Chris Meiering, president of the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund, and his trusty office mate “Quinn” head back to work after quick afternoon walk. The fund was created by Zuke’s, the local pet treat company, to help peoplewho can’t afford treatment for their sick pets./Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Pet projects

Durango Dog and Cat Cancer Fund helps pets nationwide

by Jen Reeder

Most Durangoans with dogs know the story behind Zuke’s, the locally owned pet treat company. While on a long hike, founder Pat Meiering fed his exhausted chocolate lab Zuke his energy bar and realized dogs needed bars of their own. The epiphany led Meiering to found Zuke’s in 1995, starting with the product Power Bones and since expanding to a variety of health-conscious snacks for dogs and cats.

“The best word to describe Zuke is ‘regal,’” Meiering said of his pet. “Smart, loyal … he just had a great personality. We ran around the mountains together.”

What Durangoans may not know is Zuke also inspired Meiering to start the nonprofit Dog and Cat Cancer Fund. In 2000 – when he was only 7 years old – Zuke was diagnosed with lung cancer that an expensive surgery revealed had spread past the point of being treatable.

“It was pretty rough,” Meiering said. “Treatments, preventions, none of that stuff was really around. It seemed antiquated to me. I thought, ‘If I can ever make a difference, I will.’”

By the summer of 2008, Zuke’s had invested the initial funding for the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund and filed for nonprofit status, which was approved later that year.

“Our primary mission is to help families that can’t afford it, get cancer treatment for their dogs and cats,” said Chris Meiering, president of the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund (and Pat Meiering’s brother).
Chris Meiering said in 2010, the fund raised about $45,000 and has already helped 23 families this year. A percentage of every Zuke’s sale is donated to the fund, and this year 25 percent of the “Keep Hope Alive” two-packs of Jerky Naturals will go directly to the fund. So far, it’s raised $12,000 this year. Some retail pet stores outside of Durango also offer a “Round Up at the Register” program in which customers can round up their total to help the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund.

“We can raise over $1,000 per store per month at some locations,” Chris Meiering said.
As the program expands, the goal of the fund is to also offer research grants for exploring new treatments and preventative measures for canine and feline cancer. The need is great.

“Cats are a little less well studied, but over 50 percent of adult dogs will get cancer and it is the No. 1 cause of death in older dogs,” Chris Meiering said. “It is also the primary cause of death in all breeds with the exception of the smallest breeds.”

People who need help paying for their pet’s cancer treatments apply online at www.dccfund.org. Once the application is approved – generally after the applicant supplies financial records – the veterinarian faxes the treatment bill to the fund, which pays it directly to the practice (up to $900). Determining need can be tricky – a woman with an $800,000 home on the East Coast seemed unlikely for approval until she sent the foreclosure papers.

While Zuke’s provided initial start-up costs, the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund is completely independent of the company to encourage other pet food companies to get involved in raising funds.

“We wanted this to be completely independent of Zuke’s moving forward … if Zuke’s greatest competitor in the marketplace wanted to partner up with the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund, the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund would do that without hesitation,” Chris Meiering said. “The purpose of the charity is to help the animals.”

The fund’s website also has information about canine and feline cancer. Chris Meiering said that prevention is the best cure available. He suggests pet owners use high-quality food and reduce the use of toxic chemicals in the home and garden.

“Imagine your toddler crawling around on the floor and think whether you want them in contact with those chemicals found in bottles under the sink,”

Chris Meiering said. “If the answer is ‘no,’ then the same should apply to your pets. They spend an entire lifetime at that level.”

Dilia Gomez, a resident of Auburndale, Fla., received a grant from the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund for her mixed-breed dog, Grolsch. She has owned Grolsch since he was left in a box on her sister’s doorstep when he was just two weeks old. “When you bottlefeed the little baby, you kind of fall in love with it,” Gomez said.

When she moved from Puerto Rico to Florida in 2003, Grolsch came with her. But in 2010 when Grolsch was 9 years old, Gomez noticed something unusual on his neck, which turned out to be lymphoma. She used her unemployment benefits to help pay for cancer treatment, and he went into remission immediately. But this March, the cancer returned, and Gomez was no longer receiving unemployment benefits. She searched online and came across the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund. The day she applied, she heard back from Chris Meiering and was soon approved for a grant. Now Grolsch is once again in remission.

“They were absolutely kind enough and generous enough to give him another chance,” Gomez said. “They went through it – they know what it is to lose our pets. They know by experience and they care. And they help people like me get my baby help. It’s great that there’s still people out there that help others.”

The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund helped Cape Cod, Mass., residents Saralee Perel and Bob Daly after their beloved cat Eddie was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2009. Eddie, a gray tabby, exuded a confidence that the couple sought to emulate in their own lives.

“When something came up that we were uncomfortable with or puzzled about how to handle, we said to each other, ‘What would Eddie do?’ and instantly we would have a way of doing it … nothing bothered him and he would do whatever he wanted to do,” Daly said.

Veterinarians predicted Eddie only had two months to live, but the couple began chemotherapy because it typically doesn’t cause side effects in animals the way it does in humans, Perel said.

“We got two more wonderful years with him. We also declared bankruptcy,” she said. “That’s why I reached out to the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund.”
The fund helped the spouses continue Eddie’s treatments without making them feel ashamed, she said. In gratitude, Daly sent cans of his special cranberry sauce to the staff at the fund.

“It’s just so wonderful the way they treated us and what they actually gave us: time, his life. Much more than money. They just touched our lives,” Daly said.

“We were entertained every day for 15 years, from the day we found him to the last day.”

The gratitude of pet owners helped by the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund is the best part of Chris Meiering’s job, he said. Photos of dogs and cats who received grants cover his desk.

“Helping someone who loves their pet like a child is very rewarding,” he said. “A thank you from a guardian or an update from a client really makes it all worth it.”

For more information about the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund, visit www.dccfund.org.