Pets in Need offers help for pets, owners

Pets need homes, and according to Cathy Madewell, program director of Pets in Need, it’s not feasible to say that people who can’t afford them shouldn’t take on the responsibility of owning them. 

“There are just way too many cats and dogs that don’t have homes, and you have too many people with a compassionate heart for them that take them in,” Madewell says. 

Pets in Need of Greater Cincinnati is set to open in early to mid-March with a facility of its own in Lockland, though the nonprofit is currently running a weekly clinic on Tuesday mornings at Valley Interfaith Food and Clothing Center. 

PIN provides basic care, including checkups, vaccines and antibiotics, to pets whose owners can’t afford preventive care. 

Madewell says that when those involved with PIN first started their work, they witnessed too many pets who had contracted severe diseases and had to be euthanized, either because they had never received a dewormer, or because they had flea infestations that had gotten so bad, they were no longer treatable.  

“Simple things that could have been avoided,” Madewell says. “We’re now able to provide that and help people keep their pets healthy so that they avoid any major situations, and [so we] don’t end up finding them on a vet’s doorstep.” 

When PIN opens its new clinic, it will serve members of the community who income-qualify for just $10 a visit—a fee that will cover the visit itself, in addition to any needed vaccines or medicines—so long as the condition is treatable and is within the realm of possibility for what the organization can feasibly take on. 

PIN currently has two vets—both have other jobs as well. “So they definitely have to have a passion for what they’re doing,” Madewell says. 

One of the two vets is Jennifer Wells, director of the veterinary technology program at the University of Cincinnati's Blue Ash College. Wells uses PIN to not only assist pets and their owners, but to also provide real-world experience to her students, who use their involvement at PIN as a clinical experience. Madewell says their experience with clients is invaluable, as their other clinical experiences involve animals from the SPCA, for example, so there are no pet owners involved. 

Prior to being treated at PIN, pets must be spayed or neutered. “We will pay for that for our clients,” Madewell says. “It’s a $10 copay for a cat or a $20 copay for a dog, and we then give them a voucher to use that for spay or neuter.”

Clinic hours are currently 9 a.m. to noon every Tuesday, though pet owners can begin submitting applications now if a cat or dog needs to be seen prior to PIN’s official opening.

Do Good: 

• Donate to support the work of Pets in Need. 

• Volunteer to help keep the PIN program running. 

• Register your Kroger Plus Card so that each time you use it, the PIN program benefits as well. 

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.