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Editor’s note: we apologize for this edition of Ready, Pet Go! being sent a day late. Thank you for your patience.
Happy Tuesday!
They say it takes a village to raise a child. But in the case of a senior dog living out her golden years in the city’s West End, all it takes are a few kind and caring neighbours.
You see, when Niska’s owner, Jocelyn Scott, died suddenly last spring at 89, the 14-year-old Labrador/Wolfhound cross became an orphan.
Jocelyn’s daughter, Karen Scott, who found Niska 14 years ago chewing on a bare bone in a ditch along a Manitoba highway, already had two cats when she took in her mother’s 16-year-old cat, Bella, and could not take on more.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t take in a dog as well,” says Scott, 59, adding that her mother, who was bound and determined to get 10,000 steps a day, had a wonderful, long relationship with Niska and walked her every day up and down Ingersoll Street where she lived.
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At first, when she needed rehoming, the friendly pooch was placed with a nearby neighbour who was struggling with end-stage cancer.
“It was a really nice relationship because that woman just lost her dog and wasn’t able to own a dog,” says Scott, adding Niska filled a gap in that person’s life. “And vice-versa, she helped Niska because Niska needed a home.”
But when the caregiver became too ill to care for Niska, Scott asked her other neighbour, Michelle Ritchot, if she would consider taking her.
“She was kind of their speed at this point,” she recalls. “Niska was 14 and slowing down, and Michelle and her partner Stephanie like to take it easy too.”
Ritchot, it turned out, needed little persuasion.
“We’ve known Niska all of her life,” says Ritchot, 56, who, with the help of yet another neighbour, Miriam, is now Niska’s main caregiver. “So, I said, ‘Yes of course we’ll take Niska and we’ll figure it out after.’ ”
Ritchot, who lives next door to Scott, says Niska can visit daily with her former housemate, Bella. And for now, she’s extremely fortunate to have a few people nearby who are working together to make certain she’s living her best life.
“To me, it’s been a huge relief because I was dealing with a sudden death and two senior animals. Both of whom I’ve known their entire lives,” says Scott, who is more than grateful for her pet-loving neighbours. “It’s heartbreaking to see any animal of any age be homeless. So it means the world to me.”
Have a great week!
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