To reach out to someone, ask them about their pet.
That’s the advice of Tabitha Ewart, community outreach director at the Animal Humane Society.
“I’ve been in outreach work for a long time and I have found that one of the best strategies to start a relationship or to start a conversation with someone is to ask them about their pet,” said Ewart. “You see their eyes light up. They wanna show pictures, they wanna tell stories, and you can just feel that sense of love emanating from people.”
Metallica Ponce, owner of Treat Me Too Dog Treats, started out wanting a dog during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I figured a dog would be great because if there was something lurking or noises or anything like that, it would be protection, basically. Dogs are good at listening to things and hearing what’s going on outside,” said Ponce, “I was getting a little security system.”
Ultimately, Ponce ended up with four dogs in her family – Major, Daz, Short Dog and Boom, all of whom have distinct personalities. Major, Ponce said, is a slow and independent “old man,” Boom a “velcro dog” who follows her everywhere, Short Dog trots like a little horse when he isn’t sleeping and Daz, the lone female dog in the pack, is the “dominant one.”
“They comfort me,” added Ponce, about her dogs. “They bring me so much joy.”
Pets and human health
The very act of caring for a pet can provide numerous benefits to a person’s health. In a collection of scientific research by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute, dog ownership was found to lead to greater amounts of physical activity associated with walking, while cat ownership was associated in one study with a lower likelihood of dying of cardiovascular disease. Studies also indicated that being around animals has a stress-reducing impact via lowering heart rate and blood pressure.
“When they’re sitting on your lap or you’re petting them, it creates oxytocin release, which is helpful for managing stress and anxiety and depression,” said Dr. Rachel Covi, veterinarian and owner of Vet Partners Minneapolis. “I think (with) a lot of mental health issues, there’s a component of social isolation. Animals help combat that social isolation and give you that oxytocin release, which kind of helps your brain process everything and feel safe again.”
To benefit from these positive health outcomes, however, you need to be able to care for your pet and keep it with you – something that can be difficult for low income families, as well as those facing various challenges, including being unhoused or long-term illness.
Ponce also volunteers at the North Minneapolis Pet Resource Center, one of several organizations in Minnesota that provide services to ensure people can avoid surrendering or giving up their animals. For Ponce, helping people keep their pets is personal.
“Growing up, my mom couldn’t afford (pet) food,” said Ponce. “She was a single mom and we always wanted a dog, and every time we seemed to have gotten a dog, we had to let it go because it was too much money. It was either we eat or the dog eats and there’s a lot of families that go through that. They have to give up their pets because (they) can’t afford the food, the vet clinics and things like that.”
“Animals are still kind of a luxury,” said mental health therapist Raelyn Spears. “You can’t just tell anybody, ‘Oh, go get a dog, go get a cat,’ because there’s vaccines, there’s vet appointments, there’s boarding, whatever you need. It’s an expense.”
Spears fosters puppies for the rescue portion of The Bond Between, an organization that provides various services for pets ranging from what might be considered more typical – adoption services, fostering services and veterinary care – to those that are designed to keep pets with their owners, including respite fostering, where people who are temporarily unable to take care of their pets can have them fostered for up to 90 days.
The reasons someone might place their pet in respite fostering are varied, according to Rachel Mairose, the executive director of The Bond Between, but can include long-term injury, mental health crises and enduring domestic abuse.
“There’s a statistic that says 52% of people that are in a (domestic violence) situation don’t leave if they have a pet because they fear retribution on the pet,” said Mairose. “Oftentimes, these are support animals for them. Going through such a hard situation and having to leave your home, having to (get) rid of a family member is so traumatic and is just very harmful.”
By providing resources to keep pets with their families, organizations help not just the animals, but the humans who care for them. Shannon Glenn, executive director of My Pitbull Is Family, which runs the North Minneapolis Pet Resource Center, detailed how rewarding it is for her organization to provide services to people on the Northside, from pet food provision to low-cost veterinary care.
“The joy that I see when people come into the resource center or when their pets are getting vaccines for the first time is something that can’t be replicated,” said Glenn. “Providing that bag of food or a vaccine that at cost costs $4, and (giving) them access to low cost pet care to keep that pet safe and healthy – it not only supports the pet’s life, but it’s also supporting that human as well. It’s all intertwined in making sure that our communities are happy and healthy and safe … If (the animals are) not getting the care that they need, then often the people aren’t either.”
The Animal Humane Society also donates animal food to various food pantries, provides up to 60 days of pet boarding, and is able to provide sterilization and vaccination for pets whose owners need them “up to date” to be able to enter housing, said Ewart. Ewart also emphasized that the Animal Humane Society is able to refer owners to partnering human services agencies as needed.
