This is so sweet!
When 83-year-old stroke survivor Dorothy Kiser‘s pet schnauzer named Pocket was diagnosed with diabetes, she feared she would have to put her closest companion to sleep.
Fortunately for Dorothy, a group of aspiring veterinarians at Colorado State University weren’t going to let that happen.
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. They visited Dorothy twice a day to give Pocket insulin shots and check his blood-sugar levels.
Dorothy is very thankful for the help, saying:
“I don’t know what I would have done with Pocket if they didn’t come help. I couldn’t do this alone. I probably would’ve had to put her to sleep.”
While other charities help take care of animals, Pets Forever is the first to be affiliated with a university.
Lori Kogan, who founded the program in 2008, speaks of her motivation to start the initiative, saying:
“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. 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.”
Lori hopes that other universities across the country begin to replicate the program.
So do we!
This sounds like a great opportunity for students to get some experience, while helping out the disabled and animals!
Great job, guys!
[Image via AP Images.]
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