Our Furry [and Otherwise] Friends


America-the-dog

Having a pet, no matter how big or how small, can improve our lives greatly. They provide companionship and entertainment, bring us joy, cheer us in our sorrow and teach us compassion. Taking care of their daily needs gives us purpose, and it’s a fact that a pet can also be the best medicine for those of us who have pain, high blood pressure, depression or feelings of isolation. Our pets can bring out the best in us and allow us to share our love, even while trying our patience.

The pet lovers interviewed admit their pets are a major part of the family, and somewhat in charge of household activities. Here, they share the many ways their fur babies add so much to their lives.

Activist Sidekicks

Doug Craig is a tireless advocate for raising funds and awareness to benefit people like himself with FSH muscular dystrophy, and his dog, Gracie, is always right there beside him.

Doug Craig says Gracie sticks with him through even his longest walk-and-roll fundraisers.
Doug Craig says Gracie sticks with him through even his longest walk-and-roll fundraisers.

This past summer, Craig and his 80-pound Bernese mountain dog mix took a 300-mile walk-and-roll from Yonkers, New York, to Washington, D.C., to raise funds and awareness for the FSH Society. They walked and rolled for up to 10 miles per day while Craig’s friend, Rob Dye, drove along in his van. “When she and I got tired, we rode in the van with Rob to make time,” explains Craig, 62.

Author and activist Maria Palacios’ favorite of her six pets, Nacho, a small Chihuahua mix, loves to attend ADA marches with her and enjoys protesting nestled in the net under her wheelchair. “Nacho figured out quickly that taking naps in the little net under my wheelchair was not only comfortable, but also a way to be with his mom all the time,” says Palacios.

Palacios was enjoying her dog-free lawn after losing her beloved Labrador, Buddy, when one of her mother’s customers insisted on bestowing a little yellow puppy as a gift of appreciation for services rendered. “My mom was not thrilled about bringing a puppy home until she thought of giving it to me as ‘revenge’ for all the animals I’d brought home to her throughout my life,” says Palacios, a polio survivor from Houston, Texas. “As she put the puppy on my lap, she said, ‘He will be a special angel to somebody.’”

And he is. Palacios, 50, who has two sons and now four more dogs and two cats, says Nacho is her “best son” and a natural activist.

“Whenever I get home from work, Nacho runs throughout the house barking loudly, announcing room by room that his mom is home,” says Maria Palacios.
“Whenever I get home from work, Nacho runs throughout the house barking loudly, announcing room by room that his mom is home,” says Maria Palacios.

Food Snobs

Palacios says Nacho gets a daily bowl of chicken while his four-legged siblings get a combination of dog food sprinkled with chicken. “Nacho has to have company when he eats and only accepts food when he’s hungry. If he’s offered food when he’s not in the mood, he’ll just roll his eyes,” she says.

Tim Vermande’s cats, Blaze and Chessie, are food snobs, too.

“Blaze likes Ritz and Triscuit crackers, as well as Corn Chex,” says Vermande, 61, from Indianapolis. “She can tell the difference between the boxes, and won’t even come for Wheat Thins. If I don’t give her anything, she will open the box and dig into it for one.”

About a few times a week both cats get a spoonful of milk from Vermande’s morning cereal. And when he comes home from being out and about, they do the “where’d ya go, what’d ya do, who’d ya see, what’d they say?” routine, sniffing him and his wheelchair. When Vermande transfers to his recliner, the two cats tussle over who gets to sit in the wheelchair.

The clever felines learned to operate the lever door handles in the house Vermande shares with his wife. “We can’t close off anything now,” he says. A polio survivor, Vermande uses crutches around the house and Blaze will come around every hour or so to make sure he gets up and moves around. Chessie curls up next to him while he’s getting his TENS treatment and adds a purr to the other side.

“When we decided to get another dog, my daughter insisted on a female puppy,” says Lydia Nunez Landry. “We prefer matriarchal egalitarianism here.”
“When we decided to get another dog, my daughter insisted on a female puppy,” says Lydia Nunez Landry. “We prefer matriarchal egalitarianism here.”

Good Friends in Hard Times


Six-year-old Agatha Louise, Lydia Nunez Landry’s Chihuahua mix, loves being up on furniture to be with her humans. Unfortunately, she broke her leg after leaping from a bed and now, with a plate in her leg, someone has to pick up “Ouisie” and set her on the bed, couch, or Nunez Landry’s wheelchair and closely monitor her so she doesn’t jump off.

“She loves riding on my power chair as we go around the neighborhood,” says Nunez Landry, who has dysferlinopathy muscular dystrophy and lives in Seabrook, Texas. “Apparently, this makes her feel invincible as she curses out other dogs who probably view her as a Chihuahua McNugget. For propriety’s sake, I cannot repeat her foul utterances.”

When asked how Agatha Louise helped her, Nunez Landry said the tiny pooch filled a depressing void after she lost both her parents and another beloved dog, Sigmund.

“Since I do not engage in many social activities, my family and pets are a significant and meaningful part of my life,” says Nunez Landry, 46. “Both provide me tremendous joy and comfort, especially when I am down.”

Gary Karp, 61, is best known for his motivational books, workshops and speeches, but the author says he sometimes struggles to get out of bed due to depression.  “On those days I know my Labrador retriever Trilby needs me to get motivated to take care of her needs, and it’s just the nudge I need,” says Karp, a T12-L1 para from Tempe, Arizona.

skunk-squirrel

The Unusual and Exotic

Since childhood, Kelsey Little, 27, from Sevierville, Tennessee, has cared for wildlife such as squirrels, a skunk and a raccoon, all abandoned by their mothers. She named her skunk “Pumpkin,” after her friends found him alongside a road.

