The Pet Care Trust - News Releases

Never complain when things are going well! Even though the PCT Board volunteers their time and travel for meetings and spend hours reviewing and interviewing grant applicants each year, the rewards far exceed the effort. Once again, the Trust had an extremely productive year culminating with benefits to companion animals and their owners. The Board of Trustees met at the March PIDA Show in Orlando and finalize their annual year-long process of receiving, reviewing and awarding Pet Care Trust animal health and welfare grants. Trustees Jim Wingate, Brent Weinmann, Andy Schmidt, Lew Sutton, and Mark Hagen, welcomed Terri Meyer, President, Pet Food Ltd., Tampa, FL a the newest member to join the Board. Unfortunately, Carol Frank was in hospital and missed the meeting, but we are all grateful for your rapid recovery. The two half-day meetings focused on grant awards and development of private and public fund raising efforts that help support the Pet Industry's non-profit foundation. Major support for the Pet Care Trust comes from APPMA, PIDA and WWPSA with donations from industry members, companies, pet retailers and the public. You can visit www.petcaretrust.org to find out more about your Foundation.

Since 1996, Pet Care Trust has awarded over half a million dollars for projects supporting companion animal health, welfare, behavior, animal assisted therapy and the human-animal bond. All of this has been well spent to express the Pet Industry's commitment and support for the public understanding of the value of and the right to enjoy companion animals, and to ensure that animals are properly cared for in their many roles in our society. The funded grants for 2001 all fulfill the mission of the Trust and meet the current Board priorities related to animal issues in society. As animals are being used more and more in Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), medical professionals need verification that observed benefits of pets as healers outweigh the real or perceived "risks" of having visiting or resident animals in hospitals and long term care homes for our seniors. Veterinary professionals and the humane community are equally concerned that animals placed in positions of service, are properly cared for and not abused for human needs. In an effort to satisfy those needs and to secure that animal welfare needs are met, the Board of Trustees continues to fund meaningful programs toward those ends. The 2001Grant PCT Awards speak for themselves:

UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA: $49,979.00 over two years, to medically quantify the benefits of Animals Assisted Therapy with hospitalized heart failure patients. The two-year study will document the reduction of physio- and psychological stressors in heart patients with the introduction of visiting dogs compared with patients with no dog visits. Physiological and blood chemistry changes will be studied. This is the type of information that doctors need to be assured that AAT really works.
Purdue University School of Nursing, W. Layfayette, IN: $19,039.00, to study the benefits of Aquariums to Alzheimer Patients. Pilot studies indicate that aquarium watching stimulates food intake, tends to calm upset and frustrated patients and improves interaction with caregivers. Studies at three Alzheimer facilities will measure food intake, and attitudes and morale of patients and caregivers.
Inner Harbour Hospital, Douglasville, GA: $10, 500,00, for the development of materials and information describing the successful introduction of AAT in a residential treatment facility charged with the care of youth (age 8-22 yrs) with severe psychological disorders. The study will quantify the benefits of different animal therapy strategies with varying medical conditions. Animals may very well be the "healers" needed to assist the medical community in the successful reintroduction of abused and mentally disabled children back into society, to live healthy lives as productive citizens.
The Center for Growing and Becoming, Sherburne, NY: $ 13,000.00 for the development of Animal Welfare Standards for resident animals in Eden Alternative Certified long term residential care for our seniors. The Eden Alternative is the North American leader in transforming "nursing homes" into living communities with the introduction of animals, plants and visiting children. Remarkable changes transpire when a lonely, helpless and bored senior resident interacts with animals. Animal Welfare Standards will be incorporated into all training and certification for Eden Homes and used by others.
American Federation of Aviculture, Phoneix, AZ: $10,000.00 for a curriculum in basic aviculture to target aviculturists, the zoo and veterinary community, groups housing birds, and the conservation community. The information will ensure that captive bred and housed birds are managed and cared for using the highest standards and best techniques available and will be circulated broadly.
American Bird Conservancy, Washington, DC: $6,000 to help fund the "Cats Indoors" project to protect cats and songbirds. This national education project works with cat owners and feline organizations to help reduce songbird mortality due to domestic cat predation, through communication, education and mutually beneficial cooperative efforts by all involved. Prevention in the best cure.
The Aquaculture Education and Research Center, Hampton, NH: awarded $15,000.00 to create and test a teachers' curriculum and protocols for successful use of aquariums in school classrooms to teach science and the care and keeping of ornamental fish. This is a national program that will be available to all teachers at workshops, conferences and on the Internet. Good animal care lessons for our youth.

The Board reviewed the status of previous grants funded by the Trust. Once the final data has been completed and presented, articles will be written and presented to the pet industry journals for publication. Topics included: Canine aggression; Early spay/neuter effects on dog behavior; Effective parrot enrichment; An AAT college curriculum for physiotherapy nurses; Bacterial disease research for birds; A school curriculum for pet invertebrate animals; Dogs as healers, working with autistic children.

Pet Care Trust Program Coordinator, Dr. John Pitts reported on "Animals in the Classroom - Teacher's Pet" workshops at the March PCT Board meeting. At that time, 589 teachers had attended 21 workshops around the country. Since mid-March, Dr. Pitts has presented five more workshops with a total of 747 teachers in attendance. Workshops presented Winter/Spring of 2001, include: Atlanta, GA, Las Vegas, NV; Sacramento, CA; Orlando, FL; Seattle, WA; Princeton, NJ; and, Pomona, CA. Two more 2001 workshops are scheduled for Hampton, NH and Tacoma, WA in the Fall. The all-day teacher workshop includes the l00 page Classroom Animals Manual and each teacher receives a $125.00 generic Teacher's Pet certificate to be used in local pet stores for equipment and materials used for classroom animals. The Pet Care Trust has budgeted for 8 workshops in 2002, but 24 requests from the U.S. and Canada have been received to date. Some creative scheduling is in the works, in the hope that two or more workshops can be given within one geographic area to reduce travel costs and make room for more than eight teacher meetings. Local workshop collaborators have included Humane Societies, Zoos, School Districts, a Natural History Museum, a University, as well as, APPMA, PIDA and WWPSA trade shows. Teacher enrollment is $25.00, and any group interested in supporting companion animals, schools and teachers can apply to sponsor a workshop. Sponsors must be able to enroll a minimum of 25 teachers.

John Pitts, DVM May 1, 2001