Keep Your Pet Service - Age UK

Keep Your Pet

This service provides short-term assistance for domestic pet owners who are older or vulnerable and living in the York area, at times of health or other emergencies.

Below you will find details of how to register with us to get help and support with your pet and also more information about the opportunities there are for volunteers to get involved.

Who we are

Age UK York have identified a need for a service to help older and vulnerable owners with short term help and support to care for their pets and have set up Keep Your Pet.

 
Age UK York said:
'We often find that care of their animals is a particular worry for older people when they are unwell.  But we also know how vitally important the animals are in speeding recovery & promoting wellbeing in the long term.  We see this service as a natural extension of our work.'

For the owners, the contact & friendship with the volunteer is almost as important as the benefits to their animal, but experience elsewhere has shown that the service is equally valuable to the volunteers.  There are many people who are unable to have an animal of their own, or those whose own animals have recently died may not feel ready for another animal of their own but wish to have contact with animals.
KYP really does offer a win-win situation. 

What we do

 Keep Your Pet offers services such as

• Dog Walking
• Visiting a home to feed an animal
• Taking an animal to the vet
• Short term fostering for dogs

These services are provided by volunteers who have undergone rigorous vetting and training.  

How to Register your Pet with KYP

Owning a pet is a wonderful experience but you may sometimes need help caring for them. Our aim is to provide short term services to enable you as a pet owner to cope with health or other emergencies. 

To help us to do this, it is a good idea if, whenever possible, if you register your animal in advance so that we can respond to your needs quickly when the need arises.

You will also have the reassurance of knowing that if you are ever ill at home or need to go into hospital, we will already know you and your pet and be ready to try to help in a way that suits you best. This will take away the worry and also give you more time to organise medium and long term solutions if required. We will also help you to contact other appropriate organisations that may be able to provide longer term support if necessary.

If you would like to chat to someone about what’s involved and how to get help to register your pet with us, please call 01904 627995 or e mail keepyourpet@ageukyork.org.uk

VOLUNTEERING WITH KYP

We need to volunteers of any age over 18 to help provide KYP services throughout the York area. As a volunteer your will be given guidance and support and be fully protected by insurance provided by KYP. Don’t be put off if you can only offer a small amount of time on an occasional basis– volunteers can give as much or as little time as they wish on anything from dog walking to animal feeding or short term fostering and we always consult our volunteers about their preferences and availability before introducing them to a pet. We also need help with administration work and fundraising from time to time.

If you would like to apply to be a volunteer, you can complete an application form and we will contact you to progress your application. Please note that as we are dealing with vulnerable people on a ‘one to one’ basis, you will need to provide references and we will also arrange for you to have a DBS check.

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If you think you might be interested you can call 01904 627995 or e mail keepyourpet@ageukyork.org.uk and arrange an informal chat to find out more about what’s involved.