PAWS-ING TO HELP UNSHELTERED PETS

Pet Helpers provides care for animal companions

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A single Nextdoor post blew Laurie Riley’s world wide open.

There, she read that a pet had died of a treatable malady simply because its owner couldn’t afford adequate medical care.

To think that this could happen in this community was untenable, Riley said.

So this March, Riley started Pet Helpers a charitable nonprofit whose sole purpose is to provide medical care for the four-legged companions of unhoused or underfunded folks.

“People need something to love and something to love them,” said Riley, a self-described wildlife artist and cat lover.

Pets may be the only thing an unhoused person has to hold close and get some comfort, she added.

“To feel you’re responsible for another life gives you a sense of purpose,” Riley said.

The steep cost of veterinary care is a reality all pet owners face, regardless of housing challenges. While two area animal shelters do offer low-cost services for sterilization, rabies vaccinations, and microchipping services, sometimes even those fees are too much for struggling folks.

“People suffer when their pets suffer,” Riley said.

The sentiment galvanized a community of volunteers — 10 at the moment — who hit the ground to make house calls of a sort to meet local folks and their furry companions. Pairs of volunteers visit the unhoused at Jefferson County Fairgrounds and the transitional housing village Peter’s Place frequently, monitoring pet health and getting to know their owners.

“I have not seen any aggressiveness with people’s pets,” she said. “They are well-behaved and well-trained. It’s not like people are letting their dogs run free.”

“Pet owners want this,” Riley said, referring to healthcare and maintenance.

Riley was once a veterinary’s assistant, and another volunteer is a retired veterinarian, which gives Pet Helpers a decided edge in sussing out potential health concerns.

One man, after discovering the nonprofit would cover critical dental work for his dog, said he went back to his tent, hugged his dog, and wept. He told Pet Helpers this was the first hope he’d had of his dog getting care.

This summer, when the heat wave hit, a woman from Peter’s Place feared she couldn’t go to work and leave her dog at home. After the post hit Nextdoor, an anonymous donor gave not just a fan to the dog’s owner, but provided one for every house in the village.

But while talking with others in the community, Riley has heard the critique that “homeless people don’t deserve pets.”

“Some people think that helping homeless people supports homelessness,” she said. 

Riley disagrees.

“How can someone who doesn’t have a door to lock afford to work, when it means risking leaving the entirety of their possessions?”

“I feel I have a whole new community of friends,” she added. “They are like everybody else and have fallen on hard times.”

Her passion for animals through Pet Helpers is one facet of a larger need, she said. She is encouraged to see that similar organizations have popped up across the nation.

“This was one of the only things missing from our community to complete the circle of care,” she said.

“Animals are so trusting and innocent and they depend on us,” Riley said. “We can’t let them down.”