Soldier's Pets Find a Home Away from Home

Aug 27th 2009

In the past, soldiers without family or friends to care for their cats and dogs were often forced to surrender their pets to a shelter. Luckily, thanks to a nonprofit organization called Guardian Angels for Soldier's Pet (GASP), that's changed.

Since 2005, GASP has placed 100 soldiers' pets in loving foster homes across the country. GASP founder and CEO Linda Spurlin-Dominik tells Paw Nation that the organization currently keeps tabs on 67 military pets in foster care. When soldiers return, they are reunited with their furry family members.

Most fostered pets are cats and dogs, but ferrets and rabbits have also been cared for by GASP volunteers. The organization screens potential foster homes to ensure that soldiers' pets end up in safe, loving environments until they can be returned to their owners. Usually, foster homes are within a two-hour drive of the owner's home, Spurlin-Dominik says. But in cases where local foster families aren't available, pet transport volunteers have ferried pets across state lines to make sure they find a caring household. "The objective is to place the pet in a home similar to what they're used to," she says.