League for Animal Welfare

Funded in 2024

Founded in 1949, the League for Animal Welfare is a limited-admission shelter and public veterinary clinic in Cincinnati. The League now shelters and adopts more than 1,800 homeless cats and dogs annually and serves more than 3,000 area pets in its spay/neuter, wellness, and veterinary assistance programs.  

The League for Animal Welfare operates a Veterinary Assistance Program, providing urgent care for the community’s pets. The program alleviates conditions affecting a pet’s quality of life and serves families who otherwise could not afford to treat the condition. The goal is to keep loved animals with their families, avoid unnecessary surrender to shelters, and ensure those pets can stay healthy and comfortable in their homes, regardless of financial limitations. The program has grown substantially in its four years of operation, as increasing veterinary costs have strained accessible care. A Grey Muzzle grant will help ten senior dogs facing painful or uncomfortable conditions – from itchy skin due to fleas or allergies to painfully infected teeth to emergency blockage surgeries, like the one performed on eight-year-old husky Anastasia. 

Anastasia has a habit of eating things she shouldn’t. After eating a child’s stuffed toy, Anastasia’s guardian, Ruben, brought her to two veterinarians for help, but he did not have the estimated $4,000 needed for her emergency surgery. They referred him the League’s Veterinary Assistance Program, where the surgery was performed that day (an astounding eight days after Anastasia had eaten the toy), saving her life. Before heading into surgery, Ruben told the League’s veterinarian, “Please … she’s all I have left.”