Patients can get foster care for their pets thanks to Zachary’s Paws

If a single person is sick and has to go to the hospital, what happens to their pet?

Patients who have no one to look after their pets during hospital stays don’t have to worry about Fido or Kitty.

A charitable organization called Zachary’s Paws for Healing will take care of the animals.

It’s all thanks to a network of 24 volunteers who provide full-time care — and to partnerships with PetSmart Charities of Canada, the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA, the dog and cat food company Royal Canin, and Ren’s Pet Depot, says Zachary’s Paws founder Donna Jenkins.

The foster pets are provided with “everything from food and socialization to vet care and grooming,” says Jenkins.

“Partnering means these pets get the best care,” she adds. And patients can get the medical care they need and focus on getting better without worrying about their pets, she says.

“We are a community of a lot of seniors, mental health needs and marginalized people,” many of whom have no one who can care for their pet.

“For seniors, this is often their last companion. It would be a shame to lose them, so we want to make sure they have their pet when they get home.”

The most recent partnership this month, with PetSmart, means a $12,500 grant to help Zachary’s Paws pay veterinarian bills and other care costs. The grant is administered through the SPCA.

Before the grant, Jenkins said, “it was literally fundraise, fundraise, fundraise, and (seeking) donations”

Zachary’s Paws fosters pets for patients in all area hospitals.

It also arranges hospital pet visits — whether in foster care or not — at Juravinski, the General and St. Peter’s hospitals in Hamilton. It also arranges visits at St. Joseph Hospital’s West 5th campus on the Mountain.

The visits are expanding to Dunnville in January.

Zachary’s Paws has so far fostered 1,206 pets for 500 hospital patients (many have more than one pet).

“We have foster homes from Toronto to Guelph and in Sarnia and Fort Erie,” says Jenkins

Jenkins herself is currently fostering two parakeets, a gecko, two West Highland Terriers, and a black Lab.

The Lab belongs to a four-year-old girl at SickKids in Toronto awaiting a liver and kidney transplant. It is in foster care so her parents could concentrate on the girl and still keep the dog for her.

Jenkins said she is often contacted by first responders, nurses or social workers if a person ends up in hospital unexpectedly and is worried about their pet.

Royal Canin provides all the food and treats for the foster care program, to the tune of about $10,000 a year. And Ren’s Pet Depot provides $5,000 worth of $25 vouchers to foster home providers to buy something for their foster pet.

“We’re very lucky,” says Jenkins of Zachary’s Paws’ partners. “No one organization can do it anymore.”

More on Zachary’s Paws at zacharyspawsforhealing.com.