April 4, 2025 • 33 mins
Strengthening bonds and keeping pets healthy: join us as Genie Goldring shares the inspiring mission of Inner Pup, a non-profit dedicated to outreach, prevention, and building a better future for pets and their families.
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Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Welcome back to the show everyone.
Today we have a very special guestjoining us from the Inner Pup, a fantastic
organization dedicated to keeping petshealthy and in their loving homes.
Welcome, Genie
Gold Ring.
, I'm excited to learn about the Inner Pup.
(00:22):
To start, can you tell our listeners abit about the Inner Pup and its mission?
Genie (00:28):
I would love to.
So my daughter , Lindsay Goldring,and I started the Inner pup in 2014.
And the reason we did it isbecause we looked around and
we said the system is broken.
There are too many animals and peoplecan't afford their pets, and they're
(00:49):
forced to surrender their pets becausethey can't afford veterinary care
and they can't afford behavioraltraining and they need education.
And the system is broken, andthe answer is in prevention.
The more shelters we build, themore rescues that are created,
(01:11):
the more dogs and cats will come.
What we need to do is addressit at the prevention level.
So we started, we bought a $3,000 truck.
Put a logo on the hood and starteddriving through underserved
neighborhoods and handing out toysand treats and educating pet owners
(01:34):
and seeing what their needs were.
Just asking them questions andthey all wanted veterinary help.
They all wanted behavioral training,and they wanted to learn more
about responsible pet ownership.
So we got started and we actually, westarted with a focus on heartworm disease.
(01:55):
So.
I don't know how much the listeners areaware of heartworm disease, and maybe
in another podcast , if there's a lotof Innerest, I can do an education on
heartworm disease, but for now I'lljust say that it is a hundred percent
preventable and it is very expensive and.
(02:20):
Hard on dogs and pet owners to treat.
So prevention is easy and it works, butvery few pet owners, can afford access
to care and can afford retail veterinarycare, they don't know what heartworms are.
They think they're intestinalworms or they don't even
(02:42):
know that, but they're not.
They're spread by mosquitoesand, they're fatal if untreated.
So we decided to focus on heartwormdisease because in Louisiana, mosquitoes
are practically the state bird.
They're everywhere andthey're 12 months a year.
(03:04):
And if people don't have veterinarycare, they don't have access to heartworm
prevention because all of heartwormprevention is prescription only.
So we started doing pop-up clinicsand we started doing them monthly, and
that has become a huge focus for us.
(03:25):
We then started a heartworm treatmentprogram because we encountered such a
high incidence of heartworm positive dogsand owners who couldn't afford treatment,
which is easily one to $2,000 per pet.
So.
We started a soft kill treatment thathas gone through several iterations.
(03:49):
And our current soft kill treatmentis now the clinical arm of a big study
that is starting out this summer andwill go on for two and a half years to
test the protocol that we developed.
So heartworm disease, there's alot more awareness about heartworms
(04:12):
since the inner pup got involved.
And at this point we've gotten 107dogs free of heartworm disease and
hundreds, thousands actually more areon prevention because of our programs.
So that's a little bit about us.
Dixie (04:33):
Thank you.
And that was very informative too'cause I know there are a lot of people
that do not know about heartworms,so I'm glad that you could go over
that and I most certainly wouldlove to have a show that would focus
on something like that as well.
Now let me ask you another question'cause you said that heartworm
medications our prescription.
So how is it that you are able to getthese meds to the public that needs them?
Genie (04:58):
So yes, they are prescription only, and so anyone who doesn't have
access to a veterinarian can't get aprescription for heartworm prevention.
So we have about 20 to 25veterinarians who rotate at our
monthly clinics, and we have a primaryvet under whose license we operate.
(05:22):
And it's because of that partnershipwith our, the veterinary community
that we are able to order anddispense heartworm prevention.
We don't dispense it at all unlesswe do a heartworm test on the dog.
If the dog is heartwormnegative, we offer prevention.
(05:45):
If they're heartworm positive, we offerenrollment into our treatment program.
And if we do offer prevention, weoffer three different types for
puppies under six months of age.
We offer a topical prevention.
It's actually a topicalheartworm and flea prevention.
(06:06):
And for dogs that are fully grown.
We offer injectable prevention,either Pro Heart six or Pro Heart
12, which lasts for six to 12 months.
So the compliance is very easy.
We're not free.
We're extremely low cost, and wedon't compete with veterinary.
(06:29):
So for our clients, it's not a vetclinic or us, it's us or nothing.
And so that's why.
Dixie, when we first started, we werewarned, you're gonna get such pushback
from the veterinary community, andexactly the opposite has happened.
(06:50):
We've gotten such support inparticipation from the veterinary
community because they recognizethat our clients are not able to.
Go to their retail clinicsand so they help us.
And we also offer at our clinics, afull medicine chest of prescription meds.
(07:12):
So when our vets have an eye on thedog, if there is time at our clinics.
They will prescribe if they see somethingsimple that doesn't require a follow
up, like a skin condition or an earor infection or something with the
eyes or just some kind of an allergy,they'll prescribe right on the spot
(07:35):
and there's no extra charge for that.
So, it's, access to careis so, so important.
And every animal deserveshealth and quality of life.
So we also offer behavioraltraining, low cost for those who
can show low income, and there isan application process for that.
(08:00):
We also have an application process,and a client has to show low income in
order to get a veterinary visit, and wedo offer that service, and we can't help
pet owners whose pets have emergency.
We're short staffed and we're at capacity.
