Retirement News : Seniors : Seniors, pets make love match

Seniors, pets make love match

Date Added: 14-03-2005

Matchmaking. Love at first sight. Companionship. Affection.

When people hear those terms, they usually don’t think of their local animal shelter. But Carson City Animal Services Supervisor Pat Wiggins believes they should.

Animal services is offering free pet adoptions through March to anyone 65 or older because pets and seniors make ideal companions, Wiggins said.

“A pet provides comfort, incomparable companionship and unconditional love to someone who has spent their life surrounded by people and then finds they are in a world of solitude and isolation,” he said.

Numerous studies have linked pet ownership with improved health, lower blood pressure and stress reduction. Because of this, many nursing and assisted living homes offer regular visiting pet programs or resident pets, Wiggins said.

But he said the partnership works both ways.

“Many senior citizens are ideal pet parents. Many are retired and are home most of the day. They often live in a quiet environment free of small children, and they have plenty of love to share with a special pet, so that pet gets more loving,” he said.

Carolyn Woodring, 67, is one of seven seniors who have taken advantage of the March match-ups by adopting a dog, which she named Princess.

“I’ve been looking and looking for a dog and (the shelter) let me know that a litter of puppies had come in, so now I’ve got this little 8-week-old part husky, part Australian shepherd, part lab,” Woodring said.

“She is a lot of company and a lot of fun and she’s a pretty smart little dog. She’s a cutie,” Wood-ring said.

The senior adoption program is a cooperative effort with local veterinarians.

Sierra Veterinary and Lone Mountain Veterinary hospitals in Carson City and Dayton Valley Veterinary Hospital in Dayton will provide free spaying, neutering and rabies vaccinations for all cats and dogs adopted to seniors in March, Wiggins said.

Carson City’s “New Hope Pet Alliance,” of which the veterinary hospitals are members, was created three years ago to solicit donations to help with medical bills for pets that come into the shelter.

“The way this works is that if I take a cat in from a car accident and maybe it has a broken jaw, they will do the surgery for $200 rather than the $1,200 to $2,000 it would normally cost,” Wiggins said.

“They do care, and they do want to help us. We’re a city animal shelter but we’re trying to look past being just a shelter,” he said.

The city’s special adoption month also helps the shelter, Wiggins said.

“Spring and summer are always our busiest times, so if we can help seniors and find a nice home for a pet, it helps us open up more space here,” he said.

Wiggins also would like to remind seniors to please keep in mind the shelter’s seniors.

“We would like to remind interested seniors that the older dogs and cats in our care are usually calmer and better-behaved than rambunctious puppies and playful kittens,” he said.

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