Application For Funding

Labrador Life Line cannot be held responsible for misdirected or lost applications. If you are not contacted by Labrador Life Line within 5 days of sending your application, contact Labrador Life Line directly.

Please save a copy of this application on your computer. You may need to fax it directly to Labrador Life Line if any problems occur.

You will be contacted by a Labrador Life Line representative as soon as your application has been accepted for processing. This representative will give instruction as to the further information and documentation that will be needed. Unless otherwise stated, the requested information/documentation must be sent within 5 business days of the request or your application will be classified as inactive.

Guidelines for Funding

Labrador Life Line is committed to offering financial assistance to owners and rescuers of Labrador Retrievers in need. We can assist eligible Labs with urgent and short term medical treatment.

In making our funding decisions, the future quality of life and not the age of the dog will be of primary importance in our evaluation. We strongly believe that no dog is disposable, and that older dogs are as important and deserving of our help and compassion as younger dogs.

Because no single organization can help every Labrador Retriever in need, Labrador Life Line has adopted some eligibility guidelines.

We will assist purebred Labrador Retrievers who are:

With an individual, family, or life partners, or the dog is in a rescue situation, but for valid reasons the family/individual/life partners or rescue cannot provide the required help needed for the dog’s condition.

Other funding eligibility guidelines include:

1. The dog is not terminally ill.

2. If the dog is not currently owned, it must be in a rescue, and the dog is or will be adoptable if medical treatment is received (this may require consulting with the attending veterinarian or require further written documentation).

3. The dog is not or has not been aggressive towards people or other dogs.

4. Funds will not be used to treat diseases that Labrador Life Line regards as genetically based and for which risk can be significantly decreased through testing and careful breeding. This includes, but is not limited to hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, osteochondrosis dessicans, juvenile cataracts, progressive retinal atrophy, and retinal dysplasia. An exception will be made for “rescued” Labs defined as Labs that are in the possession of a verifiable rescue organization, or an owned dog that was adopted from a shelter or adopted from a rescue organization. Adoption documentation will be required for an owned dog.

5. LLL is in place to provide funding for Labradors whose families or rescues have no other way to pay for necessary care. As such, we will not provide funds for dogs whose rescuers or family have alternate methods of payment – and we cannot pay for procedures for which the veterinary clinic has already received payment.

6. Funds will not be used for long term medical care.

7. The future quality of life and not the age of the dog will be of primary importance to the Board in its evaluation. Labrador Life Line strongly believes no dog is disposable, and that older dogs are as important and deserving of our help and compassion as younger dogs.

8. Funding amounts differ for rescues and owned dogs. All applicants will be responsible for providing assurance that the balance of the medical costs can be paid before funds will be released.

a) For an owned dog, funding can be up to 75% of the proposed therapy with a maximum funding per case of $750. Not all cases are approved for maximum funding amount, as each case is evaluated on an individual basis by the entire Board of Labrador Life Line.

b) For a dog in rescue, funding can be up to 50% of the proposed therapy with a maximum funding per case of $375. Not all cases are approved for maximum funding amount, as each case is evaluated on an individual basis by the entire Board of Labrador Life Line.

9. If the situation is deemed life or death, the President of the Labrador Life Line Board can release funds without approval of any/all Board members.

10. All dogs whose health allows must be spayed/neutered before funds will be released. If a dog is not spayed/neutered and is not able to be spayed/neutered immediately due to health concerns, the applicant must provide LLL with both a veterinary opinion saying that the dog cannot currently be neutered and written agreement that the dog will be spayed/neutered as soon as his/her health permits. With the exclusion of a dog that has been rescued, responsible pet ownership entails spay/neuter of a pet, proper routine care including yearly vaccinations, heartworm testing and heartworm preventative (where heartworms are considered a significant health risk by veterinary authorities) and proper confinement. LLL is not able to assist in funding routine care.

11. We require any dog seeking assistance to have a current heartworm test on record and that the test be negative, except in the case of recently rescued dogs.

12. Due to volume of requests we receive, we must impose a limit on the amount of funding each group or individual can receive in a year. The number of approved cases and/or dollar limit is set by the Board on an annual basis. LLL’s purpose is not to replace or supplement fund raising efforts of rescue groups or individuals, but to be a ‘life line’ in emergency situations. By not revealing this limit, it is the intent of LLL to have applicants be selective in their applications.

13. Funding will only be considered when treatment has been done under the following conditions:

– The applicant must provide written documentation from the veterinarian that treatment was of an urgent nature (meaning it could not wait for funding to be approved or money otherwise raised to cover the cost without endangering or causing significant discomfort to the Lab).

– The treating veterinarian does not provide any type of payment plan which can include carrying account balances; partial, monthly or delayed payments; post-dated checks.
If an individual has made payment by credit card, received Care Credit (or similar) on behalf of a rescue organization or individual, a payment plan will be considered in place.

You will be notified in a timely manner if it is determined that your dog meets our criteria.

Please note that LLL does investigate all applications, obtaining verification from veterinary clinics of proposed treatments and costs. In all cases the veterinary clinic will be asked for verification of the availability of payment plans, and if the clinic has already received payment for the procedure in question.

Labrador Life Line reserves the right to revoke approval of funding for any reason prior to the Lab’s treatment.
Reasons for revocation include, but are not limited to:

1. Unresponsiveness on the part of the applicant

2. Failure of applicant to complete approved treatment within 60 days of notification of approval.

3. Determination by Labrador Life Line of material falsification or omission of information provided during the application process.

4. If Care Credit funds are available, and not used towards the treatment defined in the application, the approval of funding and guarantee of payment will be withdrawn by Labrador Life Line.