Posts in Category: AHF Grant Recipients

One day a few weeks ago, Ashley Bettencourt came home from her job as a pre-school teacher and found her tabby cat Cheeto in distress.

“He wasn’t himself,” she said. “He wasn’t eating.  He was lethargic and was lying on the tile in the hallway.  He wasn’t moving.  Nothing worked that I knew would make him excited. 

“I thought maybe he was constipated but I pressed on his belly and it was really hard.  It made me nervous.  So I called the Cat Care Clinic where my in-laws take their cats.  After taking him in for an examination, I was told that he had a blocked bladder – he wasn’t able to urinate.”

That was on a Friday.  Dr. Maggie Mills treated Cheeto.  “They didn’t have to do surgery but they kept him in the hospital the whole weekend so they could keep an eye on him,” Ashley said.  “They put in a catheter.  But they said he took it out himself.  So they put the tubes back in and he didn’t fight them again. 

“When I took him in to the clinic, I wasn’t expecting what was coming,” she said. “I thought he was constipated and they would fix it and I would take him home.   So when it came time to pay I was like, ‘I can’t do this.’

But the staff at Cat Care was understanding and helpful.   April, the assistant practice manager, “was so sweet and nice,” Ashley said.   “She printed me out a list of foundations that could help and she pointed out who to call and told me what to do.   Angel Fund was the first to say, ‘We’ll help you.’  I had never done something like that before.  It was overwhelming in a good way.

“I went home and I cried that night.  I thought what happened was amazing.  I couldn’t believe it.”  She said that she found another charitable group that helped pay her bill.  And the Cat Care Clinic found some money from another fund and they used that to help as well, she said.

“They said (at Cat Care) that, if we couldn’t do this, they would have had to euthanize Cheeto.  He always had been such a healthy cat that is horrible to even think about.  I love that Angel Fund and the veterinary association are letting people know about this.   I wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t for Dr. Mills and April.”

Cheeto recovered quickly.  “Now, he is good, he’s happy,” Ashley said.  “He’s lost a lot of weight.  But he’s eating well. He’s drinking a lot of water.   And he’s fine, he’s active and he’s playing with our other cats.”

Cheeto is the father of the other cats, Roxy, Khola Man and Sprinkles – all named by Ashley’s daughters.  There is also a dog in the family, Benny a miniature Doberman, with whom Cheeto is a best buddy.  “We are a house that loves our fur babies,” Ashley said.

Cheeto became a member of the family after Ashley’s husband found him hiding among tires at the warehouse where he worked.  He was a three-week-old kitten at the time and had to be bottle fed.

Ashley is a single parent to three daughters: Bella, 13; Skylar, 11 and Audrina, 7.  She loves her job as a pre-school teacher.  “It’s challenging but I love it.  my students are four and five.  They talk fast but they’re willing to learn and they love it.”

https://www.aligncarehealth.org/community_losangeles

Dr. Jeremy Prupas, chief veterinarian for the Los Angeles City Department of Animal Services, helped launch a service called AlignCare in 2019, which aids needy pet owners with veterinary bills they often cannot pay.

“The goal is not just to help the animal.  It’s to help the whole family. The idea is that if someone is having problems paying for a pet’s care, there are probably other things going on in that family’s life that they need help with.  So AlignCare has [focused on] the human side of this problem.

“That’s really what got my attention at the very beginning.  This is really the One Health approach to try to get help for everybody who needs it.”

The concept originated with Dr. Michael Blackwell, a veterinarian at the University of Tennessee veterinary school.  “I became friends with him in one of the [veterinary] groups I was in,” Dr. Prupas said.  “I learned a lot about AlignCare from him.  And I said to him: ‘You know what, Michael, let’s try it.  I don’t know why we can’t make it work in LA.’”

The Los Angeles project – the first community trying to implement the program from the ground up.  It initially is focused on South Los Angeles, where Downtown Dog Rescue is a major player in pet welfare. 

“Basically, the idea is that you form a partnership with community veterinarians, and they agree that they will discount their prices.  They submit their invoices on the internet and AlignCare pays them directly.”

