Pet therapy works both ways

MELVILLE, N.Y. – When her 11-year-old Jack Russell terrier developed kidney failure in 2009, Jean, 86, of Huntington Station, N.Y., had to put down her beloved pet. Three months later, her husband died, leaving her with an overwhelming sense of loss.

Not long after, a concerned friend told her, “You need a new dog.”

And Jean took the advice.

When she first saw Ariel, a Lhasa Apso mix, at an animal adoption fair, “She was dancing around in her cage,” recalled Jean, a grandmother of four. “The volunteer said, ‘This one is too lively for you,’ but I liked her look.” And despite the warning, Ariel went home with Jean. “It was a love affair ever since,” she said.

But Jean also worried that with her advanced age and health concerns, she might not be up to taking care of her new charge. So when a town worker delivering Meals on Wheels admired Ariel, Jean asked where she might get some help.

“She said, ‘Would you like a volunteer to come and walk her?’ and I said, ‘Does a bird have wings?’ ” Jean recalled. The worker put her in touch with the Pioneers for Animal Welfare Society, or PAWS, a rescue organization that runs the Seniors With Animals Project, better known as SWAP.

The SWAP program is one of several offered by local rescue groups that help seniors maintain their companion animals at a time when they still cherish the bond, yet sometimes struggle to care for them due to declining health or limited finances. Groups like PAWS are recognizing that an aging population means more older pet owners are in need of help with adopting and keeping their pets.

‘Get rid of it’

“A lot of times what happens is that the (adult) child comes in and says, ‘You can’t take care of this dog or cat, let’s just get rid of it,’ ” said Melissa Gillespie, executive director of PAWS on Long Island, N.Y. “They don’t get the importance of seniors having animals. They just regard them as a headache. So now you’ve just got rid of the senior’s best friend and the animal ends up in a shelter, and they completely break down. They are in a cage, shaking, they get kennel cough or something and they tend to get euthanized because they are usually senior animals deemed unadoptable.”

Gillespie said PAWS works to give relatives a better understanding of the pet’s importance. “We try to educate the family and make them realize this (pet) is the reason the senior gets up in the morning. They have to realize that this is a major part of their day.”

In Jean’s case, PAWS sent Judy Illmensee, a volunteer who visits weekly and takes Ariel on a long walk. Jean “was having some difficulty getting around and was having trouble getting the dog enough exercise,” explained Illmensee, 66, a retired teacher from Huntington, N.Y. “Ariel has given her a reason to hang in there. It’s a typical senior story where they are inseparable from their pet, but they need help.”

SWAP started about a year ago and includes several programs. One brings animals to nursing homes to cheer residents; another helps seniors with training and placement of animals they can’t care for anymore. A third service is “Animeals,” where pet food is delivered along with Meals on Wheels. Jennifer Devine, SWAP chairwoman and a geriatric social worker, said many seniors find that having a pet is soothing and reassuring, even with the extra work.

Matching pet to person

Rescue advocates say matching seniors to the right pet is key. “We have some seniors who come in and want to adopt a kitten or a puppy. We know that’s not going to work, so we do our best to match them with a more appropriate animal,” said Linda Stuurman, president of Last Hope Animal Rescue, which has an adoption center in Wantagh, N.Y.

“Older dogs and older people make a perfect match,” acknowledges Dori Scofield, founder and president of Save-A-Pet in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. “But taking an older pet is a big responsibility because they may have more medical needs than a younger animal.” Save-A-Pet charges no adoption fee to eligible seniors and can provide free annual checkups, blood work and vaccinations at their in-house clinics. “Anything we can financially afford that isn’t crazy, we will do,” said Scofield. The group also has an “Old Friends With Benefits” program, which provides free pet food to eligible seniors 60 and older, whose pets are age 7 or older.

Old dog can learn new tricks

Some rescue groups, such as PAWS, offer help from volunteers who can also train. Barbara Horn, whose 93-year-old mother, Lucille, has a 14-year-old terrier mix named Riley, asked PAWS for help with his anxiety and tendency to bark. “We brought this dog into our family to address the physical and emotional needs of an aging senior,” said Horn. With age, her mother was becoming increasingly upset – a condition that seemed to intensify after superstorm Sandy forced them from their Long Beach, N.Y., apartment, Horn said.

“Mom was getting confused and anxious, especially when we had to move. But when she saw a dog, she would become calm and relaxed; the rest of the world went away and everything would be good,” she said. But Riley, adopted from a Brooklyn shelter, had been abused and needed help calming down. And after superstorm Sandy, Horn, 62, said, “he started acting skittish.” Riley would start barking when Lucille tried to go outside alone. So Horn thought, perhaps, he could be trained to be a service dog to help monitor her mother’s whereabouts.

Horn asked PAWS for an assessment of whether Riley could be up to the task. “They said he is a good candidate but has some fear issues,” she said. Now, he’s in training, courtesy of the organization.

There’s also help when owners can no longer care for their beloved pets. In August, Margie Stark’s brother, Jimmy, 49, was found unconscious in the Oyster Bay, N.Y., apartment he shared with Debbie and Lucy, two cats, ages 12 and 14.

“We actually don’t know what happened to him,” said Stark, 60, who lives outside of Gainesville, Fla. Jimmy was in a coma for 10 days and when he woke up, he had no short-term memory and faced weeks of impending physical therapy before going to a nursing home to live. A new owner had to be found for the cats.

Her brother “had always expressed that if anything happened to him, he wanted to make sure that somebody took care of his cats,” Stark said. None of Jimmy’s siblings could take the cats, so they were boarded for weeks.

“I was calling all kinds of people on Long Island and everybody was telling me that it was going to be so hard to find a home for these cats because they are so old,” Stark recalled. The cats, meanwhile, were being boarded with a veterinarian and losing weight. “We had gotten to the point where my sister on Long Island was saying, ‘We have to make a decision – we can’t keep paying the vet.’ ”

Finally, Stark got in touch with Gillespie at PAWS, who put out an email blast asking for help in placing the cats. Soon, Stark was getting calls and emails from all over the country. “We got an overwhelming response,” she said, including a man in his 50s who lived in Syosset. He went to see the cats and later called her.

“They weren’t what he was expecting, but they won his heart,” Stark said. He adopted Debbie and Lucy and sent photos to Stark. “In the first one, they were thin and hiding, but in the second one, they looked much better,” she said. “He has also said that if we want to bring the cats to see my brother, he will allow it, or if my brother recovers he would give them back.”

Stark is grateful and relieved a good home was found for Jimmy’s pets.

“My brother always asks about his cats,” she said. “After all, they were his babies.”