(08:22):
But for pets who have an easilytreatable condition, or need humane
euthanasia, we can help so animalsdon't die painfully at home.
. Dixie (08:36):
you did say that you focus on the prevention based animal welfare.
Genie (08:40):
We
do
Dixie (08:42):
What do you do in addition to the heartworm treatment,
. Genie (08:45):
Our programs are generally monthly heartworm prevention clinics
where we see well over a hundred dogs.
We also have cat clinicsmonthly, we have storefronts.
We have an office at theHealing Center on St.
Claude, and we do monthly storefronts.
For cats there.
We also do monthly storefronts for ourtreatment dogs so that they can be treated
(09:11):
and serviced in a very calm environment.
Our clinics are pretty chaotic.
We hold them in underservedneighborhoods, in convenient locations
like firehouses, neighborhoodengagement parks, places like that.
But they're pretty chaotic.
We also have a behavior trainingprogram and we have a veterinary
(09:34):
assistance program, so thoseare our flagship programs.
And then we also offer helpjust one-on-one as far as.
Other resources.
When low income pet owners come tous, we try to link them to resources
they need, whether they be housing orlegal or in any way that we can help.
(09:58):
We used to have an education program.
It was teacher taught in.
At risk charter schools and it wasfabulous, but Covid shut that down.
So now we do a lot of outreach andeducation at different community events
and whether they're animal welfareevents like this past week, past fest,
(10:20):
or whether they're just human events.
So any way that we can spread awareness.
And make people aware of theservices we have so that we can help.
All we wanna do is help morepet owners and more pets.
Dixie (10:38):
Since you did say it is for low income, what are the
financial requirements for that?
Genie (10:46):
Thanks for asking Dixie.
For our clinics, we don't ask.
We assume that anyone who'swilling to wait a few hours in
line with their pets and inclementweather, whatever they need us.
And of course there are always gonna be afew people who sort of skip through, but
(11:07):
there are not many, most of the people atour clinics really do need our services.
For instance, we had , anevent on March 23rd.
It was our first forayinto one Health, which is.
Treating humans and pets.
And we did that strictly because if peoplecan't afford their pets, they probably are
(11:31):
struggling to afford their own healthcare.
So we offered human healthscreenings as well as
pet services and we also offered vaccines,which we try to do at least once a year.
And we saw 205 dogs and 20 cats.
So some people waited four hours.
(11:54):
In line.
And so our assumption is if they'rewilling to do that, they need us.
So we don't ask for our otherprograms for low cost dog training
and for veterinary assistance.
They do have to show need and they have toprovide, whether it's federal assistance
(12:15):
or whatever, they can show that they'rereceiving because of their low income.
Or however they can prove itto us, we do ask for that.
Dixie (12:28):
As far as the clinics and then this veterinary care, is that gonna be
at your actual physical location or doyou send them to a veterinary hospital
Genie (12:38):
it's another great question.
We have five or six participating vetclinics that work with us and they give
us great discounts and the client, ifthey can afford it, they pay a $20 copay
and most of our clients want to pay.
(12:59):
They just simply can'tafford to pay the entire.
Fees.
So the same with our clinics.
For instance, we offer, when we do offerPro Heart six at our clinics, we offer it.
That's a six month of preventionplus a heartworm test, plus
(13:19):
six months of flea prevention.
I think our call, Ithink our charge is $45.
It's unheard of.
As far as from a veterinaryclinic, it would be.
Probably quadruple that, if not more.
If the client can't afford it.
If the client is unhoused,we don't deny their pet.
(13:43):
That medicine, but most of ourclients are really so grateful and
happy to pay and want to contribute.
They recognize there's a cost toeverything, and they wanna help and they
wanna help us be sustainable so thatthey can continue to come back to us.
Dixie (14:04):
You said that you do offer, of course, the heartworm, the
vaccinations, and you also try todo the outreach to educate people.
So the clients that are coming to you,were they aware of these things or was
it the outreach that you're doing thatmade them aware that they need to treat
for heartworms, they needed to vaccinate,they need flee prevention, et cetera?
Genie (14:28):
It is a great question.
It doesn't have a simple answer,Dixie, because people come
to us in many different ways.
Some get referred when they adopta dog from a shelter or a cat.
Some get referred to us.
Through friends, some of us,because sometimes because we
operate in their neighborhood andthey just see a clinic happening.
(14:51):
We, as I said, we do a lot of outreachat community events and we do have
an active website that gets visited.
We're active on social media, so.
All the avenues that are available to us,we try to use and we love word of mouth.
But it is true that most of our heartwormprevention clients had no idea what
(15:19):
heartworms were before they heardabout us, and now they're vigilant and.
They're pretty religious about makingsure that their pets, that their dogs
get heartworm prevention monthly.
They know they can't miss a single month.
That's all it takes is one mosquito.
(15:40):
And they never want it to happen.
They know how much suffering heartwormdisease can cause and they care a lot.
And there's always compliance issuesbut that's in any demographic.
We handhold a lot initially until peopleare fully on board and totally understand
(16:05):
the significance of heartworm disease.
The vaccines we don't offer very often.
Thankfully, there are other avenues toget low cost vaccines, but we try to do a
vaccine clinic once a year and we do offervaccines for cats at our storefronts.
(16:26):
And our storefronts for cats are.
A new program we started thispast year just by popular demand.
We had so many people and clientswho have dogs who also have cats,
so that's what brought it on.
And we have a number of vets who areparticularly in love with cats and we're
(16:49):
very happy to volunteer at our cat clinic.
