Veterinary Students Helping Elderly Care for Their Pets

 FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A fun-loving schnauzer named Pocket is stroke survivor Dorothy Kiser’s closest companion. But Kiser almost had to put Pocket to sleep when her pet developed diabetes: Kiser feared she wouldn’t be able to take care of the dog alone. Aspiring veterinary students at Colorado State University stepped in to visit the 83-year-old Kiser and Pocket twice a day, giving the dog insulin shots and checking his blood-sugar levels.

The students are taking a class called Pets Forever, which pairs social work and pre-veterinary students with elderly and disabled pet owners who need help keeping their pets at home. Students walk dogs, clean litter boxes and drive sick animals to the vet for homebound owners. It’s a chance for vets-in-training to care for animals in a home setting — and helps the elderly and disabled keep companion animals, which studies show can prevent depression and even lower hospital admission rates.

“I don’t know what I would have done with Pocket if they didn’t come help,” said Kiser, a widow who lives alone and has limited use of her left arm. She shook her head as she watched 21-year-old student Lauren Gould take Pocket, 9, to the back yard for a morning urine sample. “I couldn’t do this alone. I probably would’ve had to put her to sleep,” Kiser said.

Pets Forever was created in 2008 by Lori Kogan, a CSU psychologist who works with the College of Veterinary Medicine. Entering a third semester, Kogan has had to cap enrollment in the program at 35 students and hopes to see it replicated at other universities, not just those with a large number of pre-veterinary students. “I would hear these really sad stories about people who had to give up their pets because they couldn’t walk the dog anymore, couldn’t clean the litter box,” Kogan said. “And there are cases where the relationships people have with their pets are sometimes the only relationships they have left, because everyone else is gone.”

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