How does the Magic Bullet Fund choose which dogs to help?
The fund reviews applications in an effort to find the dogs for whom we can do the most good. We ask for and receive donations from generous people who choose to donate to this fund, to help these dogs, when there are so many other uses they could find for that money. It is our responsibility to the sponsors to make every effort to make good use of their funds.
There is never a guarantee when fighting cancer. Some of the dogs do not complete treatment, or succumb to cancer shortly after the treatment. Others outlive the prognosis and survive for years after cancer treatment. Our objective is to find the dogs that have the best chance of long survival, to make the best use of the donations that we receive.
The three main criteria for assistance:
- The dogs’ owners are unable to pay for cancer treatment.We help the families that are truly unable to pay for their dog’s treatments; the ones that are most in need of our help.
- The dogs have a good chance of a one-year survival
if they receive treatment, but not if they do not receive treatment. Chance of long survival is established by review of information provided by the dog’s vet, and our Review Board members. - The dogs fall within a specific age/weight parameter.
We do not provide assistance for geriatric dogs. This would be counterproductive to our effort to find the dogs for whom we can try to gain long survival. Additionally, putting a geriatric dog through cancer treatment may not be in the best interest of the dog or the owner.