Pets enrich our lives
Both congratulations and my sympathy go out to Mike Argento for his touching and well-written story, "A greyhound like no other" (YDR 10/10/08). Anyone who has ever lost a companion animal can relate to the way only a pet, especially a dog or cat, can enrich our lives. Studies have shown how pets can lengthen and increase an individual's quality of life. There are projects linking troubled youth and prison inmates with the responsibility of working with dogs considered unadoptable, and as a result, providing the dog with a chance at a permanent home and a revised sense of pride and self respect for the trainer.
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My wife and daughter Alyson, along with students from Millersville University, take our pets into assisted care facilities on a regular basis as pet therapy for the residents. My wife, Dr. Debra S. Vredenburg-Rudy also started a 501c3 non-profit organization to find homes for animals when their owners are in hospice care and worried about the fate of their pets after they themselves lose their lives. It is the mission of Pet Guardians (www.petguardians.org) to match up these animals with replacement homes, taking the stress off their owners at such a difficult time. Pet Guardians never has a lack of people in need of our service, but we are always looking for permanent loving homes or even temporary foster homes for the pets that are losing their owners. I can't understand why anyone would go to a pet store, breeder, or God help us...a puppy mill, and pay hundreds of dollars or more for a pet, when there are so many wonderful animals in desperate need of homes, that are available through organizations like Pet Guardians, or shelters such as the York County SPCA.
The general public doesn't realize the impact the current depressed economy has had on shelters. When times are tough and money is short, a pet is a luxury that some people choose to abandon to a shelter. Please help the York County SPCA in their biggest fundraiser of the year, the Holiday Auction on Dec. 6. The SPCA is in the process of securing sponsors and donations of auction items now through Nov. 1. Please help: donate, adopt, volunteer! And thank you Mike and Cine Argento for adopting a rescue greyhound and sharing your heartwarming story with us. I'm sure it was therapeutic for you Mike, but it also gave us an emotional look into the human/animal bond that is so important in a civilized society. "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Bob Rudy
Lancaster
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