Column: Surrendering a pet due to veterinary cost should be the last option
Luke (A522972) is a super sweet 5-month-old puppy who came to us as a stray from Altadena. When he arrived, he wasn’t feeling well and tested positive for parvo, a highly contagious and often fatal disease. Our veterinary team quickly began treatment and within days, Luke made a full recovery. Now, he’s feeling great and ready for a forever home! Luke is friendly, playful, and full of love. Want to meet him? Visit Pasadena Humane! We’re open for adoptions from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
At Pasadena Humane, we’ve noticed an alarming trend in recent years. As the cost of veterinary care continues to rise, more and more pet owners are coming to us in crisis.
Their beloved pet needs medical attention — sometimes urgently — and they simply can’t afford it. Out of options, they turn to their local shelter, thinking surrender is the only path forward.
These are people who love their pets deeply. But when an animal becomes sick or injured and the treatment is estimated in the thousands, they feel stuck. It’s a terrifying place to be. They show up at the shelter heartbroken, convinced there’s no other choice.
At Pasadena Humane, we do our best to offer another way.
When someone contacts us about surrendering a pet for medical reasons, we meet them with compassion and empathy. We rarely see shelter surrender as the first step. Rather, we view it as the last resort. Something to be considered only after every other option has been explored.
That’s why we work hard to keep pets in the homes where they’re already safe and loved. Through our Helping Paws program, we provide a service in partnership with clinics in our area to qualifying pet owners in our service area who are considering surrender due to financial hardship.
This service covers visits at partner veterinary clinics. After a pet is seen at a private practice, there’s communication between Pasadena Humane staff and the veterinarian. Together, we go over the treatment plan and confirm what our program can cover financially.
Our approach often includes consideration for what’s now known as the “spectrum of care.” This concept acknowledges that there’s often a range of treatment options that can be tailored to both the pet’s medical needs and the family’s financial reality.
For example, if a dog comes in with a cough, instead of jumping immediately to diagnostics like X-rays or ultrasounds, a veterinarian might recommend starting with a course of antibiotics. In many cases, this approach can resolve the issue and relieve the animal’s symptoms quickly and affordably. Of course, every case is different, and treatment decisions should always be made between the pet owner and their veterinarian.
Over the past few years, our Helping Paws program has helped hundreds of pets get the care they need to stay right where they belong. I’m incredibly proud of that, but I also recognize that the demand for affordable veterinary care far outpaces what we can provide.
The truth is that nobody wants to give up their pet. Surrendering a well-loved animal due to the cost of veterinary care places additional stress on our already overburdened sheltering system.
I’ve spoken before about the ongoing dog adoption crisis, especially when it comes to large-breed dogs. These pets often spend weeks or even months waiting in shelters for new homes. So why would we take an animal out of a loving home, causing heartache for the family and stress for the pet, if there’s a way to prevent that surrender in the first place?
That’s why increasing access to care has to be a broader, community-wide conversation. More veterinary practices offering a spectrum of care can make a meaningful difference.
By expanding access and rethinking what quality veterinary care looks like, we can stop these heartbreaking surrenders before they happen and keep more pets with the families who love them.
To learn more about our Helping Paws program and what you can do to support pet owners in need, visit pasadenahumane.org/helpingpaws
Chris Ramon is president and CEO of Pasadena Humane
This blog post originally appeared as a column in the Pasadena Star-News on July 25, 2025.
