assistance for urgent or critical veterinary care, surgeries, therapies or mobility solutions that are too costly for pet parents.

Applicant Requirements

Before you submit an Assistance Request Form, you must meet the following requirements:

Violet 1. Preventative Care – you must have provided your animal with basic preventative and maintenance care. Care includes rudimentary shelter, appropriate fresh food and water daily and preventative veterinary care. Applicants whose companion animals are ill due to neglected care or lack of maintenance care will not be considered for funding. In some cases, past records displaying proof of care may be requested. If your animal was recently adopted, and you found out that he needed critical care after you adopted him, adoption papers must be submitted as well.

2. Prompt Medical Care – you must have provided your animal with prompt medical care when the need was urgent or critical. In instances where surgery, therapy, or supportive treatments are recommended, but the pet parent could not afford them, basic medical care or support to help with the animal’s quality of life, lessen pain or suffering should be demonstrated. The animal’s medical needs cannot have been neglected past reasonable time for treatment, which may have caused the animal to suffer.

3. Urgency of Need – Violet’s Friends in Need fund was created to help pets in need of complex or costly veterinary care, so that their lives may be improved or prolonged as a result of the treatment. This may include surgeries or procedures that will be of great benefit for the animal.

However, please be aware that these surgeries or procedures cannot be extremely time-sensitive (ie: the animal will die if it does not have the surgery immediately), due to the nature of the program’s screening process. We receive many applications weekly, where we need to do our due-diligence to select the recipient in most need. The screening process may take up to a week.

IMPORTANT: If your animal is in a time-sensitive emergency/life-or- death situation, then this is not the appropriate program for you.

4. Positive Prognosis – the surgery or medical treatment to be funded must result in good, or long-term prognosis. While we understand that it is sometimes difficult to predict positive prognosis, the animals must have at least a 50% or better survival rate for at least six months or longer. This will be determined by the treating veterinarian.

5. Ongoing Care and Support – you must demonstrate that you will provide on-going care and support, as a result of the treatment. This includes but is not limited to: basic veterinary care, recommended dietary changes if needed, medication(s) as prescribed by the treating veterinarian, necessary changes in the animal’s housing and/or environment, in order to accommodate or promote healing (for example, ramps for wheelchairs, indoor runners for non-slip areas, steps to prevent jumping, etc).

Program Specifics

1. As we receive applications, we will review them as quickly as possible to determine urgency of need. If your dog is a good candidate for assistance, we will contact you regarding approval of funding, once we have completed the screening process.

2. We do not give veterinary advice nor advice on the treatment plans for your pet.

3. We select an animal(s) every quarter as the fund’s recipients. The number of animals chosen is dependent on fund availability and cost of treatments. All types of animals are eligible for Violet's fund.

4. Reasons and explanations for denials will not be provided.

5. We do not reimburse for previous surgeries or procedures.

6. Incomplete applications will not be processed. All fields in the application form must be filled out. In some instances, we may require additional documentation or supportive documentation from your vet. The sooner we receive the information, the smoother the approval process will be. Requesting additional information from you does NOT automatically indicate approval for funding.

7. If your case qualifies for assistance, we will contact your treating veterinarian for supportive or additional information.

8. Violet’s Friends in Need program is not a lifetime assistance program. If you will need help affording our pet’s medication, this is may not be the right program for you.

If you meet the above criteria, please complete the Assistance Request Form.

READ THIS FIRST: Important information about the Assistance Request Form

You will need to submit supporting documentation from your veterinarian.
Because our average gift is in excess of $1,000, we might require paper-proof of the following if your case is prequalified. We might request the following documentation after you have passed PREQUALIFICATION. A request for further information does not automatically mean that you are approved for assistance.

Proof of Income: IRS Tax Return Form 1040s, and Recent Paycheck Stubs for all working adults in the household where the pet resides
AND proof of the hardship you claim (if your income exceeds 300% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines)
OR a Social Security Statement for the pet-owner
AND proof that you own the animal in need, which can be determined with Adoption/Purchase Papers, Vet Records and/or Rabies Certificates for two consecutive "terms"