Participating hospitals are asked to lower their fees as much as they can, Dr. Prupas said.  “I think AlignCare asks them for a 20% cut.  But the hospitals decide what they’re going to charge.  AlignCare doesn’t interfere with the decisions of the vets or the practice owners.”

The pet owner is responsible for 20 percent of the discounted bill, he said, “so they

still have a stake in it.  But it’s a way for the pet hospital to feel that it will get paid.  And the veterinarian makes the decisions with the pet owner on what kind of care they’re going to provide.”

“The goal is that if any pet owner comes into a vet hospital or to a shelter asking for help, they’re going to be referred to AlignCare.  They would go online and fill out an application.  It’s very simple. Basically, the pet owner would just have to prove that he or she is on some form of assistance.  If you can prove that it’s almost automatic that you’re accepted into the program.  Then the pet owner is told of the hospitals that are part of the program and chooses which hospital to visit.”

He said that AlignCare includes a national team of veterinary “social workers” who will help families by referring them to whatever social services they need and helping them converse with their veterinary teams if there are any issues.  There are also “human support coordinators” who can help pet owners sign up for the program and make necessary arrangements such as appointments and arranging transportation to the hospital.

The challenge, he said, can be in where the money comes from to pay the AlignCare part of the bill.  “The idea behind it is that the community donates the money to pay the bills.  For instance, in LA we’ve been talking to several different animal welfare organizations.  

“Making it sustainable is really what keeps me up at night.  How will we be able to raise enough money to keep this going as we expand?  That’s why we decided to start slow and small.”

And, he pointed out, there are major benefits for pet families who get financial help.  Besides helping them avoid the strain on the family budget of a large expenditure, it can prevent the mental – sometimes physical – trauma of losing their pets and it can keep the family structure intact.   

The next step for Los Angeles AlignCare will be to expand beyond South Los Angeles and to get more veterinarians involved, Dr. Prupas said.  We’re looking for more veterinary hospitals that might want to join.  We’ll also need to expand in a way that doesn’t make us run out of money.”

Dr. Prupas has served as chief veterinarian for Los Angeles Animal Services for nearly 14 years.  He supervises six shelters that employ six veterinarians and 22 RVTs.  He earned his veterinary degree at the University of Pennsylvania and has practiced in Connecticut and San Diego, where he owned a feline practice. 

One day a few weeks ago, Ashley Bettencourt came home from her job as a pre-school teacher and found her tabby cat Cheeto in distress.

“He wasn’t himself,” she said. “He wasn’t eating.  He was lethargic and was lying on the tile in the hallway.  He wasn’t moving.  Nothing worked that I knew would make him excited. 

“I thought maybe he was constipated but I pressed on his belly and it was really hard.  It made me nervous.  So I called the Cat Care Clinic where my in-laws take their cats.  After taking him in for an examination, I was told that he had a blocked bladder – he wasn’t able to urinate.”

That was on a Friday.  Dr. Maggie Mills treated Cheeto.  “They didn’t have to do surgery but they kept him in the hospital the whole weekend so they could keep an eye on him,” Ashley said.  “They put in a catheter.  But they said he took it out himself.  So they put the tubes back in and he didn’t fight them again. 

“When I took him in to the clinic, I wasn’t expecting what was coming,” she said. “I thought he was constipated and they would fix it and I would take him home.   So when it came time to pay I was like, ‘I can’t do this.’

But the staff at Cat Care was understanding and helpful.   April, the assistant practice manager, “was so sweet and nice,” Ashley said.   “She printed me out a list of foundations that could help and she pointed out who to call and told me what to do.   Angel Fund was the first to say, ‘We’ll help you.’  I had never done something like that before.  It was overwhelming in a good way.

“I went home and I cried that night.  I thought what happened was amazing.  I couldn’t believe it.”  She said that she found another charitable group that helped pay her bill.  And the Cat Care Clinic found some money from another fund and they used that to help as well, she said.

“They said (at Cat Care) that, if we couldn’t do this, they would have had to euthanize Cheeto.  He always had been such a healthy cat that is horrible to even think about.  I love that Angel Fund and the veterinary association are letting people know about this.   I wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t for Dr. Mills and April.”

