ASK FOR HELP
ASK FOR HELP
Approval Process
** Critical Note: Brown Dog Foundation does not currently offer approvals by phone. If the animal's life is in immediate danger, you, as the licensed professional, must decide how to proceed. The fact that you provide treatment does not automatically generate an approval from Brown Dog.
** Incomplete requests will be automatically delayed. Specifically if any piece of required information is left blank, your request will be delayed (this includes, but is not limited to the clinic's email, accurate income details, cost of treatment, etc).
All fields are required on this Request Form. The most common omission is the clinic's email address. We have come to understand that in order to get an email address for most clinic's you will likely need to explain to them that you are applying for assistance and it's our only method of communication at this time.
The typical process takes anywhere from 2-5 business days, depending upon the requirements of treatment and, most importantly, the cooperation of the pet owner and doctor.
The Brown Dog Process:
STEP 1:
The family completes our "apply for assistance" survey online. Every request will generate an Auto-Confirmation Email that is delivered to the family's email account immediately. For those requests that require review by our Case Manager(s), a response will be emailed to the pet owner within 24 hours.
STEP 2:
If the family pre-qualifies for assistance, the second step is for the family to complete our online Application for Assistance which requires documentation to be compiled and submitted for review against our guidelines. The case manager will either Qualify the Case or Deny the Case at this point. An email is generated to the pet owner within 12 hours receipt of the application.
STEP 3:
If the case qualifies for assistance, a Case Manager will contact the Veterinary Clinic by email requesting additional information. It is important for the Veterinarian to read the accompanying letter and complete the Veterinary Form entirely.
Veterinarians who proceed with treatment are doing so at their own risk.
Requesting information from you does NOT automatically generate an "approval".
STEP 4:
Once we have the family's information and the Veterinarian's information, our Case Manager will review all documentation against the Guidelines approved and set forth by the National Board of Directors.
STEP 5:
A Letter of Commitment or Letter of Denial is generated on Brown Dog's letterhead, signed by our Board President and delivered via email to the pet owner and Veterinarian.
We will do our best to work with you through crisis situations. However, Brown Dog Foundation is not fully-funded, nor are we staffed full-time. It is important that you are comfortable with the fact that not all families meet our criteria and while, a family may pass our Pre-Qualification Screen they may not pass the full Application Screen. There are many reasons that may lead to a denial. When we have more cases than we can afford to fund presented at one time, we are forced to review each family's entire application and compare to one another to make our decision.
Apply for Assistance
STEP 1 of 5: Request for Assistance
Brown Dog Foundation is a very small organization that receives more than 4,000 requests for assistance each year. Unfortunately, we say "no" much more frequently than we can say "yes". Because of the high volume of requests, our resources are allocated first to those pets whose life is in near-immediate danger and whose "gap" our on-hand resources can cover.
Whether you meet the above criteria or not, we encourage you to apply as, in addition to giving cash, we can also sometimes offer educational guidance and referral to lower cost treatment alternatives, creative payment alternatives and / or other programs to help you.
Brown Dog does not "just pay bills,"
we work with the Clinic and the Family to find the best, most affordable path to saving the pet. Proceeding to apply indicates that you understand and accept that we do not gift "some amount, any amount that we can." We bridge the gap. If we cannot bridge the gap needed to save your, we are not going to make a commitment.
Why do we *not* donate "any amount to help?" It may seem harsh, but we must put our limited funding where it can do the most good. As such, giving a few hundred dollars to a family who needs thousands does not "solve the problem."
It is also important to NOTE:
Some clinics will tell you that Brown Dog will reimburse you for "paid invoices." Brown Dog does *not* consider reimbursement situations of any kind. If you have already paid your Veterinarian for services, please seek other arrangements for assistance.
We specifically do *not* work with Blue Pearl Veterinary Services any longer. If your pet is being seen by Blue Pearl Veterinary Services, we encourage you to request that Frankie's Friends help you.
** Incomplete requests will be automatically delayed.
Specifically if any piece of required information is left blank, we will not be able to assist (this includes, but is not limited to the clinic's email, accurate income details, cost of treatment, etc). All fields are required on the Request Form.
The most common omission is the clinic's email address.
We have come to understand that in order to get an email address for most clinic's you will likely need to explain to the clinic that you are applying for assistance and it's our only method of communication at this time.
Additionally, if you do not have or do not provide contact information for a regular or Primary Veterinarian, it is highly unlikely we will assist you at this time. Highest priority is given to those families who have a relationship with their regular doctor.
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