I think that donations could be much better spent buying insurance for low-income pet owners than for covering the costs of treatment.

For $40, I could cover a single exam fee for a single pet, or I could cover one month of premiums for the Healthy Paws plan with the lowest deductible. That's how I pay for my own pet's care, and my net savings are in the range of several thousand dollars.

With insurance, you're also able to save pets with time-sensitive (or even emergency) problems.

If that were combined with proper preventative care (similar to the Banfield plans, where people essentially pre-pay for checksup/vaccines/etc.), then you'd have comprehensive coverage for a pet at around $80/month.

Going one step further, if you raised enough money, you could pay for these things using the interest without touching the principal. Each ~$15k raised would cover one additional pet (assuming, let's say, high-dividend index funds).

I understand that your business model is to inspire people to donate by seeing sick pets, but I'm not sure many people go out looking for that kind of thing.