Last Friday, I visited a patient with several pets that were some of our first PPOM animals. "Amanda" is an elderly Shepherd mix dog that the family adopted as a puppy. Her littermate, "Dewayne," died of natural causes over a year ago and PPOM helped by paying for his cremation and gifting the family with a framed picture of him taken during a previous visit. "Amanda" is now a fulltime house dog and she struggles with painful chronic arthritis. We assist this family by paying for arthritis pain medication each month. For her size and weight, this expense alone is around $100 per month! Imagine trying to pay for that expense in addition to your own bills if your spouse had to leave work to care for you fulltime as a hospice patient. In most instances, a family would have to make the decision to euthanize their pet because they couldn't afford the medication she needed to be comfortable. What a difficult position to be in with an animal you have known for over 13 years! We are honored to be able to help Amanda and her owners, to give her some quality of life and to let them stay together longer. She always greets me and investigates my bag for snacks when I visit.