So, those have become popular.
Dixie (16:55):
And what about spay neuter?
Genie (16:59):
We offer spay neuter as part of our veterinary assistance, and we don't
have a separate spay neuter program.
We know Jefferson Parishhas a wonderful one.
We have heard that OrleansParish is trying to develop one.
We always ask for donations.
(17:20):
For spay neuter because we would loveto have a separate spay neuter program.
We know it's a vitalresource in the community.
There are too many dogs.
There are just simply toomany dogs and people are.
Breeding, they're doing a lot of backyardbreeding and pets are dying in shelters.
(17:43):
So we strongly support spay neuter.
We wish we had more funding for it.
We wish we had morefunding for everything.
We are at capacity.
We are a small staff.
We have.
Two full-time volunteers.
I'm one of them, Dixie, and I'ma seven day full-time volunteer.
We have three full-time staffand we have about 200 volunteers
(18:08):
and we also have an affiliate programfor heartworm clinics because we're
the only heartworm clinics in thecountry and we do free consults.
with other organizations all overthe country with affiliates who
want to start their own heartwormprevention clinics because heartworm
(18:29):
disease is national at this point.
It used to be, it's still muchhigher incidents in the south, but
because of pet transport, heartwormdisease has some it's no longer
limited to southeast United States.
It's really.
Every state in the country has somelevel of incidents of heartworm disease.
Dixie (18:56):
Oh, I didn't know that, I knew it was worse of course in
the south, but I didn't know thattransport is what kind of contributed
to it across the the US as well.
Genie (19:05):
Absolutely.
And so now it's recommended inI think every state that pets
be on year round prevention.
It used to be in the north and northeastthat veterinarians used to say, in the
wInner months you could discontinue.
(19:26):
Heartworm prevention, but nolonger because there are always
reservoirs of mosquitoes.
There's always water that'sleft and 'cause of transport.
It has moved there's so many pets fromsouthern rescues and shelters that get
transported because there are fewerpets being bred up east and up north.
(19:52):
So yes, it has become a nationalproblem, although much more
in the south and southeast.
Dixie (20:02):
Now, the vets that work with you, do they volunteer their time?
Genie (20:07):
They absolutely do.
And it's a good question, Dixie, becausewe have tried and offered to pay our vets.
They do an amazing job.
They come in their spare time.
Our clinics are scheduledusually for two hours.
They always go on for three.
And we offer, and we've neverhad a vet accept payment.
(20:31):
And we've put it in their pocketsand they've returned it and,
said you need it more than we do.
And our volunteers are incredible andwe have so many vet techs who volunteer
with us and skilled blood draws.
We partner with the vet school at LSU.
And their vet students act as blood drawsand do our heartworm test at our clinics.
(20:57):
And they love it because they dohigh volume blood draws and we
love it because they're terrific.
One thing I should mention is ifanyone does wanna volunteer with the
Inner pup, we have so many positions.
First of all, we love what we call ourneighborhood ambassadors who are just
(21:19):
people in a question you asked earlier.
Who just spread the word of whatwe do, whether they spread flyers
about our clinics or, they're alwaysthe sweet, wonderful grandmothers
that sit on the front porches andsee people walk by with pets and
we'll tell them about our services.
(21:41):
We have administrative tasksthat can be done at home.
We have so much administrative work that.
It could help our staff if we have skilledvolunteers to do, and we always need vet
techs and people who are skilled withhandling dogs and cats, and all they need
(22:02):
to do is write to info@theinnerpup.org.
And they'll get a response.
They can also sign up, subscribeto our newsletter on our
website, and volunteer there.
And you know what, we offer volunteersevery month we do an orientation.
(22:24):
Our operations director conducts awonderful orientation, which gives
an overview and people can selectwhere they feel they fit best.
We don't allow clinic clients tobecome volunteers at our clinics.
It's just something we haveruled against, but they can
(22:45):
certainly volunteer in other ways.
And we always love veterinarianswho volunteer and we have such a
large pool of incredible volunteers.
We couldn't operate fora week without them.
So, but we have a small staff.
We have two full-time volunteers, ofwhich I'm one and we have three full-time
(23:07):
staff employed and one part-time.
And we do a lot and we.
Always need donations andfunding to be sustainable.
'cause our clinic costsare more than we bring in.
(23:27):
All of our costs are more than we charge.
Dixie (23:30):
It does sound like you have a huge impact on the community, and you
did say you were involved in the study.
Can you tell us a littlebit about that study?
Genie (23:39):
I can give you a preview of it.
It doesn't start until August and weare still learning, but we are working
and I'm not sure I'm at liberty togive too much information, but I
will give you a great preview basedon the protocol that we developed.
We had a few researchers who.
(24:00):
One of whom we met at actuallythe American Heartworm Symposium
in 2019 when we were invited topresent a poster of our clinics.
And since then we've stayed in touchand she is going to be the lead
researcher on a large two and a halfyear study that is very well funded.
(24:26):
And it is to test this protocolwhich is a soft kill protocol.
Some people call it soft kill.
Some people call it slow kill.
But if the study proves thesuccess as well as our own
program has shown the success.
(24:47):
It will become, it will be published, andit might change the way that heartworm
disease is treated in this country.
Heartworm disease is currently theprotocol, acceptable protocol by
the American Heartworm Society is a.
(25:08):
Fast kill protocol that is basedon an arsenic based medicine.
It is very hard on the dog.
It is very hard on the pet owner.
It requires restriction ofexercise for a number of months.