Cheeto recovered quickly.  “Now, he is good, he’s happy,” Ashley said.  “He’s lost a lot of weight.  But he’s eating well. He’s drinking a lot of water.   And he’s fine, he’s active and he’s playing with our other cats.”

Cheeto is the father of the other cats, Roxy, Khola Man and Sprinkles – all named by Ashley’s daughters.  There is also a dog in the family, Benny a miniature Doberman, with whom Cheeto is a best buddy.  “We are a house that loves our fur babies,” Ashley said.

Cheeto became a member of the family after Ashley’s husband found him hiding among tires at the warehouse where he worked.  He was a three-week-old kitten at the time and had to be bottle fed.

Ashley is a single parent to three daughters: Bella, 13; Skylar, 11 and Audrina, 7.  She loves her job as a pre-school teacher.  “It’s challenging but I love it.  my students are four and five.  They talk fast but they’re willing to learn and they love it.”

A few months ago, Laura Alvarado said, her family noticed a beautiful gray cat spending time in their backyard in Long Beach. 

“The cat looked scared and it was hanging around in our yard.  So we decided to rescue it.  It was very friendly and it came to us,” Laura said.  “My mom took the cat in the house and took care of her.  We had never had cats, just dogs before. We got her the shots she needed and had her spayed.”

But not long after taking in the cat they named Beba, a beautiful short-haired gray domestic, the Alvarado family got some shocking news. Beba was pregnant – and she needed to have a cesarean section.  Leticia, Laura’s mother, had taken Beba to Los Coyotes Pet Hospital, where she was examined by Dr. Sonah Jo.

In early April, the surgery was performed.  None of the kittens survived.  “Dr. Jo told us to give Beba a lot of love because cats mourn the death of their kittens,” Laura said.  “We have been giving her as much love as we can and she’s doing great.”

The Alvarado family gets by on a limited income.  Leticia had to quit her job to provide care for a son, Gustavo Jr., who is disabled.  Gustavo, the father, can no longer work and gets a disability check.  Laura works as a probation officer in Riverside.  She spends half her days there and the other half at her parents’ home.

Dr. Jo told Leticia about Angel Fund.  “We couldn’t have paid for the surgery without it,” Laura said. “When Angel Fund was brought to our attention, it was just a sigh of relief.  We didn’t think when we rescued Beba, that we’d have to be so involved financially.

“Angel Fund was really great.  What they did for us was amazing.”  The grant was for $232.49, an amount matched by the hospital.   “We were devastated by what happened,” Laura said.  “We didn’t know what to do.”   Angel Fund helped provide the Alvarado family with the answer.  

Victoria Romero, a young graphic design student, had wanted a dog since she was eight or nine years old.  When she turned 16 a couple of years ago, she suggested to her mother that she give her a dog instead of a Sweet Sixteen party.

Her mother said no.  “So I had never had another opportunity [to have her own dog] until now,” she said.  A friend of her Mom, who had a female Maltese-Poddle mix puppy, wanted to find someone who could take the dog off her hands.

Victoria took charge of Kona in mid-November.  The dog was lethargic and she knew that the animal would need shots.  “So I called the [Aliso Animal] hospital and made an appointment for the next day,” she said.

Dr. David Bahou examined the dog and told Victoria that her new pet had parvovirus.  “This is my first dog and I really wanted to be careful with her,” she said.  “I was crying the whole time in the hospital because I thought maybe I had done something wrong.”  At the time, she had been Kona’s owner only a couple of days.

Dr. Bahou assured her that she was not at fault.  “He said that Kona’s symptoms would have started five to seven days after exposure so she had gotten the virus when she was with the previous owner,” Victoria said.   

But there was another issue: paying for Kona’s treatment.

“I was very sad because I did not have the money I needed,” Victoria said, “and the only option was putting her down. I did not want to do that.  I was already so attached to her.  I loved her so much that I couldn’t do that.  I called my family and friends to invite them to give me a little bit each.

“Dr. Bahou and the hospital staff really wanted to help me,” she said.  “When they told me about Angel Fund, I said let’s do that.  I just didn’t want to see Kona get worse because she already was so lethargic.

“I’m really grateful for Angel Fund and what they did. It really helped me out.  I hope other people can find out about Angel Fund.”

