Emergency shelter city’s first to open doors to victims’ pets

This week, Interval House of Ottawa will cut the ribbon on an ambitious renovation that will mark a first for the city: an emergency shelter that offers a safe refuge for both the victims of violence and their pets.

Women who have been abused often want to leave their homes but hesitate because they fear their animals will be harmed or killed if they are left behind, said executive director Kia Rainbow.

“Women who experience violence are very bonded to their pets. If they have to give them up, it impedes their progress. Some people need to be with their animals.”

Rainbow estimates that 90 per cent of women who use the shelter system have a pet.

One study found that two-thirds of women who had left a pet behind reported that the pet had been killed or injured.

Amy Fitzgerald, a criminologist at the University of Windsor, who has studied the coexistence of animal abuse and intimate partner violence, has argued that the role animals play in the lives of abused women need to be taken seriously.

Women will stay with a violent partner to protect their pets, putting the women at even greater risk. On the plus side, women have reported that having a pet provides social support and prevents thoughts of suicide.

Interval House raised $120,000 for a basement renovation that includes separate areas for dogs and a cat condo for six felines, as well as a room where a woman can relax and watch television with her pet. The pet area is soundproofed and has its own HVAC system so allergens won’t circulate to other parts of the building. There’s a pet-washing station and a freezer and food prep area, plus an outdoor dog run.

While the connection between pets and abuse has been widely known since at least the 1980s, facilities that house pets as well as women and their families are still rare, said Dr. Michelle Lem, a veterinarian and volunteer with Community Veterinary Outreach, which offers veterinary care to the pets of homeless or low-income people.

But there is a growing social movement that recognizes that pets can be the gateway to gaining trust, she said. For example, Fred Victor in Toronto runs a pet-friendly overnight emergency shelter. Operation Come Home has a drop-in centre for at-risk and homeless Ottawa youths that welcomes pets.

Interval House houses about 100 women and their children every year, Rainbow said. The shelter already operates at capacity. The pet shelter will likely increase demand.

Meanwhile, with so few examples of what to expect, it’s impossible to say what kinds of pets women will want to bring with them, Lem said — dogs and cats, yes, but maybe also hamsters and snakes.

“We don’t know if we will see furry or scaly here.”