“Crisis or being underserved does not happen in a vacuum typically. It’s not only, ‘I just don’t have anywhere for my animal to go for a few weeks,’” said Ewart. “Making sure that we can set people up to give them their highest chance of success is going to happen with partnerships with human service agencies.”
Lack of diversity in animal welfare
While families of various cultural identities in the United States and Minnesota own pets, there is a lack of diversity in the animal welfare field as a whole. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 data, the veterinary field is 90% white. Only 1.3% of vets are Black/African American, while Asian and Hispanic/Latino vets make up 5.9% and 7.9% of vets, respectively. Other fields involving animals in this data set, including animal trainers and caretakers, along with veterinary assistants and caretakers for lab animals, are also predominantly white.
“We need to encourage more people to be part of this industry who are not white because our voices need to be heard,” said Ponce. “If we have more people that are part of our community involved in the animal welfare industry, or owning your own pet business like me, then our voices would be heard, and we’d be able to make changes for our communities, rather than have other people speak about us or for us (who) have no idea what we go through or what it’s like for us. I think having more people of color that are vets or that work in the clinics (would lead to) people (being) more comfortable(taking) their pets and be(ing) able to call and say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m taking my dog to the vet for sure.’ They won’t feel as judged.”
In Minnesota, the conversation around diversity and inclusion, as well as cultural competency in animal welfare spaces continues. The Animal Humane Society, said Ewart, is conducting a community needs assessment to better listen to community members and respond to their needs. The Bond Between, said Mairose, has a board that is deliberately “40% BIPOC” to ensure a diversity of voices.
Perhaps the most innovative step forward for diversity, however, is taking place in north Minneapolis. My Pitbull is Family and the North Minneapolis Pet Resource Center, said Glenn, has received funding from the Workforce Committee to continue developing their free Community Animal Medicine Professionals program. This program trains members of the community as veterinary assistants, and its first cohort, which includes Glenn herself, is set to graduate this summer.
“We know that often there’s many barriers (to higher education) in place for families in lower income communities and also in communities of color,” said Glenn. “So we offer this program for free. We have folks (who) come to the resource center with various levels of knowledge when it comes to animal care. This program really (gives) them the basics of animal care and a place to ask questions and to have dialogue with veterinary staff about what they see in the community. We know north Minneapolis has a high rate of puppies that get (parvovirus, a highly contagious viral disease). How can we continue to disseminate information about how to prevent parvo? It’s potentially a simple vaccine that doesn’t need to be given by a veterinarian. If we can equip the community with these skills, then maybe we can see less parvo down the line while also diversifying the veterinary field.”
From a veterinarian’s perspective, said Covi, it’s important to practice cultural humility when engaging with clients and their animals by “challenging (one’s) own judgment.”
“As an individual practitioner, I just try to continue to read and explore and be thoughtful and self-reflect and have that open-minded listening ear,” Covi said. “One thing that I’ve had to address with my own bias is (that) some people’s backgrounds might have different cultural interpretations of what responsible pet ownership is. I grew up, for example, spaying and neutering all my animals. You can have people that have their own reasons why they don’t wanna alter their pets. And that does not mean they’re irresponsible pet owners, necessarily. It doesn’t mean that they don’t love their pets. You don’t want to let that get in the way of other parts of advocating for that patient’s health – maybe that’s a non-negotiable for them, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help (them) take the best care of (their) pet otherwise.”
Because of a dog
While steps are being taken in various organizations to diversify animal welfare work and ensure that animal care services are both available and responsive to communities of color, pets are, without perhaps realizing it, making life a little brighter and better each day for their humans. Glenn recalls a woman whose outlook on her new neighborhood was altered, because of her dog.
“Her pet’s name is Miss Kitty, a little pug named Miss Kitty. When she moved into the Webber-Camden neighborhood, she hated it. She (was) like, ‘This doesn’t feel safe,” said Glenn. “Then her son needed to go get some help for himself, and she ended up taking care of his dog. Now because of Ms. Kitty, she’s out walking in the community, she sees the community truly for what it is and is just so much more involved in the neighborhood, and it’s all because of a dog.”
For Mairose, hosting a free puppy snuggle event at The Bond Between was a reminder of how powerful the connection between humans and animals can be.
“There (were) a thousand people that showed up and the line was out the door,” said Mairose. “People waited an hour and a half to hold a puppy for two minutes. That single event showed me how much people need and want to be around animals. This is what people want. They want access to animal love.”
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