Pets of Homeless People
December 15th, 2009
These days we hear about more and more people leaving their pets behind as they leave their homes. It’s even harder to think about during the holiday season. Some people will find reasons to leave an animal behind; relocation, financial issues, divorce, more responsibility for an older animal….and the list goes on. For some, that is not an option. They will lose everything but they will never leave their beloved pet behind. The animal is the only thing that keeps them going in this crazy, unpredictable world. It is called unconditional love and it’s an emotional bond of loyalty. We all search for it when most of the time it is right in front of us, our pet. The tragic part is that these pets don’t choose their owners.
It is estimated, by the National Coalition for the Homeless, that 3.5 million people are homeless. Between 5% to 10% of homeless people have dogs and/or cats. In some areas of the country the rate is as high as 24%. Most people who experience homelessness are homeless for a short period of time, and usually need help finding housing or a rent subsidy. Unfortunately for those with pets it becomes more difficult. Many are forced to choose between their pet or a roof over their head.
Picture this, a well dressed woman walks up to a homeless man and gives him a bag of fast food on her way to work. The man has been sitting on the sidewalk in the same spot for weeks, he looks up and says “God bless you.” The woman nods and walks away but not before she turns to see him open the bag and remove a burger, take a bite and give the rest to his dog. This scene is probably something that goes on more often than we would like to think.
There is an organization I found out about called “Feeding Pets of the Homeless”. They provide medical care and food for pets that belong to the homeless and the disadvantaged. They do this by teaming up with Veterinarians and pet related businesses in different areas of the country. They’ll do talks in communities about this issue and work with food distributing organizations about the importance of including pet food. They also have collection sites across the U.S. and Canada. These sites are clinics, hospitals, businesses, storefronts and nonprofits that understand the human/animal bond. They work hand in hand with the food pantries and food kitchens, so the animals can be fed as well as the homeless. They also provide grants to licensed Veterinarians and other nonprofit organizations. You can email them at: info@petsofhomeless.org for more information and an application.
Please, go to their website and see if there is a collection site in your area. If not, please think about starting one for the animals and people in need. Feeding Pets of the Homeless is available to help. This is a hard time for everyone, animal and human. It takes a lot of courage, and love, for these people in need to stand by their pet, literally.
Great article, I think this is very helpful. Keep up the great work!
thanks for this great information I think we shold all consider donating food to these priceless pets.
Well it is true that with more an more people on the streets ( prompting even an Heir to the British throne to spend a night on the streets of London to find out first hand what it meant http://ow.ly/PdZS ) and therefore it is also true that they face further hardship by keeping their pets. Here in the forlorn country of Ariege, most homeless people have a tleast one dog, many more than that.
Problems with pets at this stage become more complex. On the one hand, feeding them is a hardship, when one has hardly enough for oneself.
Next, it is the kingdom of soft drugs here and many happy owners escape in fantasy worlds leaving their pets often unwillingly vulnerable. Fights break out not only between owners , but unfortunately between pets too!
Next are the difficulties when pets require treatment for injuries, illness, even simple worming if they dont know how to use natural rememdies or the infestation is too strong for a rigourous purging in street conditions.
Lastly there is the ever present reproduction, many can neither afford sterilisation nor are capable of ensuring safety of the bitches when they are in season.
So let’s not kid ourselves. Pets are wonderful companion but we need to be a bit further thinking when it comes down to how to help them along with their masters. We even have folks here, usually older folks who still roam around with their… donkeys, yes their donkeys ( a vary common animal round here)
If anyone knows about a vet ring anywhere in the world , let me know I’d like to get in touch and understand how they operate so suggestions packages can be made for locals who wish to help in their areas and neighbourhood !
Would be nice to have concrete offers to put forward, what do others think?
Anne in France
Here in Portland OR we also struggle with a significant homeless population and many of them do have pets. Fortunately we have a non profit organization that helps with the medical needs as well as the supply needs of those pets owned by our homeless. My hospital is a donation site for the organization and I am proud to say multiple team members have volunteered at the medical clinics held twice a year. Please check them out >> http://www.portlandanimalwelfareteam.org/index.php
Thanks for posting this. Usually when I saw a homeless person with an animal it would anger me. However, I admit that had never considered what would happen to animal if it were relinquished. Ok. Will check it out and see if I can volunteer somewhere
This is a fabulous program. I had no idea it even existed. There is a certain bond between us and our pets, and sometimes that is what keeps people going.
The article made me think about when the elderly move into nursing homes and many times are forced to give up a beloved pet. The person is already depressed and this adds to it. I was going to get Mikey (my cat who passed) into a program to take him to nursing homes to visit residents. He would have brought much joy to them. He has been dubbed “The Friendliest Cat in the World” by many people.
