Loneliness is among the most serious disorders for older persons. Pets offer affection, unconditional love, fight loneliness, and can help ease the loss of a loved one.

The Pets For the Elderly Foundation (PFE) is a non-profit organization that provides the gift of health and happiness to senior citizens in need, while saving the lives of dogs and cats.

Nationally, more than six million animals are destroyed annually because homes are not available – making euthanasia of adoptable animals the number one cause of death for both dogs and cats.

The most serious disease for older persons is not cancer or heart disease – it's loneliness. Pets offer affection, unconditional love, fight loneliness, and can help ease the loss of a loved one.

This program pays $50 of the Tulsa SPCA’s adoption fee when senior citizens (over 60 years of age) adopt a companion dog or cat from us.

In 1980, a clinical research project at Brooklyn College, New York, studied heart-disease patients after their discharge from the hospital. Dr. Erika Friedmann, Ph.D., professor of health and nutrition sciences at the College, tracked each survivor, studying their medical histories, lifestyles, families, relationships – every documentable detail. Co-researcher Dr. Aaron Katcher, M.D., reported:
“The presence of a pet was the strongest social predictor of survival…not just for lonely or depressed people, but everyone – independent of marital status and access to social support from human beings.”