It's big lifestyle adjustment
(25:29):
it carries some risk, but it's veryhard and a slow kill protocol is
much easier to comply with, mucheasier on the dog, much easier on.
The pet owner.
So we just need to prove in a verycontrolled study that it is as
(25:51):
successful as we've shown it to be.
Over the past few years we've usedit, so we're very excited about it.
Dixie (25:59):
That's wonderful and good luck on that too.
That's really Inneresting.
I did not know that muchabout heartworms either.
I'm more of a cat rescuer
Genie (26:08):
Cats get heartworms too.
And one or two cat heartwormscan kill a cat and.
Only about 5% of cat ownersgive regular prevention.
There's no treatment for catheartworms as of yet, so that's
a whole nother discussion.
(26:29):
If someone wants to learn more aboutheartworm disease, we have an incredible
video that's on our website, Dixie.
It was produced by a gal, RachelGrissom, who is an award-winning
filmmaker local in New Orleans, andit was narrated by Angela Hill, who,
(26:53):
if anyone is over the age, maybe 40.
They would know her.
She was a WWL news anchor forever, formany years, and she's a wonderful person
with a beautiful voice, and I thinkthat they can access that if they go
(27:15):
on our website, I think it's under the.
Affiliate program.
And if they scroll to the bottom,it's a two part 15 minute total
video on heartworm disease.
And it's wonderful.
If anyone is as obsessed withheartworms as I am, they'll love it.
Dixie (27:42):
Yeah, I'm gonna go check it out.
And what's the website?
Genie (27:46):
It's www.theinnerpup.org
and I think it's under the firsttab is maybe what we do or how we
can help, but if you look at thereonly, I think four tabs at the top
and one of them is for the affiliateprogram and that's where it would be.
Dixie (28:08):
Okay, thank you.
And I'm gonna include a linkto that in our show notes.
Genie (28:13):
Thank you.
Dixie (28:14):
You're welcome.
Now I have to ask too, it soundslike you're very knowledgeable,
of course, about heartworms.
So how long did it take you tolearn all this and what prompted
your Interest in heartworms?
Genie (28:24):
Dixie, you ask great questions.
You should be a podcaster.
You do a great job you reallydo listen very well and ask
incredibly good questions.
If I were gonna ask myself questions,I would ask these questions.
So, I.
Am from a very medical family, andeveryone in my family, including
(28:48):
my two sons, are physicians.
So I have had a lifelongInnerest in medicine.
I grew up in hospitals.
My father was a surgeon.
I used to go make rounds with him.
My first husband was an O-B-G-Y-N.
I've always had an Innerest.
I've read medical textbooks allmy life, so when I got into animal
(29:10):
welfare, it was like, heartwormdisease, mosquitoes New Orleans.
Are you kidding?
This is like a no brainer.
It said, it tells the entire storythat about access to care, that if you.
If you have to use a prescriptiondrug for prevention and you need
(29:35):
to see a vet to get a prescription,and you can't afford a vet.
Then the incidence of heartwormdisease is going to be so high in the
at-risk community, and it's simplynot fair Income should not determine
a pet's health or a human's health forthat matter, and we need to provide.
(30:01):
Access to care, and that's why so manynational animal welfare organizations are
detouring from sheltering into prevention.
So we really did havethe right idea when we.
Thought up the inner pup.
I had a medical background.
(30:21):
I had done some freelancing andwriting and my daughter had done right
out of college, been the directorof a animal welfare organization,
a shelter in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
And it was.
We've had this huge love of animals.
(30:42):
We've both volunteered our, with animals.
And when we looked around, whenshe moved back home and just said,
my goodness, the system is broken.
It needs to be the way it was whenI was growing up, where you went
to a shelter to find your lost pet.
(31:04):
You didn't.
Surrender your pet there becauseyou couldn't afford to feed 'em.
It's just simply not fairand it has to change.
So that's why we're here.
Dixie (31:19):
That's great.
Do you have futuregoals for the Inner pup?
Genie (31:24):
Yes, we want inner pups all over the country.
We want affiliates.
We want heartworm preventionand treatment clinics.
More than anything, we wantto improve access to care.
Our largest goal is one health, justas I said, because if people can't
(31:44):
afford their pets, they can't affordtheir own health, but we'll be happy to
get, make progress with access to care.
And as more and more nationalorganizations are putting
their dollars into access.
To care and trying to figureout ways to provide it.
(32:06):
I think it's going to happen.
I'm very hopeful and we wannaspread the gospel of the inner
pop to whoever will listen.
Dixie (32:16):
And finally, what is the most rewarding part of
working with the Inner pup?
Genie (32:22):
That's an easy one.
It's the people, it's the gratitude.
We see people every day who love andadore their pets, and they are so
grateful to be able to give theirpets what they deserve because of us.
So that's the easy part.
We love the people and the petsthat our community is so rich.
(32:48):
We have.
Just discovered, if we feel like theluckiest people on earth, it's such
an honor and a privilege to servethe people and pets in our community.
Dixie (33:01):
Thank you so much,
Genie,
for sharing the incrediblework of the Inner Pup.
It's truly inspiring to see thatyou're making a difference in the
lives of pets and their owners.
Genie (33:12):
Thank you Dixie I love the Innerview.
As I said, you asked the mostwonderful questions and it's always
a pleasure to talk about what wedo and hope we can spread the word.
So thank you.
Dixie (33:26):
You are welcome.
And I hope you can comeback on another time too.
Genie (33:30):
I would love to.
