Animal instincts

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“I like being around the cats,” he said. “I come in once or twice a week to help clean up and care for them, getting them ready for adoption.”

Martin usually gets in around nine in the morning and is gone by the time the facility opens at noon. He said the hours fit well with his schedule. Once he heads home, he’s got a couple of his own cat-children to care for.

“Eight weeks ago, I took home Millie,” he explained. “She’s a good companion for me and my other cat, Junior.”

Companionship tops the list of some of the ways that pets improve the health of their owners, or ‘pet parents’, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website. Cats are also credited with providing emotional support and improving a person’s mood and overall morale.

Terry Knudsen got drawn into volunteering at AHS after she helped an acquaintance adopt a dog. “I knew someone who needed a pet in his life,” she reported. “We came here and got a puppy. It’s been the best thing for him.”

Knudsen started volunteering at the facility this last summer, after going through the orientation process. Before retiring, she was the Administrative Assistant to the New York State Society of Pathologists. Today, she shares her Atlanta home with a cat, a dog and her husband Keith, also an AHS volunteer.

“I love spending time with the dogs, and walking the gentle, older, well-trained dogs,” she said. “My husband walks the big dogs!”

Some older adults may feel unequal to the task of housebreaking a puppy or training a kitten. A good solution to that problem is to adopt a senior pet. It seems to be a perfect match, since older animals are usually already house-trained and tend to be quieter and calmer.

Stephanie Hart is part of a very special AHS program, the Visiting Pet Program. The program is set up so that a group of volunteers takes adoptable puppies to visit a nursing home, assisted living facility, mental health facility or hospice. Not only does the puppy bring joy to the patients, it also makes a good icebreaker.

“The puppy spreads joy by loving and cuddling everyone, but it’s also a perfect starting point for a conversation,” Stephanie explained. “Even if I’m not the volunteer holding the puppy, I can talk to others about their pets, find out if they like dogs, and discuss their memories of pets.”

Retired after 28 years of teaching, Stephanie has volunteered at AHS for more than 30 years. She’s part of two Visiting Pet Program groups, both of which schedule monthly visits to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Home in Atlanta, located next to Turner Field.

Stephanie said, “My dad spent his last days at Our Lady, and I wanted to do something for them as a ’thank you’ for making his last days so peaceful. Combining my love for animals with Our Lady was perfect!

“The volunteers in my groups have become friends doing something we love. We get to socialize and we all enjoy being together. When we take a puppy to a facility, everyone—the patients and facility staff— interacts with it and us. It’s a very rich experience,” she added. “I think I get more out of this than anybody else does!”

Dogs and cats provide companionship, a routine and a sense of purpose. They also help relieve depression, reduce stress and lower blood pressure in people. One of the biggest

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Where to find your next best friend

There are Humane Societies and other pet friendly organizations throughout the north metro Atlanta area. Here are just a few that are worth checking into, whether you’re looking to adopt, donate or volunteer.

Atlanta Humane Society

981 Howell Mill Road NW, Atlanta, 30318 1565 Mansell Road, Alpharetta, 30009 404-875-5331, atlantahumane.org

It is the mission of the AHS to improve animal welfare in the Southeast by providing quality animal services including preventative initiatives, education, advocacy and adoption. The AHS is also focused on providing spay/neuter for pets to put an end to companion animal homelessness and pet overpopulation, performing more than 12,500 surgeries in 2015.

For the past 13 years, the Cherokee County Humane Society’s primary source of revenue has been their thrift store on Bells Ferry Road. In 2015, the group saved, altered, adopted and vaccinated over 2,000 animals.

Humane Society of Cobb County

148 Fairground Street SE, Marietta, 30060 770-428-LOST, humanecobb.com

Cherokee County Humane Society

5900 Bells Ferry Road, Acworth, 30102 770-592-8072, cchumanesociety.org

The Humane Society of Cobb County’s (HSCC) mission is to promote humane welfare and responsible animal guardianship through educational community outreach, shelter, and spay/neuter programs. Their “Recipes to the Rescue” is a fund-raising project that makes a great gift.

Managed by LifeLine Animal Project, a nonprofit organization, the group promotes pet adoption and provides affordable spaying and neutering, among other services. Since taking management of DeKalb County Animal Services and Fulton County Animal Services in 2013, thousands of lives have been saved and adoptions have been increased by 300 percent.

Fulton County Animal Services

860 Marietta Boulevard NW, Atlanta, 30318 404-613-0358; adoptions: 404-613-0357, fultonanimalservices.com

DeKalb Animal Services

845 Camp Road, Decatur, 30032 Animal Shelter: 404-294-2996; adoptions: 404-294-2165, dekalbanimalservices.com

LifeLine Animal Project takes a holistic approach to improving the standard of care for animals in Atlanta through the management of county shelters, adoption programs, spay and neuter clinics and community outreach efforts.

Among the nonprofit’s accomplishments is the Pat-A-Pet program. It provides pet therapy to residents of assisted living and nursing home facilities, improving the quality of life and promoting the joys of living with companion animals.

PAWS Atlanta

5287 Covington Highway, Decatur, 30035 770-593-1155, www.pawsatlanta.org