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Animal rescue seeing an increase in vet bills

Many animal rescues have enough money to cover basic costs but not much more. When an emergency happens, volunteers wonder how to help the critters.

SNYDER COUNTY, Pa. — Veterinary visits are the norm for any animal rescue, including Ashburn's Animals. But lately, it's been happening more than usual at the rescue near Selinsgrove. 29-year-old rescue horse Cleo was recently sick.

"She ended up having a seizure as well. That's where the eye injury came. When she fell down on the ground and had her seizure, her eye got injured," Ashburn's Animals Director Katie Walters said.

Cleo's eye ruptured during her seizure, and the vet had to remove Cleo's eye.

"She rubbed it on her stall door, and she actually pulled a stitch, so we have her on another round of antibiotics and another round of pain medication," Walters said.

Snowy the pony is also having eye problems. She is missing one eye and is now having a problem with her other one.

"We do not know the cause of it, and we don't know what's going on, but we had to get it biopsied and looked at because that is not normal. The vet came out and biopsied a portion of the skin," Walters said.

Dental visits happen every year, but Debbie the miniature donkey has problems with her teeth.

"She had a tooth that was kind of going sideways and it was pushing on the tooth that was in front of it, so both of those teeth had to be removed, so she can eat her food appropriately," Walters said.

Walters says these additional vet visits are costing the rescue several thousand dollars on top of the nonprofit's normal operating budget.

"We've been trying to do as much fundraising as possible, but with it being all-volunteer, it's hard to pick up everything on top of all of our volunteers have full-time jobs on top of making sure these animals are being taken care of," Walters said.

Ashburn's Animals is looking for monetary donations. If you can help Cleo, Snowy, Debbie, and their friends, click here.

See more pets and animal stories on WNEP's YouTube playlist.  

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