Dixie (33:31):
All right.
Okay.
Thank you so much.
Genie (33:34):
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
And that's all the time wehave for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Welcome back to the show everyone.
Today we have a very special guestjoining us from the Inner Pup, a fantastic
organization dedicated to keeping petshealthy and in their loving homes.
Welcome, Genie
Gold Ring.
, I'm excited to learn about the Inner Pup.
(00:22):
To start, can you tell our listeners abit about the Inner Pup and its mission?
Genie (00:28):
I would love to.
So my daughter , Lindsay Goldring,and I started the Inner pup in 2014.
And the reason we did it isbecause we looked around and
we said the system is broken.
There are too many animals and peoplecan't afford their pets, and they're
(00:49):
forced to surrender their pets becausethey can't afford veterinary care
and they can't afford behavioraltraining and they need education.
And the system is broken, andthe answer is in prevention.
The more shelters we build, themore rescues that are created,
(01:11):
the more dogs and cats will come.
What we need to do is addressit at the prevention level.
So we started, we bought a $3,000 truck.
Put a logo on the hood and starteddriving through underserved
neighborhoods and handing out toysand treats and educating pet owners
(01:34):
and seeing what their needs were.
Just asking them questions andthey all wanted veterinary help.
They all wanted behavioral training,and they wanted to learn more
about responsible pet ownership.
So we got started and we actually, westarted with a focus on heartworm disease.
(01:55):
So.
I don't know how much the listeners areaware of heartworm disease, and maybe
in another podcast , if there's a lotof Innerest, I can do an education on
heartworm disease, but for now I'lljust say that it is a hundred percent
preventable and it is very expensive and.
(02:20):
Hard on dogs and pet owners to treat.
So prevention is easy and it works, butvery few pet owners, can afford access
to care and can afford retail veterinarycare, they don't know what heartworms are.
They think they're intestinalworms or they don't even
(02:42):
know that, but they're not.
They're spread by mosquitoesand, they're fatal if untreated.
So we decided to focus on heartwormdisease because in Louisiana, mosquitoes
are practically the state bird.
They're everywhere andthey're 12 months a year.
(03:04):
And if people don't have veterinarycare, they don't have access to heartworm
prevention because all of heartwormprevention is prescription only.
So we started doing pop-up clinicsand we started doing them monthly, and
that has become a huge focus for us.
(03:25):
We then started a heartworm treatmentprogram because we encountered such a
high incidence of heartworm positive dogsand owners who couldn't afford treatment,
which is easily one to $2,000 per pet.
So.
We started a soft kill treatment thathas gone through several iterations.
(03:49):
And our current soft kill treatmentis now the clinical arm of a big study
that is starting out this summer andwill go on for two and a half years to
test the protocol that we developed.
So heartworm disease, there's alot more awareness about heartworms
(04:12):
since the inner pup got involved.
And at this point we've gotten 107dogs free of heartworm disease and
hundreds, thousands actually more areon prevention because of our programs.
So that's a little bit about us.
Dixie (04:33):
Thank you.
And that was very informative too'cause I know there are a lot of people
that do not know about heartworms,so I'm glad that you could go over
that and I most certainly wouldlove to have a show that would focus
on something like that as well.
Now let me ask you another question'cause you said that heartworm
medications our prescription.
So how is it that you are able to getthese meds to the public that needs them?
Genie (04:58):
So yes, they are prescription only, and so anyone who doesn't have
access to a veterinarian can't get aprescription for heartworm prevention.
So we have about 20 to 25veterinarians who rotate at our
monthly clinics, and we have a primaryvet under whose license we operate.
(05:22):
And it's because of that partnershipwith our, the veterinary community
that we are able to order anddispense heartworm prevention.
We don't dispense it at all unlesswe do a heartworm test on the dog.
If the dog is heartwormnegative, we offer prevention.
(05:45):
If they're heartworm positive, we offerenrollment into our treatment program.
And if we do offer prevention, weoffer three different types for
puppies under six months of age.
We offer a topical prevention.
It's actually a topicalheartworm and flea prevention.
(06:06):
And for dogs that are fully grown.
We offer injectable prevention,either Pro Heart six or Pro Heart
12, which lasts for six to 12 months.
So the compliance is very easy.
We're not free.
We're extremely low cost, and wedon't compete with veterinary.
(06:29):
So for our clients, it's not a vetclinic or us, it's us or nothing.
And so that's why.
Dixie, when we first started, we werewarned, you're gonna get such pushback
from the veterinary community, andexactly the opposite has happened.
(06:50):
We've gotten such support inparticipation from the veterinary
community because they recognizethat our clients are not able to.
Go to their retail clinicsand so they help us.
And we also offer at our clinics, afull medicine chest of prescription meds.
(07:12):
So when our vets have an eye on thedog, if there is time at our clinics.
They will prescribe if they see somethingsimple that doesn't require a follow
up, like a skin condition or an earor infection or something with the
eyes or just some kind of an allergy,they'll prescribe right on the spot
(07:35):
and there's no extra charge for that.
So, it's, access to careis so, so important.
And every animal deserveshealth and quality of life.
So we also offer behavioraltraining, low cost for those who
can show low income, and there isan application process for that.
(08:00):
We also have an application process,and a client has to show low income in
order to get a veterinary visit, and wedo offer that service, and we can't help
pet owners whose pets have emergency.
We're short staffed and we're at capacity.
(08:22):
But for pets who have an easilytreatable condition, or need humane
euthanasia, we can help so animalsdon't die painfully at home.
