COVER STORY By Donna Williams Lewis Shelters see it all the time. The typical person looking to adopt a pet will pass by older animals in search of a puppy or a kitten. Cumming resident Skeet Wright has seen that for herself. “You go and look at these animals and your heart just breaks. No one wants a senior animal. They’re all just looking for the younger dogs,” Wright said. She’d had a dog before and didn’t want to go through the puppy stage again. “I just thought … let me find one that I can give the best years to,” she said. She and her husband, Les, last summer adopted a 7-year-old dog whose teeth were in such bad shape that PAWS Atlanta had to remove all but three of them before releasing her for adoption to her new family. The dog was also prescribed liver medication, which she must take daily for the
Making new friends with old souls rest of her life. But the Wrights couldn’t be happier with their choice of tiny, 5-pound “Miss Penny.” She eats canned food and likes scrambled eggs and rice for an occasional special treat. “She’s such a Miss Priss and she’s very dainty. She is just the best companion,” Wright said. “She loves to sit in your lap. She’s not super demanding. She’s just there for us. She loves our grandkids, too. She loves to play with them.”
‘What you see is what you get’
LifeLine Animal Project, which runs shelter operations for Fulton and DeKalb counties, has done “Golden Girls” and “Golden Oldies” events to promote adoption of older animals. November is national Adopt A Senior Pet Month, and there are groups devoted solely to senior animals. Among them is the Grey Muzzle Organization. Since 2008, Grey Muzzle has provided more than $2 million in
grants for senior dog programs to 190 nonprofit organizations nationwide, according to its website. Among them are grants for programs that help seniors adopt senior dogs. Denise Fleck, president of the organization’s board of directors, said one benefit of choosing a senior animal was, “with older dogs, what you see is what you get!” “They have already grown into their bodies and personalities, are often more low-key and just love to sit adoringly at your side,” said Fleck, of Villa Rica. “It is important to remember, however, that a 7-year-old senior dog can be quite different from a 13-year-old. So senior dogs, like senior people, have a range of needs and activity levels, but all still have so much love to give.” PAWS Atlanta has partnered with Grey Muzzle on projects such as helping to pay for some of the extra medical care senior
Volunteer Hope Gentle checks in on animals at the LifeLine shelter
4
AUGUST 2020 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
facebook.com/AtlantaSeniorLife
