09 February 2001

P.A.T. Win Major Sponsor

The therapeutic work of the animal charity Pets As Therapy (P.A.T.) is to receive a welcome boost thanks to a leading UK manufacturer of pet care products. Shaws Pet Products are to donate a monthly contribution from the sales of their shampoo, grooming and healthcare products to help the charity recruit more animals to swell the numbers of the existing 4,000 hospital visiting dogs and 54 cats, who between them bring a little cheer into the lives of around 100,000 people every week. "These P.A.T. dogs are always so well turned out when they go into wards and we just felt they were the perfect ambassadors for us" said Shaws' Marketing Manager, Barbara Neal. "It costs £250 to cover the administration of finding, registering and matching a new P.A.T. dog with a hospital, hospice, nursing or care home to visit, and we hope that our sales to some of Britain's 6.9 million well spruced dogs and nearly 8 million cats will help with this vital work." Pets as Therapy (P.A.T.) was founded in 1983 with the aim of taking pets (mostly dogs) on therapeutic visits to hospitals, nursing and residential homes, special schools, day care centres and also to prisons and military rehabilitation centres. Volunteers offer to take their dogs on regular visits wherever they are welcome. P.A.T. dogs come in all shapes and sizes - pedigrees, cross breeds and mongrels. There has never been any doubt about the benefit of pet owning, but Pets as Therapy now receive more and more requests for assistance from the medical profession to help treat dog phobias and stress related illnesses. The scheme encourages the highest standard of pet ownership and clearly demonstrates the importance of companion animals to people. Announcing the partnership, Barbara Neal, said: "At Shaws we believe that by supporting P.A.T. we are also supporting our own aims and objectives. "P.A.T. dogs have to be clean, well groomed and well behaved. Shaws, like P.A.T. believes strongly in responsible pet ownership and a well turned-out dog is a tribute to these principles."