Wonderful program!
excellent resourse. my name is donna and i am the director of a 501(c)3, non-profit that has been serving homeless youth and young adults in the Albuquerque area since 1995. we are struggling and in the process of rebuilding after many set-backs, financial and other (our drop-in center was burnt down in 2002 then our next one was shut down in 2005 because the place we rented was not up to code. we had always been pet friendly, the only agency that ever opened its doors and let the animal as part of the family in out of the cold and struggled to get them fed) so we can serve more youth, young people who come with a host of problems that other agencies cannot deal with. i have seen many of them, as your stats indicate, who (usually dogs) have animals and do in fact feed them before themselves. usually these young people come to us, thier animal(s) being the only living being(s) that they trust and that they believe are the only that unconditionally love them (and they love and trust thier animals unconditionally and it brings them hope and a sense of security). while we are trying to rebuild, we operate mobilely, taking services to our clients. we do outreach and work closely with a drop-in that primarily serves older homeless people (and this place, always on a shoe-string budget, often takes in homeless pets). thier main passion seems to be cats (cats are harder to live on the streets with). in Albuquerque, we have a place called No More homeless Pets. they make available free spays/neuters. we help our clients obtain proof (or lack of) income so they can qualify. the problem of having an address is taken care of as we provide a mailing address to the kids. we don’t have money for the rabies shots (which are not free and i think an animal especially living on the streets needs ALL of thier shots. i have seen dogs die from horrible, avoidable, and painful deaths leaving us with the only option, that being euthanasia) which need to be done before the animal is “fixed”. after that’s done, Albuquerque provides free liscening and microchipping to low income people. if we had shots taken care of and then spay/neuter done and then liscence and chipping done, that would take care of one problem. we are struggling with transportation money (the buses donnot let animals). the disemination of animal food would be easy as long as our vehicle is up and running (outreach capacity) and through the drop-in in the other part of town that i mentioned. we would, and never had, turned away an animal because the homeless person was older than our service population. is there a way i could get more information that i could copy (application too) that i could bring to a few vets and try to get one or two on board for sick animals? if anyone would like to donate the $45 for the “collection site kit”and/or any other operational funds (i don’t think i understand how the agency would get a hold of the food to disperse), it will be ear-marked just for animal-related needs. the food will be given to those in need, the transportation to places for shots, spay/nueter, liscing, and chipping (that’s a law here), and to extra vet care, we’d be extremely happy to work with Feeding Pets of the Homeless. So if someone would like to help us get started finanaciallly and logistically feel free to write or call. Youth in Transition (EIN# 85-0429962), Donna Rowe director (on board with just a little assistance)
5555 Zuni SE #200 (mailing address), Albuquerque, NM 87108
505-315-4664
great and essential work to both Not Without My Pet and Pets of the Homeless.
I am lucky to live in San Francisco. We have a great organization called VetSOS which supplies food and veterinary care, spays and neuters for pets of homeless residents. I will let them know of this organization.
This is a great program. My donation is on the way!
It’s just perfect compatibility, nothing more to be said… Great article !!
Your article’s really thought provoking and the images are so powerful, it’s heartbreaking to see needy animals or people, yet I get the sense that there’s a really strong bond between the two – maybe more so than for the rest of us with comfortable homes and pampered pets.
It feels like there’s an opportunity to make more of the fact that homeless people are so incredibly talented at taming and training their pets. Are there any organisations out there employing homeless people to train unruly dogs? If not maybe there should be as it’d be a great way for them to use the time they have on their hands and make some money. I’ve never yet seen a homeless person with a naughty pet!
We have had several people-less companion animals rescued here at Metairie Humane recently either because the person became or was in fact homeless; and sometimes incarcerated or otherwise unable to care for their loved pet.
Thank You Donna, for posting this article.
I think it is wonderful. It really show the importance of pets in society. Those cats and dogs are doing an incredible job of keeping their owners alive and somewhat sane.
If it came to giving up my dog and having shelter, I would forego the shelter. Pets give us unconditional love. Unconditional, no questions asked. Who do you know would do that?
Think of other some of other things pets do:
-lowers blood pressure just by the mere act of petting.
-communicates with those for whom communication is difficult, like autistic children
-helps those who are mobility impaired live decent lives
Pets do all this and all we have to do is fill their food and water bowls a few times a day. Moreover they don’t whine when we feed them the same thing every day.
There’s an organization in Germany called “Tiertafel” (Foodtable for Animals would be the translation, I guess). They have organized a place in many German towns, where people who don’t have money but have pets can go to get food and advice. There are more people going there every day. IFAW has given them a grant to buy a truck for the supplies they get donated to them.
I have been living in Fort Worth, Texas for the past year and I have contacted a few homeless shelters, etc. in order to try to volunteer my veterinary services for these people and their pets. However, I have not received any useful information from anyone and I wonder if you have a local contact in the Fort Worth or Dallas Texas area that I could contact and try to get this free clinic set up.