“He was about six weeks old and fit in the palm of my hand,” says Little, a T11-12 para. She didn’t get Pumpkin de-scented and often, he would start hopping around making a chi, chi, chi sound, acting like he was going to spray her.

“Taking care of Hank is like taking care of a toddler,” says Kelsey Little. “I was trying to paint something outside and he was getting into everything. My mom said it’s like having triplets. While sleeping, he digs around in my ears, my face and hair, and curls up against me. And just like a 3-year-old, if you try to take something away, he starts pitching a fit.”
“Taking care of Hank is like taking care of a toddler,” says Kelsey Little. “I was trying to paint something outside and he was getting into everything. My mom said it’s like having triplets. While sleeping, he digs around in my ears, my face and hair, and curls up against me. And just like a 3-year-old, if you try to take something away, he starts pitching a fit.”

“I’d yell, ‘Pumpkin don’t get me!’ and run away,” she says. “He’d chase me.”

One night she saw in a mirror that he was following her, and when she turned to look, he started his spray dance. They’d made a game out of it chasing from room to room.

Pumpkin, like most of the wildlife she cares for, was successfully released back to the wild once he was able to look after himself.

Little’s raccoon, Hank, came from a local who breeds coon dogs to trap raccoons, and raises raccoons to train his dogs. “He trapped a momma coon, and the pups wouldn’t take to her,” Little explains. “I had told him that whenever he had pups I’d take one.”

Baby raccoons can’t regulate body temperature for their first two weeks, relying on their mother and siblings to keep warm. “I’d wear a sports bra and put him in the middle to keep him warm,” she says. “He was like a baby.”

Spiders and Snakes Need Love, Too

Jerry Diaz has had a fascination for exotics since being mesmerized by them while watching nature shows as a young boy. He has since become an expert on caring for snakes and reptiles and many tarantulas, including a Goliath named Micayla. The largest of tarantulas, a Goliath grows to the size of a dinner plate sporting half-inch fangs.

Yes, you read that right.

“I get creative when building cages for my animals,” says snake owner Jerry Diaz. “Recently, I used an entertainment center my brother was getting rid of and sectioned if off so Zion and Banana are together but can’t interfere with each other. My dream is to buy a house and create a natural environment in a room just for Zion, who will grow to 5 feet long.”
“I get creative when building cages for my animals,” says snake owner Jerry Diaz. “Recently, I used an entertainment center my brother was getting rid of and sectioned if off so Zion and Banana are together but can’t interfere with each other. My dream is to buy a house and create a natural environment in a room just for Zion, who will grow to 5 feet long.”

Diaz, 29, from Kissimmee, Florida, is a lover of all animals, no matter how little appeal they may have to others. He has a wealth of knowledge and much of it is uncomfortable. As he was telling me about Micayla and Banana — his pastel ball python — and Zion, his water monitor, I felt something biting me hard on the right side of my neck. It might have been a nerve throbbing from an age-old fear of creepy-crawlies, but whatever it was, Diaz just laughed when I told him.

Then he said something so profound about his experience with people and exotics that the biting in my neck ceased, I stopped squirming in my chair, and as a wheeler, I began to relate to the creatures for whom he cares. Before you run screaming, consider this:

“I see the beauty in all animals and have just always wanted to be around them,” says Diaz, a T10-12 para. “But there was something about exotic animals that drew me. You know, they are living dinosaurs, amazing creatures.”

Diaz worked at a pet shop helping customers choose pets. He says customers could be standing next to a snake cage for 20 minutes before they would notice it, grab their kids and bolt out the door. Teaching a child to fear or feel disgust about an animal irks Diaz.

A student of obedience classes, Tim Carson’s Chihuahua mix Toby is close to getting his Canine Good Citizen award, the gold standard for dog behavior. Practicing obedience commands every night, Tim and his wife, who live in Wittman, Arizona, will put Toby in a sitting position across the room and in his excitement, he’ll stretch his way to them, eager to work.
A student of obedience classes, Tim Carson’s Chihuahua mix Toby is close to getting his Canine Good Citizen award, the gold standard for dog behavior. Practicing obedience commands every night, Tim and his wife, who live in Wittman, Arizona, will put Toby in a sitting position across the room and in his excitement, he’ll stretch his way to them, eager to work.

“I saw a lot of parents or grandparents come in with their kid or grandkid,” he explains. “They’d point to a snake or reptile cage and tell them how it’s gross or ugly, and I’d think, ‘Why are you teaching them that?’ If you don’t teach your kids that, they won’t fear or hate these beautiful creatures,” he says.

Do Your Homework

Certain pets are not for everyone. Research the species or breed before you choose. Understand their energy level and be ready to match it or have someone who can help. If the breed is a runner such as Siberian huskies or greyhounds, they’ll need to be fenced in or on a leash at all times, and some animals such as Persian cats need regular grooming. Understand that certain breeds can be prone to problems such as ear infections or hip dysplasia, or require special diets that can ring up the grocery and vet bills.

Keep in mind annual costs for having a pet can range from $235 for a fish to  $1,843 for a large dog. More specific information from the ASPCA on average costs for particular species can be found at https://www.aspca.org/


Support New Mobility

Wait! Before you wander off to other parts of the internet, please consider supporting New Mobility. For more than three decades, New Mobility has published groundbreaking content for active wheelchair users. We share practical advice from wheelchair users across the country, review life-changing technology and demand equity in healthcare, travel and all facets of life. But none of this is cheap, easy or profitable. Your support helps us give wheelchair users the resources to build a fulfilling life.

donate today

Comments are closed.