. Dixie (08:36):
you did say that you focus on the prevention based animal welfare.
Genie (08:40):
We
do
Dixie (08:42):
What do you do in addition to the heartworm treatment,
. Genie (08:45):
Our programs are generally monthly heartworm prevention clinics
where we see well over a hundred dogs.
We also have cat clinicsmonthly, we have storefronts.
We have an office at theHealing Center on St.
Claude, and we do monthly storefronts.
For cats there.
We also do monthly storefronts for ourtreatment dogs so that they can be treated
(09:11):
and serviced in a very calm environment.
Our clinics are pretty chaotic.
We hold them in underservedneighborhoods, in convenient locations
like firehouses, neighborhoodengagement parks, places like that.
But they're pretty chaotic.
We also have a behavior trainingprogram and we have a veterinary
(09:34):
assistance program, so thoseare our flagship programs.
And then we also offer helpjust one-on-one as far as.
Other resources.
When low income pet owners come tous, we try to link them to resources
they need, whether they be housing orlegal or in any way that we can help.
(09:58):
We used to have an education program.
It was teacher taught in.
At risk charter schools and it wasfabulous, but Covid shut that down.
So now we do a lot of outreach andeducation at different community events
and whether they're animal welfareevents like this past week, past fest,
(10:20):
or whether they're just human events.
So any way that we can spread awareness.
And make people aware of theservices we have so that we can help.
All we wanna do is help morepet owners and more pets.
Dixie (10:38):
Since you did say it is for low income, what are the
financial requirements for that?
Genie (10:46):
Thanks for asking Dixie.
For our clinics, we don't ask.
We assume that anyone who'swilling to wait a few hours in
line with their pets and inclementweather, whatever they need us.
And of course there are always gonna be afew people who sort of skip through, but
(11:07):
there are not many, most of the people atour clinics really do need our services.
For instance, we had , anevent on March 23rd.
It was our first forayinto one Health, which is.
Treating humans and pets.
And we did that strictly because if peoplecan't afford their pets, they probably are
(11:31):
struggling to afford their own healthcare.
So we offered human healthscreenings as well as
pet services and we also offered vaccines,which we try to do at least once a year.
And we saw 205 dogs and 20 cats.
So some people waited four hours.
(11:54):
In line.
And so our assumption is if they'rewilling to do that, they need us.
So we don't ask for our otherprograms for low cost dog training
and for veterinary assistance.
They do have to show need and they have toprovide, whether it's federal assistance
(12:15):
or whatever, they can show that they'rereceiving because of their low income.
Or however they can prove itto us, we do ask for that.
Dixie (12:28):
As far as the clinics and then this veterinary care, is that gonna be
at your actual physical location or doyou send them to a veterinary hospital
Genie (12:38):
it's another great question.
We have five or six participating vetclinics that work with us and they give
us great discounts and the client, ifthey can afford it, they pay a $20 copay
and most of our clients want to pay.
(12:59):
They just simply can'tafford to pay the entire.
Fees.
So the same with our clinics.
For instance, we offer, when we do offerPro Heart six at our clinics, we offer it.
That's a six month of preventionplus a heartworm test, plus
(13:19):
six months of flea prevention.
I think our call, Ithink our charge is $45.
It's unheard of.
As far as from a veterinaryclinic, it would be.
Probably quadruple that, if not more.
If the client can't afford it.
If the client is unhoused,we don't deny their pet.
(13:43):
That medicine, but most of ourclients are really so grateful and
happy to pay and want to contribute.
They recognize there's a cost toeverything, and they wanna help and they
wanna help us be sustainable so thatthey can continue to come back to us.
Dixie (14:04):
You said that you do offer, of course, the heartworm, the
vaccinations, and you also try todo the outreach to educate people.
So the clients that are coming to you,were they aware of these things or was
it the outreach that you're doing thatmade them aware that they need to treat
for heartworms, they needed to vaccinate,they need flee prevention, et cetera?
Genie (14:28):
It is a great question.
It doesn't have a simple answer,Dixie, because people come
to us in many different ways.
Some get referred when they adopta dog from a shelter or a cat.
Some get referred to us.
Through friends, some of us,because sometimes because we
operate in their neighborhood andthey just see a clinic happening.
(14:51):
We, as I said, we do a lot of outreachat community events and we do have
an active website that gets visited.
We're active on social media, so.
All the avenues that are available to us,we try to use and we love word of mouth.
But it is true that most of our heartwormprevention clients had no idea what
(15:19):
heartworms were before they heardabout us, and now they're vigilant and.
They're pretty religious about makingsure that their pets, that their dogs
get heartworm prevention monthly.
They know they can't miss a single month.
That's all it takes is one mosquito.
(15:40):
And they never want it to happen.
They know how much suffering heartwormdisease can cause and they care a lot.
And there's always compliance issuesbut that's in any demographic.
We handhold a lot initially until peopleare fully on board and totally understand
(16:05):
the significance of heartworm disease.
The vaccines we don't offer very often.
Thankfully, there are other avenues toget low cost vaccines, but we try to do a
vaccine clinic once a year and we do offervaccines for cats at our storefronts.
(16:26):
And our storefronts for cats are.
A new program we started thispast year just by popular demand.
We had so many people and clientswho have dogs who also have cats,
so that's what brought it on.
And we have a number of vets who areparticularly in love with cats and we're
(16:49):
very happy to volunteer at our cat clinic.
So, those have become popular.
Dixie (16:55):
And what about spay neuter?
