Pets and the wonderful gift of companionship

The Potter League for Animals offers an array of services during the holidays and all year long.

Photos by Ashley Timms

Last year around the holidays, Kara Montalbano’s mother-in-law was having a hard time following the death of her husband. Montalbano, who’s worked at the Potter League in Middletown for about nine years, had an idea for something that might help as Christmas approached: a furry companion. When a Shitsu mix arrived at the shelter, she knew this dog was the one. “He came in as a stray and had to have an eye amputated,” recalls Montalbano.

As it turns out, the eye in question was the same eye her father-in-law once had surgery on, and her mother-in-law took this as a sign. Just before Christmas, the two were united. A year later, they are inseparable.

“It was meant to be,” says Montalbano. “Still to this day, she has not stopped thanking me.” This particular pup got her mother-in-law through what might have been a really lonely month — and year — and instead offered a new focus, one that lent her companionship and emotional support.

This, Montalbano notes, is the essence of what the Potter League strives to do, whether during the Christmas or summer seasons: connect humans with animals (and animals with humans) and help both thrive.

“It’s something I pride myself on, as an organization,” says Montalbano, who serves as its director of marketing and community relations. “Our tagline has been ‘Enriching Lives’ for as long as I can remember.” In fact, this past spring marked the Potter League for Animals’ 95th year, which was celebrated in April with a Love Bash.

Just as other community groups seek canned goods and nonperishable items ahead of the holidays, the Potter League seeks pet food and supplies, which are used to stock the Potter Pet Food Pantry.

The service is offered year-round and is open to anyone in need of temporary assistance. It includes pick-up locations at the headquarters on Oliphant Lane and at the Potter League’s animal clinic in East Providence. There also are deliveries to partner organizations like the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
Community Center, where the service donates pet supplies to the food pantry on Dr. Marcus F. Wheatland Boulevard and to the mobile pantry, a van that makes stops to communities and
neighborhoods in need.

Other partner organizations where pet food is supplied include the Salvation Army Food Pantry in Newport, the Jamestown Food Pantry in Jamestown, the St. John’s Food Pantry in Portsmouth, the East Bay Food Pantry in Bristol, and a few others around the state.

The service, as well as the animal care the Potter League provides through its pet clinics, is meant to help keep pets and their owners together, even during difficult times.

As Montalbano notes, pets end up at the shelter for a variety of reasons: as strays; as rescues on transports from the South where they might have escaped natural disasters or kill shelters; because their owners have entered nursing homes or experienced untimely deaths; and being surrendered because of housing strains and rising pet care costs.

More and more rental properties are prohibiting pets, she says, especially in affordable housing units, putting an added strain on an already tight local housing market. Potter League
leadership is currently advocating for tenants to be able to keep or to obtain pets, says Montalbano.

In addition, the Potter League has a “Community Navigator” on staff — a full-time position dedicated to helping pet owners navigate human service agencies. The idea is to connect with pet owners before their only option is to give up their pet or lose their home.

“Keeping pets with the families they already have — and not surrendering them to us,” is a major goal, says Montalbano. “It’s a battle we can’t battle alone.”

In a Potter Pets Facebook group, where people frequently share updates about their adopted pets, in good times and bad, many of the posts are affirmations of the Potter League’s work.

As one dog owner recently wrote: “Yesterday was Westley’s 10th gotchaversary. We ate goldfish crackers, and he told me that he’s glad to have chosen me. OK maybe he actually said that he wanted more treats, but I’m really glad he chose me. We’ve been through so much together and I can’t thank the Potter League for Animals enough for everything they do for so many animals and people.”

A cat owner wrote: “Happy 1st Gotcha Day to Shadow! Shadow found himself at Potter League in 2022 and 2023. Today, this guy has set himself a new personal record of staying out of Potter League for more than a year!”

Others have shared how they love their pets more than life itself, how grateful they are to have found their furry friends, how the pets adopted them, and how much better their lives are with them in it. (All of the pets pictured here and on the cover are from the Potter League.)

“What really strikes a chord with me around the holidays, says Montalbano, “is thinking about what a pet provides … it’s tough to put into words.” But the one word that seems most apt, she says, is “companionship.”