A Resolution for Rescues

For animal shelters and rescues, the new year is less about a single night of celebration and more about a crucial period of planning and preparation. The post-holiday season can bring an influx of surrendered animals while resources are often depleted from year-end efforts. This January, the most important resolution your organization can make is to build a more resilient, cost-effective medical protocol that stretches every dollar and saves more lives. At PetScript Shelter Site, we believe strategic planning is the key to turning hopes into outcomes. Let’s explore how focusing on efficient, affordable compounded medications can help your shelter build a stronger foundation for the year ahead.

The January Reality: Challenges and Opportunities
The start of the year presents a unique set of circumstances for shelters:

• Increased Intakes: Pets received as holiday gifts may be surrendered when novelty wears off.

• Seasonal Illness: Cold weather fosters the spread of upper respiratory infections in cats and kennel cough in dogs.

• Tightened Budgets: Donor fatigue after the holidays can lead to a temporary dip in funding.
  This makes it the perfect time to resolve to optimize your most critical resource: your medical budget.

Resolution #1: Audit and Optimize Your Medical Inventory
The Action: Before ordering more of the same, take stock. What medications expired last year? Which were rarely used? Which treatments took the most staff time per animal?
The Strategic Shift: Resolve to replace multiple single-use items with versatile compounded formulations. For example, one broad-spectrum deworming suspension can treat multiple parasite types, reducing inventory complexity, cost, and the chance of waste.

Resolution #2: Implement "Passive Prevention" Protocols
The Action: The best way to manage an outbreak is to prevent it.
The Strategic Shift: Resolve to use palatability to your advantage. Incorporating flavored preventatives and treatments means animals consume the full dose. This is especially effective for incoming animals. A delicious flavored antibiotic or parasite suspension ensures complete treatment, reducing the spread of illness and re-treatment costs.

Resolution #3: Build a Foster-Friendly Medication Toolkit
The Action: Foster homes are lifesaving extensions of your shelter, but complex medications can deter potential fosters.
The Strategic Shift: Resolve to make fostering easier. Provide fosters with clearly labeled, easy-to-administer compounded medications like flavored liquids or treats. This reduces foster anxiety, increases retention, and ensures medical protocols are followed precisely, leading to healthier animals.

A Resolution in Action: The "January Jumpstart" Protocol
Imagine implementing a "January Jumpstart" for all new intakes:

1. Day 1: Receive a palatable, broad-spectrum Fenbendazole + Praziquantel + Pyrantel Oral Suspension for parasites.

2. For At-Risk Animals: Proactively administer a flavored Doxycycline Hyclate Oral Suspension to prevent upper respiratory infection flare-ups.

3. For Stressed Animals: Use a Gabapentin Beef-Flavored Tablet to reduce anxiety, improving appetite and assessability.
   This standardized yet compassionate approach, built on affordable compounded medicines, gets animals on the fastest path to health and adoption.

Your Shelter’s 2024 Planning Checklist

• Conduct a complete medical supply audit

• Identify the top 3 cost centers in your medical budget

• Consult with your shelter vet about evidence-based protocol updates

• Meet with your compounding partner (like PetScript) to discuss bulk options and nonprofit pricing for your most-used items

• Train staff on any new protocols or formulations

 Build a Stronger Foundation This January
The new year is a gift of time to plan. By resolving to optimize your medication strategy now, you’re not just saving money on each bottle you’re investing in a system that will reduce length of stay, improve animal welfare, and empower your staff every single day of the year ahead. Let PetScript Shelter Site be your strategic partner in building a more sustainable, effective shelter. Log into your dedicated portal to analyze your usage and explore our shelter-tested formulations, or contact our specialist team to create a customized plan for a healthier, more successful 2024.