Genie (16:59):
We offer spay neuter as part of our veterinary assistance, and we don't
have a separate spay neuter program.
We know Jefferson Parishhas a wonderful one.
We have heard that OrleansParish is trying to develop one.
We always ask for donations.
(17:20):
For spay neuter because we would loveto have a separate spay neuter program.
We know it's a vitalresource in the community.
There are too many dogs.
There are just simply toomany dogs and people are.
Breeding, they're doing a lot of backyardbreeding and pets are dying in shelters.
(17:43):
So we strongly support spay neuter.
We wish we had more funding for it.
We wish we had morefunding for everything.
We are at capacity.
We are a small staff.
We have.
Two full-time volunteers.
I'm one of them, Dixie, and I'ma seven day full-time volunteer.
We have three full-time staffand we have about 200 volunteers
(18:08):
and we also have an affiliate programfor heartworm clinics because we're
the only heartworm clinics in thecountry and we do free consults.
with other organizations all overthe country with affiliates who
want to start their own heartwormprevention clinics because heartworm
(18:29):
disease is national at this point.
It used to be, it's still muchhigher incidents in the south, but
because of pet transport, heartwormdisease has some it's no longer
limited to southeast United States.
It's really.
Every state in the country has somelevel of incidents of heartworm disease.
Dixie (18:56):
Oh, I didn't know that, I knew it was worse of course in
the south, but I didn't know thattransport is what kind of contributed
to it across the the US as well.
Genie (19:05):
Absolutely.
And so now it's recommended inI think every state that pets
be on year round prevention.
It used to be in the north and northeastthat veterinarians used to say, in the
wInner months you could discontinue.
(19:26):
Heartworm prevention, but nolonger because there are always
reservoirs of mosquitoes.
There's always water that'sleft and 'cause of transport.
It has moved there's so many pets fromsouthern rescues and shelters that get
transported because there are fewerpets being bred up east and up north.
(19:52):
So yes, it has become a nationalproblem, although much more
in the south and southeast.
Dixie (20:02):
Now, the vets that work with you, do they volunteer their time?
Genie (20:07):
They absolutely do.
And it's a good question, Dixie, becausewe have tried and offered to pay our vets.
They do an amazing job.
They come in their spare time.
Our clinics are scheduledusually for two hours.
They always go on for three.
And we offer, and we've neverhad a vet accept payment.
(20:31):
And we've put it in their pocketsand they've returned it and,
said you need it more than we do.
And our volunteers are incredible andwe have so many vet techs who volunteer
with us and skilled blood draws.
We partner with the vet school at LSU.
And their vet students act as blood drawsand do our heartworm test at our clinics.
(20:57):
And they love it because they dohigh volume blood draws and we
love it because they're terrific.
One thing I should mention is ifanyone does wanna volunteer with the
Inner pup, we have so many positions.
First of all, we love what we call ourneighborhood ambassadors who are just
(21:19):
people in a question you asked earlier.
Who just spread the word of whatwe do, whether they spread flyers
about our clinics or, they're alwaysthe sweet, wonderful grandmothers
that sit on the front porches andsee people walk by with pets and
we'll tell them about our services.
(21:41):
We have administrative tasksthat can be done at home.
We have so much administrative work that.
It could help our staff if we have skilledvolunteers to do, and we always need vet
techs and people who are skilled withhandling dogs and cats, and all they need
(22:02):
to do is write to info@theinnerpup.org.
And they'll get a response.
They can also sign up, subscribeto our newsletter on our
website, and volunteer there.
And you know what, we offer volunteersevery month we do an orientation.
(22:24):
Our operations director conducts awonderful orientation, which gives
an overview and people can selectwhere they feel they fit best.
We don't allow clinic clients tobecome volunteers at our clinics.
It's just something we haveruled against, but they can
(22:45):
certainly volunteer in other ways.
And we always love veterinarianswho volunteer and we have such a
large pool of incredible volunteers.
We couldn't operate fora week without them.
So, but we have a small staff.
We have two full-time volunteers, ofwhich I'm one and we have three full-time
(23:07):
staff employed and one part-time.
And we do a lot and we.
Always need donations andfunding to be sustainable.
'cause our clinic costsare more than we bring in.
(23:27):
All of our costs are more than we charge.
Dixie (23:30):
It does sound like you have a huge impact on the community, and you
did say you were involved in the study.
Can you tell us a littlebit about that study?
Genie (23:39):
I can give you a preview of it.
It doesn't start until August and weare still learning, but we are working
and I'm not sure I'm at liberty togive too much information, but I
will give you a great preview basedon the protocol that we developed.
We had a few researchers who.
(24:00):
One of whom we met at actuallythe American Heartworm Symposium
in 2019 when we were invited topresent a poster of our clinics.
And since then we've stayed in touchand she is going to be the lead
researcher on a large two and a halfyear study that is very well funded.
(24:26):
And it is to test this protocolwhich is a soft kill protocol.
Some people call it soft kill.
Some people call it slow kill.
But if the study proves thesuccess as well as our own
program has shown the success.
(24:47):
It will become, it will be published, andit might change the way that heartworm
disease is treated in this country.
Heartworm disease is currently theprotocol, acceptable protocol by
the American Heartworm Society is a.
(25:08):
Fast kill protocol that is basedon an arsenic based medicine.
It is very hard on the dog.
It is very hard on the pet owner.
It requires restriction ofexercise for a number of months.
It's big lifestyle adjustment
(25:29):
it carries some risk, but it's veryhard and a slow kill protocol is
much easier to comply with, mucheasier on the dog, much easier on.
