If you have ever been to a rural town, you may have seen stray dogs or cats on the streets, living outside in unimaginable conditions.

Over time they get picked up and taken to animal shelters to be put up for adoption. The stories of many of these pets go unnoticed. However, there is a non-profit rescue group changing this pattern for the better.

Most rescue groups will stay within a specific region, such as the Metroplex, but two years ago Roadtrip 4 Paws, a different kind of rescue, was founded by Valley Ranch resident Kelly Bond. The idea of the organization is to transport animals from places where they had small odds of being adopted to places with higher adoption success.

Feeling the pressure of founding a rescue group by herself, Bond began to look at other states for an helpful connections. Looking from the northeast to the northwest, she scanned Facebook pages, fundraisers, websites and volunteer information, emailing successful rescues as she went. Bond received several emails back from multiple shelters in Colorado and they officially started the transportation aspect of RT4P that Bond had wanted so much.

Driving 13 hours to Fort Collins, Colo. from the DFW area with animals recently rescued from many East Texas shelters became a thrice-monthly norm for Bond and volunteers. On average, Roadtrip 4 Paws will transport about 40 dogs and cats, including kittens and puppies, to Colorado per trip. From August 2015 to July 2016 they transported over 1,000 animals.

“That just makes us happy, just knowing that whether they get a home here or as our slogan says ‘a few miles away’ then it works for us,” Bond said.

Coppell resident Jennifer Lay, a former rescue volunteer for eight years, helps Bond run RT4P by handling paperwork, adoption events and administrative tasks. She also coordinates with rescues in Colorado such as Found Nation Animal Rescue  and Fort Collins Cat Rescue.

“It is such a rewarding feeling to place a dog or cat with a family who will love and take care of them,” Lay said.  

Because shelters in Texas country towns do not get much traffic, a lot of animals that go through them will be euthanized because of the lack of space and funds needed to take care of them. Roadtrip 4 Paws rescues animals from the shelters and helps change their odds.

“Our first experience with a rescue outside of Dallas was out in Graham, Texas and we took them from euthanizing from about 50 percent of the animals that came in to less than five percent,” Bond said. “Even to date, they only put down animals that are sick or injured or aggressive. We try to share our goals, and our hopes with them to encourage them to be a little more proactive and try to work different angles to help the animals out.”

Roadtrip 4 Paws has over 61 dogs and cats currently staying with fosters and volunteers and with a few pregnant cats they are expected to have 80 total animals soon. These animals require food, toys, supplies and veterinary appointments that can add up to a high expense. For some, the price tag for just fostering is too much.

“The problem for people with fostering is that they don’t really know what to expect, they don’t know how long they’ll have the animal, they don’t realize that rescue groups cover all of the medical expenses, food supplies, and whatever else is needed,” Bond said. “We just want the animals to get TLC and learn how to live in a home and just get used to that environment and that makes them a better pet and a better foster for the group that we send them too.”

Roadtrip 4 Paws is centered in Coppell with adoption events two or three times a month at Hollywood Feed, a holistic pet food store on S. Denton Tap Road. The group also does meet and greets with an animal and a perspective family to see how they get along with them or if they have another pet.
“Jenny and Kelly are committed to their animals,” RT4P pet foster and adopter Gabrielle de la Cruz said. “They seem to almost have a sixth sense connecting dogs with new families and making great matches for dogs to live out their life in safe, happy environments.”