Northern People: Pets find advocate

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
mdrahos@record-eagle.com

March 01, 2009 12:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- Misty Avery and Jess Hoedman have seen plenty of pets get adopted through animal shelters around the region.

And they've seen plenty of others wait in vain for "forever" homes because they're older or disabled. Often labeled as "unadoptable" or "hard to place," the animals are frequently euthanized because shelters -- even "no-kill" shelters -- don't have the resources to care for them forever.

"Especially now with the economy, people are giving up their pets," said Avery, a professional dog groomer and longtime volunteer with Kalkaska Citizens for Animals. "You see a lot of senior pets in shelters, being put down."

That's why the women have teamed up to form Frisco and Joey's Mission, a new foster-based pet rescue organization focused on special needs and senior pets in the Grand Traverse region. The organization will complement existing rescue groups and take the strain off those that already take in senior and special needs animals along with more traditional pets, Hoedman said.

Named after Frisco, Avery's family chow mix, and Joey, Hoedman's adopted yellow Lab -- both of whom died in 2008 -- the group will cater to dogs and cats with blindness, deafness, missing limbs, paralysis, diabetes, Cushing's Disease, Addison's Disease, heart and renal failure and other disabilities. Rescued animals will be placed in qualified foster homes until permanent adoptive homes can be found.

"We're going to fully educate the adopters and foster homes to make sure they understand what is needed, what's required, that their schedule fits around the animal's needs," said Avery, the group's president. "And we'll have a contract that says they're returned to us so they don't wind up in a shelter or a lot of different homes."

Avery, 24, has both the heart and the drive to make the organization work, said Kalkaska Citizens for Animals Secretary Cindy Kawala. Besides serving with KCA, a nonprofit group that helps provide humane education, medical care and low-cost spay and neuter services in the community, Avery has adopted several pets of her own.

"She is a total devoted animal person," Kawala said. "She could never turn an animal away."

Hoedman, 25, has worked as a veterinary hospital kennel assistant and has fostered dozens of animals -- from cats and dogs, to guinea pigs and rabbits -- for three pet rescue organizations.

"Between the two of us, we know how to do this," Avery said.

While some special-needs pets require above average care, many others simply need a little extra time and patience, the women say.

All Starr required was a home free of dangers. The short-haired tabby cat was born with "cerebral hypoplasia" or an underdeveloped cerebellum, causing her to be uncoordinated and unsteady on her feet.

"She lives a perfectly normal life," said Avery. "She runs, plays, comes up on the couch to cuddle. She just can't walk like everyone else."

Cash, an older English setter with food allergies and a weak bladder from improper medication, needed a high-quality diet low in corn and wheat products and dog doors that allow him to go in and out into a fenced-in yard at will.

"He's one of the sweetest dogs you'll ever meet," Avery said. "But he'd been in and out of homes for the last three years because people couldn't help with his special needs."

The women say they're looking forward to an animal sheltering license that will allow them to take in animals and adopt them out and the nonprofit status that will mean they can pursue grants and other fundraising options. Meanwhile, they're building up a volunteer and foster home base. Avery estimates the group will be fully operational within six months.

Hoedman hopes one of their first projects will be a PANT-ry Shelf, a food bank for needy pets like the church-based pantries for families and children. The PANT-ry would help keep people from giving up their animals because they can't afford to feed them, while leaving available homes for pets without loving families, she said.

Also on the docket are aggressive fundraising and community education campaigns.

"I want people to know that senior and special needs pets can offer just as much love as a puppy or a kitten," Hoedman said. "It shouldn't matter that they need a little extra attention, or a special diet or a medication every day. They're just like people. Some people need an inhaler or a heart medication. We're all alike. We should embrace everybody and everything."

For information on how to help, contact summerrose03@gmail.com or jessmay83@gmail.com.

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