The pet owner.
So we just need to prove in a verycontrolled study that it is as
(25:51):
successful as we've shown it to be.
Over the past few years we've usedit, so we're very excited about it.
Dixie (25:59):
That's wonderful and good luck on that too.
That's really Inneresting.
I did not know that muchabout heartworms either.
I'm more of a cat rescuer
Genie (26:08):
Cats get heartworms too.
And one or two cat heartwormscan kill a cat and.
Only about 5% of cat ownersgive regular prevention.
There's no treatment for catheartworms as of yet, so that's
a whole nother discussion.
(26:29):
If someone wants to learn more aboutheartworm disease, we have an incredible
video that's on our website, Dixie.
It was produced by a gal, RachelGrissom, who is an award-winning
filmmaker local in New Orleans, andit was narrated by Angela Hill, who,
(26:53):
if anyone is over the age, maybe 40.
They would know her.
She was a WWL news anchor forever, formany years, and she's a wonderful person
with a beautiful voice, and I thinkthat they can access that if they go
(27:15):
on our website, I think it's under the.
Affiliate program.
And if they scroll to the bottom,it's a two part 15 minute total
video on heartworm disease.
And it's wonderful.
If anyone is as obsessed withheartworms as I am, they'll love it.
Dixie (27:42):
Yeah, I'm gonna go check it out.
And what's the website?
Genie (27:46):
It's www.theinnerpup.org
and I think it's under the firsttab is maybe what we do or how we
can help, but if you look at thereonly, I think four tabs at the top
and one of them is for the affiliateprogram and that's where it would be.
Dixie (28:08):
Okay, thank you.
And I'm gonna include a linkto that in our show notes.
Genie (28:13):
Thank you.
Dixie (28:14):
You're welcome.
Now I have to ask too, it soundslike you're very knowledgeable,
of course, about heartworms.
So how long did it take you tolearn all this and what prompted
your Interest in heartworms?
Genie (28:24):
Dixie, you ask great questions.
You should be a podcaster.
You do a great job you reallydo listen very well and ask
incredibly good questions.
If I were gonna ask myself questions,I would ask these questions.
So, I.
Am from a very medical family, andeveryone in my family, including
(28:48):
my two sons, are physicians.
So I have had a lifelongInnerest in medicine.
I grew up in hospitals.
My father was a surgeon.
I used to go make rounds with him.
My first husband was an O-B-G-Y-N.
I've always had an Innerest.
I've read medical textbooks allmy life, so when I got into animal
(29:10):
welfare, it was like, heartwormdisease, mosquitoes New Orleans.
Are you kidding?
This is like a no brainer.
It said, it tells the entire storythat about access to care, that if you.
If you have to use a prescriptiondrug for prevention and you need
(29:35):
to see a vet to get a prescription,and you can't afford a vet.
Then the incidence of heartwormdisease is going to be so high in the
at-risk community, and it's simplynot fair Income should not determine
a pet's health or a human's health forthat matter, and we need to provide.
(30:01):
Access to care, and that's why so manynational animal welfare organizations are
detouring from sheltering into prevention.
So we really did havethe right idea when we.
Thought up the inner pup.
I had a medical background.
(30:21):
I had done some freelancing andwriting and my daughter had done right
out of college, been the directorof a animal welfare organization,
a shelter in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
And it was.
We've had this huge love of animals.
(30:42):
We've both volunteered our, with animals.
And when we looked around, whenshe moved back home and just said,
my goodness, the system is broken.
It needs to be the way it was whenI was growing up, where you went
to a shelter to find your lost pet.
(31:04):
You didn't.
Surrender your pet there becauseyou couldn't afford to feed 'em.
It's just simply not fairand it has to change.
So that's why we're here.
Dixie (31:19):
That's great.
Do you have futuregoals for the Inner pup?
Genie (31:24):
Yes, we want inner pups all over the country.
We want affiliates.
We want heartworm preventionand treatment clinics.
More than anything, we wantto improve access to care.
Our largest goal is one health, justas I said, because if people can't
(31:44):
afford their pets, they can't affordtheir own health, but we'll be happy to
get, make progress with access to care.
And as more and more nationalorganizations are putting
their dollars into access.
To care and trying to figureout ways to provide it.
(32:06):
I think it's going to happen.
I'm very hopeful and we wannaspread the gospel of the inner
pop to whoever will listen.
Dixie (32:16):
And finally, what is the most rewarding part of
working with the Inner pup?
Genie (32:22):
That's an easy one.
It's the people, it's the gratitude.
We see people every day who love andadore their pets, and they are so
grateful to be able to give theirpets what they deserve because of us.
So that's the easy part.
We love the people and the petsthat our community is so rich.
(32:48):
We have.
Just discovered, if we feel like theluckiest people on earth, it's such
an honor and a privilege to servethe people and pets in our community.
Dixie (33:01):
Thank you so much,
Genie,
for sharing the incrediblework of the Inner Pup.
It's truly inspiring to see thatyou're making a difference in the
lives of pets and their owners.
Genie (33:12):
Thank you Dixie I love the Innerview.
As I said, you asked the mostwonderful questions and it's always
a pleasure to talk about what wedo and hope we can spread the word.
So thank you.
Dixie (33:26):
You are welcome.
And I hope you can comeback on another time too.
Genie (33:30):
I would love to.
Dixie (33:31):
All right.
Okay.
Thank you so much.
Genie (33:34):
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
And that's all the time wehave for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
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