Group takes care of pets when veterans have to go into the hospital

When veterans have to go to the hospital, this group steps in to foster their pets

The State
By JEFF WILKINSON
Published: February 14, 2019

”It was an unknown need in South Carolina,” Pawmetto Lifeline CEO Denise Wilkinson said. “The vets have no family and their pets are the only love they have in their lives. (With the new program), they take care of themselves and have no worries. When they get out of the hospital, we give them their pet back.”

The program is funded by the Michael J. Mungo Foundation, which will pay for the services on an as-needed basis. The foundation honors the late founder of Mungo Homes of Columbia.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Tribune News Service) — Pawmetto Lifeline, an organization that advocates foster care for stray animals as an alternative to shelters, on Wednesday unveiled a new program to help military veterans and their pets.

The “Boots for Service” program provides foster care and medical care for pets of veterans who have to enter the hospital and have nowhere to put their furry (or feathery, perhaps) friends.

By partnering with the U.S. Veterans Administration, the privately funded Pawmetto Lifeline organization will support identified veterans who might put their pet’s needs above their own and not seek treatment.

”If they are in trouble . . . and they have a dog or a cat, and they have to go to the hospital, what are they going to do?” McMaster said. “That causes more trouble. So this is a great, great program. I don’t know how many other states are doing this. But we are.”
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