When you are having a tough day, you can always depend on your pet’s wagging tail or sloppy kisses to lift your spirits.  Well, what if times got so tough that you couldn’t afford to keep your pet any longer?   What if something happened and you had to face the heartbreak of surrendering your pet when you both love and need each other so much? Thanks to Spay Illinois (SI) and a BISSELL Pet Foundation grant for ‘Project Families Forever’, families in need are getting extra help to keep their pets happy and healthy at home.

Mary came to SI for help with her three, recently-adopted dogs after her family suffered a tragic accident.  Her husband had died unexpectedly, leaving Mary to cope with the loss and care for the dogs alone.  Of course, Mary needed the love of her pets now more than ever, and SI knew they could relieve her burden through ‘Project Families Forever’.  Two of the dogs were neutered, and they all received microchips and updated vaccines, giving Mary peace of mind that she could keep her sweet dogs at home forever—it was just what she needed to get through an incredibly difficult time.

‘Project Families Forever’ recognizes and provides relief from the variety of challenges many low-income pet owners face, including service accessibility, the prohibitive cost of veterinary care, limited access to reliable transportation and much more.  SI does an amazing job of reaching out to the populations that need the most help by bringing clinics to them and providing real solutions to keep their pets out of the already overcrowded shelter population. It has proven to be a lifesaving resource that empowers pet owners, allowing them to care for their beloved pets properly and to keep them healthy at home for life.  The BPF grant allowed SI to provide spay/neuter procedures for 180 at-risk pets and the program continues to touch more pets every day.  Thank you, Spay Illinois, for saving lives by providing pet owners with the resources to be successful!