Pet Companies Support Hurricane Relief

Veterinary Medicine is helping their own post Hurricane Harvey and , and pet owners. Helping the profession is the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF).

Pharmaceutical companies and pet food companies have stepped up. Here are two of many examples both working with  GreaterGood.org, an independent 501(c)(3) charitable organization devoted to improving the health and well-being of people, pets, and the planet.

Boehinger Ingelheim’s animal health business announced a half a million dollars in aid to pets affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Boehringer Ingelheim teamed up with GreaterGood.org to award the bulk of the donation to those affected by Hurricane Harvey and have since expanded those relief efforts to those recovering from Hurricane Irma. The partners created strategically located distribution hubs throughout the region to maximize impact for those affected.

“We have been able to impact thousands and thousands of pets through our partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim and we are motivated to continue our work as those affected continue to recover from the devastation,” said Liz Baker, Executive Director of GreaterGood.org.

The two pet industry leaders have awarded grant money in the form of products to assist the animals and their shelters, including vaccines, heartworm preventative, flea & tick preventative, pain medications, rabies vaccines, and dental chews. More than 13 organizations have benefited from the grants, including Austin Pets Alive, Atlanta Humane Society and Houston SPCA.

One of the recipients, Austin Pets Alive!, took in thousands of displaced pets from the Gulf Coast, and called the donations lifesaving. According to Executive Director Dr. Ellen Jefferson, “We vaccinated all of the 2,000-plus pets transported from Houston and the coastal areas to Austin Pets Alive!; and we have taken in around 800 more in the Houston emergency shelter, most of which lacked vaccine records so were also vaccinated before they could be transported on to other parts of the country. The number keeps growing—the support of Boehringer Ingelheim and GreaterGood.org has been critical to this effort, and your vaccine donations have saved thousands of lives.”

GreaterGood.org and Boehringer Ingelheim have been partners since 2015 and have created vaccine programs that educate shelter staff and awards grants to worthy animal shelter organizations in need of vaccines across the country.

“Boehringer Ingelheim is fortunate to be a part of a broad animal health community. Many parts of that community now need everyone to pull together, as never before, to get through the difficult months to come,” said Tim Bettington, North American Region Head for Boehringer Ingelheim’s Animal Health business. “We are committed to doing our part to help. Supporting GreaterGood.org enables us to amplify our reach to shelters, helping thousands of displaced animals.”

and here’s what Purina similarly did:

To aid in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in Houston and surrounding areas, Purina is making a donation of $25,000 to Greater Good to support people and pets who have been impacted. These funds will help to provide support for immediate rescue efforts, much needed supplies, and rebuilding initiatives for individuals and communities affected by the hurricane. 

In times of need, Purina works with disaster relief partner Rescue Bank, a program of GreaterGood.org, to deliver Purina pet food, cat litter and FortiFlora, a probiotic supplement that helps reduce symptoms of stress, to pet shelters in the affected areas. Rescue Bank has a reserve of Purina product on-hand, and the organization has already been able to distribute nearly 170,000 pounds of pet food, and 74,000 pounds of cat litter to pet shelters in the area.  Purina will continue to assess the situation and is prepared to send additional product.

In 2016, Purina donated more than 170,000 pounds of pet food and cat litter for disaster relief to 17 organizations across the United States.