When Lana Chapman saw a dog named Cindy lying in the street outside a 7-Eleven in Thailand, her heart broke. She immediately took the animal in.
She didn’t think that her decision to adopt the dog would turn into a cause for people to donate thousands of dollars to help the animal.
Chapman, who is from Australia, has been helping other street dogs in the area for years.
Before the dog could live a normal life, she had to lose weight and take thyroid medication.
Chapman posted about her progress online and believed that the sweet dog’s health was in a great place after she stopped eating recently.
According to Chapman, the dog usually ran around the house with a lot of excitement before eating. However, after a couple of visits to the veterinarian, it was revealed that the animal had cancer.
The next day, the Chapmans started the chemotherapy treatment for the dog. The vet initially thought that the animal would only live for a couple of weeks.
However, they decided to try anything they could to help the dog. The initial tests cost around $2,500. The vet also told them that the dog would need at least 19 more weeks of treatment to live.
After seeing the mounting bills at the vet, Chapman knew that she would have to rely on the generosity of others to help her out.
Since most of the veterinarians on the island resort of Koh Samui do not accept insurance claims, she decided to start a campaign on a Gofundme page in the name of the dog named Cindy. The goal of the campaign was to raise $10,000 to help the animal’s treatment.
Even though the campaign would not cover the costs, she thought it would help the animal and the family. She was surprised by the amount of donations that the campaign received in just a couple of days. The donations have been coming from people who have been following the dog since it was rescued from the streets.
A study conducted in 2024 by Finder revealed that Australians are willing to spend a lot of money on their pets’ vet visits. The average annual cost of a visit to the vet in Australia is around $825. Finder also noted that people are willing to spend up to $3,000 on live-saving treatments.
Gen Z owners are willing to spend thousands of dollars to save their pets’ lives. Australians are also more inclined to give to animal-related causes, with over 221,000 Gofundme campaigns established in 2023 for such purposes.
Since many people have contributed to the campaign, Chapman is hoping that the donations will help cover the costs of the dog’s cancer treatment. She also wants to help other street dogs in the area.
For years, Chapman has been helping the hundreds of thousands of stray dogs in Thailand by providing emergency treatment and veterinary care for them. In Australia, pet insurance can help owners with the costs of their veterinary visits. The average annual cost for a pet insurance policy in the country is around $1,233.