[homeles_ot-l] Article: Pets a source of companionship for homeless, help decrease depression, alcohol & drugs

[Linda O'Neil]

FYI
[PicExportError]       1 Oct 2012  Copyright Ottawa Citizen  DAVE BROWN brady.brown at bell.net
Bond between pets and the homeless transcends economics: Furry friends offer hope
Most of us have seen homeless people with dogs, and some have asked whether people who can't provide for themselves should be allowed to have pets.
Veterinarian Michelle Lem has made it her mission to help care for the homeless pets of homeless people, and she was ready for the question.
"The question should be: Should we allow people to be homeless?"
The Kanata mother of twins, age six, is the driving force behind Community Veterinary Outreach. The volunteer agency started reaching out nine years ago and has since vaccinated about 1,500 dogs. The idea has reached Hamilton and Toronto, where similar agencies are in operation.
The question about street people being responsible pet owners might be moot, but to Lem the answer is obvious. It was the subject of her thesis when she earned her master's degree. During her research, she found that 12 per cent of street people (she calls them "street-involved people") had pets, almost always a dog.
"The pet and owner relationship is the same. They may have limited resources, but they go through a bonding process. Research has shown that their pets are often their only source of companionship and love, and actually help the owner's emotional health."
She says she surveyed 89 pet owners she says were "street-involved youth" and 100 who didn't own pets. The research was done in Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and Kingston.
Of those who had four legged friends, half said having a pet decreased their use of alcohol and drugs.
Sixty per cent said the pet kept them on the straight and narrow because they couldn't risk arrest because they had a furry friend reliant on them. She says she found depression was far more prevalent in those without pets.
>From her notes is an example from a 23-year-old male. "Before I was a pet owner, my life was drugs, alcohol, all the bad things. Crime. I was in and out of court and in and out of jail. Didn't matter to me. Once I got Mackenzie (a dog), my life actually had meaning to it. I haven't gone back to jail yet. It has been at least two years since I've gone to jail. I don't do heavy drugs anymore."
In 1992, I got to know a homeless dog named Tramp after his photo appeared on the front page of the Citizen. Staff photographer Bruno Schlumberger saw Tramp huddled with his owner, a man known only by the street name Wolf, as they panhandled on a slushy corner in ByWard Market.
It was a remarkable shot that summed up the situation at a glance. Tramp showed obvious devotion to his master, and just as obviously didn't give a damn about economics. Among those who responded to the photo was a lawyer who became Wolf's trusted adviser on all things legal and financial.
The photo brought Wolf more attention than he wanted, but he handled it surprisingly well. He was a guest on radio shows, including CBC's flagship national feature Morningside. He was articulate and respectful. He once confided to me that the biggest problem was that too many people started dropping off food for the dog, and Tramp was getting fat.
When Wolf died in 1995, his popularity was such that the chapel at the Shepherds of Good Hope couldn't handle the crowd, so the service was held in the cafeteria. Tramp attended.
The lawyer opened her home to the orphaned dog.
A year ago, Vet Outreach appeared in a Citizen story after it stepped in to help a man who was a double amputee and whose best friend was a hound.
The dog needed eye surgery and its owner, scraping by on a disability pension, couldn't handle it. Lem said the situation was one of "exceptional circumstances," and came to her attention through the Ottawa Mission.
The animal was in great pain caused by pressure behind an eye, and the eye had to be removed. Community Veterinary Outreach currently runs a project through the Ottawa Mission, in which street pets are examined, vaccinated and treated for parasites. Their owners are given advice on care for their pets.

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Linda O'Neil
Public Education Consultant
Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch
301-1355 Bank St., Ottawa ON, K1H 8K7
loneil at cmhaottawa.ca<mailto:loneil at cmhaottawa.ca>
Tel: (613) 737-7791 Ext 135

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