The University of Georgia School of Law recently received a $200,000 grant from PetSmart Charities benefiting the Community Interventions for Sustainable Access to Care program.

Nearly 50 million pets in the United States cannot access even the most basic veterinary care. Due to cost and other barriers, pets in under-resourced communities often do not receive essential services such as preventive care, vaccinations, spay/neuter services, and dental and other medical care. In the U.S., 70 percent of homes include pets. As research continues to reveal the benefits of the human-animal bond, a movement is underway to connect pet parents to the health care their pets need to ensure pets and their families stay together.

On a statewide level, Georgia municipalities spend close to $100 million each year on the impounding, care and disposal of un-homed dogs and cats, according to the law school’s Practicum in Animal Welfare Skills (PAWS) Director and associate professor Lisa Milot.

By helping keep pets in good, if under-resourced homes, the Community Interventions for Sustainable Access to Care program seeks to reduce those costs, benefitting not just the individual pets and their people but also the communities in which they live.

“Many of these costs arise because of an owner’s inability to access veterinary care and training because of financial barriers, a lack of information or transportation, or geographic constraints,” Milot said. “If impounded cats and dogs are not quickly reclaimed, the animals with behavioral issues and those that arrive in poor physical condition are either euthanized or receive months of rehabilitation that cost taxpayers hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars each before they can be placed.”

Milot is grateful to PetSmart Charities for its support of the program and of PAWS. “This initiative will determine if it is cost-effectively possible to remove some of the access barriers for the resources identified earlier so that more dogs and cats can stay in good, if under-resourced, homes and so the animals that are impounded despite the interventions require less rehabilitation at taxpayer expense,” Milot said.

The PAWS program has identified two socially vulnerable communities in the Athens area that will be provided with pet care support. Estimated to benefit approximately 300 dogs and cats immediately, and ultimately thousands more if successful, key elements of the program include: information sessions for owners covering legal requirements and best practices for pet ownership, small group dog training sessions, and access to free or low-cost routine veterinary services provided on-site in the selected communities.

UGA students from the School of Law and the College of Veterinary Medicine, under the guidance of Milot and veterinary professionals, will provide the necessary services while gaining experience in their chosen fields.

“Importantly, Athens-Clarke County Animal Services data from the identified areas will be tracked and analyzed,” Milot said. “We hope to see that the combined educational and pet care components significantly improve the health quality of the cats and dogs in our targeted communities and that the determined costs will be sustainable and much reduced from what municipalities are currently paying. If the program is successful, our ultimate goal will be to replicate the Community Interventions for Sustainable Access to Care program in other areas of our country and keep more families and their pets together.”

“When pet parents lack the resources to care for their pets, they often feel no other choice but to surrender them,” said Kelly Balthazor, senior community grants manager at PetSmart Charities. “We don’t believe the benefits of caring for pets should belong exclusively to those with privilege. Together with innovative programs like this, we can deliver solutions that help pets stay healthy and stay in their homes.”

Milot’s research in the area of community interventions with respect to pet care has spanned approximately seven years, and it includes a previously successful pilot project on which this current PetSmart Charities partnership builds.