Fourth-Grade Class Brings Aid to Handicapped Pets; Project Assists Needy With HandicappedPets.com

VELMA, Okla., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Johanna, the 5-year-old dachshund, was left partially paralyzed and incontinent after a group of teens in Tennessee hit her with a baseball bat. For Kathy Barton and her fourth-grade class at Velma-Alma Elementary in Oklahoma, this was a call to arms. They voted to donate the $423 they had raised to pay for the dog's airfare to her new home in Maine and her new pet wheelchair dog cart.

Johanna is just one of the many handicapped pets Barton and her class have chosen to provide assistance to the HandicappedPets.com community. Having helped numerous blind dogs, deaf pets, and special needs animals, they are now raising funds for their 2007 campaign. To help, HandicappedPets.com, the leading website for products and services to assist pets in need, has established a website for donations at http://www.handicappedpetkids.com/.

"Through bake sales and community donations, we have been able to raise a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a year to help a few handicapped pets," said Barton. "Our goal this year is to raise more money so we can provide equipment for more elderly, injured, and special needs pets. We already have identified two dogs on HandicappedPets.com who are in need of dog wheelchairs."

Barton discovered HandicappedPets.com when she was seeking products and support for her own two Lethal White Australian Shepherds, Faith and Hope, who she rescued from being put down because they were blind and deaf dogs. It was that visit that led Barton to pursue handicapped pets as the fourth grade class project. The class has since helped Johanna, Scooter, a two-legged Chihuahua, and Priscilla, who has the equivalent of human "shaken baby syndrome."

"People don't often think much about the needs of elderly, disabled and handicapped pets," said Mark C. Robinson, CEO of HandicappedPets.com. "So when we heard about Kathy and the kids' efforts we called to see what we could do."

HandicappedPets.com is the leading provider for products, services and support for handicapped, elderly and injured animals and their caretakers. For more information, visit http://www.handicappedpets.com/.

Contact: Deborah Winters, Vice President

deborah.winters@handicappedpets.com, 603 577-8854