Second Chance® Grants transform tragedy into hope by supporting the medical recovery of animals who have endured abuse or neglect.
Financial Support for Animals Who Need It Most
Every day, shelters and rescues step in when animals have nowhere else to turn. Victims of cruelty. Survivors of neglect. Animals requiring urgent surgical intervention or intensive medical care.
The cost of saving these lives can be overwhelming.
The Second Chance® Grant program from American Humane Society provides direct financial assistance to help offset the medical costs of animals who have suffered abuse, cruelty or neglect. These grants are designed to advance and facilitate your lifesaving work, ensuring that critical treatment decisions are guided by medical need, not limited budgets.
When you’re fighting for an animal’s life, you shouldn’t have to fight your balance sheet too.
What Second Chance Grants Covers
Second Chance Grants help reimburse eligible medical expenses associated with:
- Emergency and specialty veterinary care
- Surgical procedures
- Diagnostic testing
- Treatment related to cruelty or neglect cases
- Intensive rehabilitation and recovery support
Grants are awarded to qualifying 501(c)(3) shelters and rescue organizations across the country.
Our goal is simple: remove financial barriers so more animals can receive the care they urgently need.
Powered by Partnership: Trupanion & Second Chance
We are proud to partner with Trupanion to expand the reach and impact of the Second Chance Grant program.
Trupanion has made a generous gift to American Humane Society to fund six Second Chance Grants, providing critical medical care to animals who are victims of abuse or neglect. These grants help ensure that animals who have suffered unimaginable hardship receive the lifesaving treatment they need and the second chance they deserve.
Cruelty and neglect cases often require complex surgical intervention, advanced diagnostics and intensive rehabilitation. Through this dedicated funding, Trupanion is directly helping shelters and rescues offset the high cost of urgent medical care so treatment decisions can be guided by need rather than budget constraints.
To be eligible for a Trupanion-funded Second Chance Grant, shelters must be enrolled in either the Trupanion Adoption Day Program or the Trupanion Exam Day Program. These programs reflect Trupanion’s broader commitment to supporting veterinary access and continuity of care for adopted pets.
Why This Program Matters
Local shelters and rescue groups are often saddled with steep expenses when responding to cruelty cases. These animals frequently arrive with severe injuries, untreated infections, fractures, organ damage or prolonged trauma that require complex intervention.
Without funding support, organizations are sometimes forced into impossible decisions.
Second Chance Grants provide:
- Immediate financial relief
- Greater treatment flexibility
- Strengthened capacity for future cruelty cases
- Public storytelling opportunities to highlight your work
We exist to help you say “yes” to lifesaving care.
Second Chance Success Stories
Behind every grant is a life transformed. Here are just a few examples of animals whose recoveries were made possible through Second Chance funding support.
Hansel & Gretel
Hansel and Gretel, two young puppies found abandoned and suffering from severe neglect, were battling painful untreated mange, infection and serious medical complications. A Second Chance Grant helped cover the cost of their extensive veterinary care, ensuring love and lifesaving treatment went hand in hand.
Today, Gretel is adopted and thriving while Hansel is on adoption trial, living proof that when funding does not stand in the way of care, second chances are possible.
Tuffy
Tuffy, a young cat found bleeding and unable to walk, had been shot multiple times, suffering devastating injuries to his eye and leg. He required urgent surgery and intensive veterinary care to survive. A Second Chance Grant helped cover the cost of his lifesaving procedures, ending his pain and giving him the chance to recover.
Today, Tuffy is healed and safe in a loving forever home, a powerful reminder of what timely funding makes possible.
Nellie
Nellie, a five-month-old puppy, was found abandoned in a park with a gunshot wound to her neck—weak, starving and fighting to survive. She required intensive hospitalization, oxygen support and a feeding tube just to stay alive. A Second Chance Grant helped cover the cost of her lifesaving medical care, ensuring she received the urgent treatment she desperately needed.
Today, Nellie is fully healed and on her way to finding a loving home.