Kansas City Veterinary Medical Association

Happy Ending Highlights Need for Education, Services

by Jen Nigro

When Kansas City, Missouri police went to the 4600 block of Prospect to investigate a homicide on September 3rd, they hoped to find a few leads. Instead, they found an emaciated dog. The officers were shocked at how thin she was and they attempted to help; but she slipped under a vacant house at 41st and Prospect. When they tried to lure her out with an order of cheeseburgers, they discovered she had hidden her four puppies beneath the house. Officers immediately called Spay Neuter Kansas City for help. Workers took the dog, now nicknamed Honey, and her pups, to SNKC to nurse them back to health.

“Honey was actually probably within days of death as she was so thin and was suffering from malnutrition,” says Michelle Dormady, SNKC President. And, Dormady believes Honey saved her puppies. “She gave everything she had to them and risked her own life for it.”

Honey and her pups captured many hearts in the community as their story spread through news reports. Police officers went by the clinic daily to walk Honey and bring donations and other supplies. Dormady says Honey and her pups are with a foster family, and will be available for adoption at Wayside Waifs soon. The pups were less than a week old when they were found, and Dormady says they will be very adoptable. She also believes Honey will make a full recovery, and that the trauma will have no lasting effects on her physically or mentally. “She has and will always be one of the kindest dogs anyone could meet. I truly believe she knows humans saved her life, and in return, will not only be the sweetest dog anyone could own, but deserves the best home ever. A home that understands what she went through and will love her forever.”

Unfortunately, cases like this are all too familiar to workers at SNKC. “There are many pet owners who simply cannot care for their pets and as a result, leave them in their backyards with minimal standards of care,” says Dormady. “In some cases, pet owners simply don’t understand minimum standards of care, don’t know of our resources or simply don’t care.” Dormady says that’s why SNKC workers target low-income pet owners in areas of Kansas City with high numbers of animal control calls. They go door to door, looking for signs of abuse and neglect and educating pet owners about spaying or neutering their pets to keep roaming at bay. Not only does the organization provide information about responsible pet ownership, it provides assistance to those who can’t afford basic supplies and procedures, like spay and neuter services. However, the agency can’t prevent all neglect and abuse. Dormady says many people are reluctant to report their neighbors for mistreating pets because they fear retaliation. So when a case does arise, SNKC works with animal control and police to rehabilitate animals like Honey and her pups.

Why don’t pet owners simply turn over their pets to local animal shelters when they can’t care for them? Dormady says again, it boils down to economics. “In abandonment cases, it’s simply due to the fact they don’t want to pay or don’t have the money to pay a small fee to relinquish the animal to the shelter. If their animal is able to escape and does so frequently, they usually don’t bother looking for it. Those end up being picked up by animal control.” But Dormady says it doesn’t end there. “The owner gets another dog and the vicious cycle starts all over again.”

Dormady says Honey’s case is unusual because it has a happy ending. Honey and her pups survived the ordeal, and will likely bear no lasting harm from it. However, Dormady says many times animals are too far-gone to help, and euthanasia is the only option left. She says those cases are all the more reason for SNKC to keep trying. “As sad as it is, we never stop. There are so many more animals that need our help.”

According to Dormady, SNKC’s Pet Outreach Program is the only one in the community addressing the problem of animal neglect and abandonment in such a direct way. But like any mission, it needs public support to continue. Call (816) 353-0930 or visit www.snkc.net to find out how you can help Spay Neuter Kansas City protect animals like Honey and her pups from abuse and neglect.

Pictures From Left to Right:

Pups’ mother, Honey, 10 days after being rescued.

Olivia (age 9), and Gwendolyn (age 6), with Lucky, three weeks after rescue.

Gwendolyn with Dreamer, three weeks after rescue.

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