Kathy Slemp loves animals. She has provided a loving home over the years to 12 dogs and one abandoned Siamese cat. Her heart is dedicated to making sure unwanted animals have a happy and long life.
It all started in the 1980s when she adopted two black Scotties and fell in love. A few years later she brought a Labrador pit-bull mix puppy home from work who quickly became the children’s nanny and the security guard for the home. Slemp went on to bring more dogs home that were either abandoned, at the shelter or with rescue. At any given time in the past 30 years, Slemp has had three to five dogs living with her.
“My animals keep me grounded. They listen with cocked heads as if they understand me,” Slemp said. “They make me laugh, keep me company, and give kisses and stare at me with adoring eyes like I am the best mom ever.”
Over the years, Slemp has volunteered with Oklahoma Alliance for Animals and helped the Broken Arrow Shelter with animal photography. “Within a couple of years, a group of friends and I saved around 100 animals and the shelter went to a 90+ percent save rate.” She said many people don’t realize that most shelters euthanize animals for various reasons and rescues are a group of volunteers who help save animals from the shelters and other circumstances, adding that there are multiple rescues in the area and most are overwhelmed.
Slemp’s experience has given her clear insight into what will help keep animals out of the shelters. Here are her tips:
- Spay or neuter your animals. Don’t breed your animals adding to Oklahoma’s pet overpopulation problem.
- Help rescues by fostering animals, volunteering, or donating money and goods.
- Microchip your pet(s) and have an ID tag on the collar(s). Wouldn’t you pick up every loose dog you saw if you knew it would be easy to get them home?
- Make a caretaker plan for your animals so they don’t end up at the shelter. If something happens to you, where will your animals go?
- Keep your animal healthy and up to date on vaccines so if it does end up at a shelter, it won’t catch disease.
- Research before you adopt and know adopting is for the life of the pet. Various dog breeds have different characteristics so make sure the pet is a good fit for the lifestyle you lead.
If you need help with a pet, there are multiple local resources and pet pages on Facebook that can point you in the right direction for help with food, fencing, dog houses and possible vet care.
If you’re thinking of adopting a pet, visit a shelter or a rescue and provide a loving home. Slemp says, "You can find full breed, mixed breed, big, small, cattle dog, lap dog and everything in between at the shelter or a rescue."
She also recommends that if you’ve lost a pet, visit all the shelters in person. Information might be posted incorrectly online and lighting makes the animals’ coloring appear different in photos.
Loving animals is Slemp’s part-time job. She has been the publisher of Tulsa Lifestyle since 2014.