I have a few co-workers that I know would also donate their time, and I believe I could also solicit nearly-expired medications, etc. from area veterinarians to improve the quality of the care that we could provide.
Any advice or contact here you may have would be most appreciated.
Kindest Regards, Mike, DMV
That is wonderful. This is such a hard time on humans and pets. Thank you for sharing this!!
Wow… this is a staggering conclusion! Thanks for this post…
Thanks for this, I’ve posted on my FB page.
This is so sad but good to know. Breaks my heart….
I have been living in Fort Worth, Texas for the past year and I have contacted a few homeless shelters, etc. in order to try to volunteer my veterinary services for these people and their pets. However, I have not received any useful information from anyone and I wonder if you have a local contact in the Fort Worth or Dallas Texas area that I could contact and try to get this free clinic set up.
I have a few co-workers that I know would also donate their time, and I believe I could also solicit nearly-expired medications, etc. from area veterinarians to improve the quality of the care that we could provide.
Any advice you may have would be most appreciated.
Kindest Regards,
Michael K. Guy, DVM, MS, PhD
mguy04@yahoo.com
We did an article about it in 2005 and have since been able to get a few local pet businesses to start collecting food for the homeless with pets. It is a great cause.
The article, the comments and especially the pictures, are heartbreaking. My take? What in the hell has happened to this country whose still employed and caring have to band together to help the growing ranks of the homeless, the growing number of children suffering from malnutrition, and abandoned animals to provide the all to often less than minimal help. Especially vis a vis the shrinking wages.
I find it to be beyond unconscionable that corporate America will divert not a small part of its profits to buy off corrupt officials, rather than use those $millions to create workplaces that adequately reward its workers and who invest in the community. Can the return to Dickens’s inhuman Industrial Age be far behind?
How much longer before we will all reap the whirlwind?
Fantastic!
Outstanding! You capture our spirit perfect.
I look forward to being on your show.
I really liked your article. It is heart breaking.
I live in UK and what I have seen between homeless people and their dogs is a real bond.
Dogs don’t care if their owners have or not money. They want to feel loved.
Great article Donna, congrats!!… I agree with Laura, I always find amazing how this people share thier food and “shelter” with thier dogs, how they warm up together… wish we could help them more.
“Homeless people take better care of their pets than most..
This make me cry for several reason……..one that a person is homeless to start with adn second that they take good care of their pets. they may not have THE BEST of everything but give EVERYTHING to their pet. I have been in this situation ….. mot quite homeless as I found a place usually “just in time” but have had no money to eat but ALWYAS fed my two boys, Max and Hooch. They were my world and to this day miss them so much it still hurts like hell….I cry for them frequently…i had not even a penny at the end of the month and Hooch had very bad allergies and fought a constant battle of his skin. Max, well, I cant say enough great things about that boy…..if a dog could be a soul mate, he was mine!!!! I have had soem really terrific dogs that loved me to death but none like Max. I applaud these people for keeping their pets safe and remembering that when you take in a dog, he is counting on you for his life…….. I would live out of my car before giving up my dog. One of the sadest things I ever saw was a homeles man that gave up his dog to HSSC because she was old and it was very cold and he hadnt beenable to feed her in days. He thought she deserved a warm place to live and was doing right by the animal……….he sat outside for a very long tiem crying holding her before surrendering her and cried even more ………. I jus tdon’t understand where HUMANITY went ..???…
I will forward a pic of “MY BOYS” to share with you……..you will then understand my love of red nose pits….
It just breaks my heart when I read articles like this. So much suffering taking place right now for so many. I had a story once that referred to the loyalty and love of a dog for their human companion. One of the passages referred to the choice of the dog. It went on to say that the dog would forsake the comfort of a warm hearth and soft bed if it meant they would be without their human companion, that they would prefer to sleep on the cold hard ground as long as they were with the one they loved. I will have to look and see if I can find the complete reading.
ThankQ for highlighting the plight of these people and their pets…..
you have kickstarted me to help locally, thanks
chikisses
coco
Thanks for this article. I think this is a very worthwhile charity and I’m glad to know about it.
Thank you so much for sharing this info….it tears at my heart strings. i will do what i can to spread the message and help.
i am 60 years old worked hard all my life and in the past 3 years i have lost a husband, my house, 2 jobs and most of so called friends. i bought an old used camper and park in family and true friends yards all so i can keep my 2 dogs and a cat. they r all i have left…they r pound animals…mia my small dog is 18, tiger the little 4 pound kitten like 22 year old, and cami a mid size is 6. they have helped me raise my chidren, grieve the death of my parents, and love every day… but i am having trouble feeding them and mia needs vet attention for her skin allergies. i am in north florida/south georgia…do u know anyone who would help me and my animals?