Max the shi-tzu and his human came into the shelter on Monday. The dog was prancing by the man’s side excited to be out for an adventure, the older gentleman who was his owner looked sad and ill.

With tears in his eyes he said he had to give Max up — the man was ill and had to go into the hospital for an extended period of time and had no way to care for Max. He said he had put this off as long as he could; he had asked everyone he knew to take Max and, though all agreed he was a well-behaved little guy, no one wanted him.

Max sensed his owner’s agitation as he told us about what a great dog he is. Max is 10 years old and a “good, good boy.”

He handed Damon the leash, but Max looked at his person whimpering and jumped in his lap. This just about undid the man as well as those of us watching. I asked him if there was anything we could do to help him keep Max — he said he was having a hard time caring for him and once he went in the hospital he had no way of knowing when he would get out or what condition he would be in if and when that happened. He just wanted Max to have a home with someone who could care for him and love him.

Max is in our office; we knew he wouldn’t do well on the kennel floor. After his owner left, he kept running to the window then to the door. It may take Max awhile to get over this. People who are forced to get rid of their animals happens on a daily basis, particularly to members of our society who are older, going into a nursing home or ill. Often times these animals are the only family they have left.

It seems as we age, loss plays a bigger roll in our lives. We lose loved ones to illness and age, lose health and the ability to live alone and care for ourselves, outlive our friends and are forced to give up our pets because we need help caring for them or where we are forced to live will not allow them. Animals can help us heal and in some cases give us a reason to live.

As a community we need to come up with a solution for people losing their pets due to illness and aging. Perhaps we can set up a foster network for people who need help caring for their animals while they are ill, in the hospital or recovering. People in this group would foster the animal until it can go back to the owner. If it turns out that the animal cannot go back to the owner the animal would then be put up for adoption.

Aging and illness takes so much from us. Does it have to take our pets as well at a time when we might need them the most?

If you’d like to help, contact maleahstringer@aol.com or 278-9435.

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Thanks to everyone who donated a washer and dryer to Animal Care and Control. It seems that we won’t have to scrub laundry down by the river after all!

Maleah Stringer, program director of Anderson Animal Care and Control, is also president of the Animal Protection League. She can be reached at maleahstringer@aol.com.