Victoria, a student at Laguna College of Art and Design, works as a baby sitter for her mother and in a child day care role at a local school district.  She expects to graduate from her program in the spring of 2025. 

She heads to one of the schools in the district each work-day morning to help young students who participate in a pre-school program, she said.  “I work about an hour and a half,” she said, “getting their minds awake for school.”  Then she returns home to supervise her two younger siblings while her mother works.

Her mother does house cleaning and some gardening work and manages a group of workers. 

Kona who is now about five months old and weighs about three pounds, is doing well.  “She’s now about 100 percent,” Victoria said.  “She has been running around the house trying to steal our shoes.”

Helen Uitermark lives alone in her home in the San Gabriel Valley, except for her pets, including dogs large and small.  About a year ago, she adopted Mitzy, “so, if nothing else, I can hug her on my lap.” 

Mitzy is a West Highland White Terrier mix and is about the size of a Maltese-Poodle mix. She was just the right medicine to lift Helen out of a depression arising from her own medical problems.

Helen, is a senior citizen who often uses a cane or walker because of a broken ankle suffered nearly a year ago.  Mitzy replaced two tuxedo cats that were apparently lost to coyotes. 

Last spring, Helen said, “it was obvious that Mitzy wasn’t feeling well so I took her to Covina Animal Hospital.  The diagnosis was glaucoma in her left eye.”

Dr. Karryssa Fenderson-Joseph, the hospital’s medical director, said that, when Mitzy’s condition did not improve with medical management, the best option she could offer was to remove the eye.  The surgery took place a few days later.

Mitzy soon was able to run around in Helen’s backyard.  “Everything was fine for several weeks,” she said. “Then, because Mitzy didn’t seem to be herself, I checked her, and the other eye seemed to have a white haze across it.  I took her back to the hospital and she was diagnosed, again with glaucoma.”  Dr. Fenderson said she recommended removal of Mitzy’s remaining eye after Helen told her that she didn’t want Mitzy to have on-going problems.

“After removal of the right eye, Dr. Fenderson had me come back several times because of an anemia condition (Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia). I had never heard of it.

“Dr. Fenderson gave Mitzy a full-blood transfusion,” Helen said, “and she improved every week. We’ve been back to the hospital every month for a checkup. According to the doctor, the numbers have been holding so – unless something else happens – we’re good to go!”

Dr. Fenderson said that Mitzy has done so well since her transfusion that she is in remission and no longer is taking medication for IMHA.

Helen had been told about Angel Fund by friends and she asked Dr. Fenderson about it. “She immediately said: ‘Let me see what I can do.’ There was no further discussion about it but a few visits later, she said: ‘By the way, the grant has been approved.’ I almost danced out of her office! You have no idea how much I appreciate the Angel Fund grant.

“Dr. Fenderson has been so terrific, that’s where I will be going. It’s 15 miles from my home but, yes, she will be taking care of all my animals. I love her dearly.”

Mitzy seemed to be depressed after the second eye was removed. “She wasn’t interested in much and wasn’t even exploring. I was offered a kitten, about eight weeks old, and I said yes, since I’d lost the two cats last year.

“The kitten, Rusty, a male who is about six months old, and Mitzy get along fantastically. Mitzy’s depression has improved so much. It was wonderful to see. She gets around the house and backyard just fine. Every day her awareness seems to get better.”

Helen is getting used to dealing with a sightless Mitzy and she often forgets that her dog is blind. “She and I are getting accustomed to it. I can hear Mitzy on the other side of the door when I drive into the garage. It’s as if she’s trying to jump into my arms when I come through that door – then she does.”

But the household got a shock when Helen was pressured into accepting two Shi Tzu dogs that needed a new home. Helen said that she really did not want more pets, especially with a pinched sciatic nerve that added to her mobility problems. “They were absolutely loveable animals but it was too much,” she said.

A month after they arrived – the Shi Tzus were adopted by another family – much to Helen’s relief.

“My household is down to Mitzy and Rusty now. After the Shi Tzus left, Rusty came over to Mitzy when she was lying down and cuddled up to her. And she is walking through the house like it’s her domain again. I hope it is for many years to come!!”

When Kyle Costa took his dog to Mar Vista Animal Hospital last May, he was told something he had heard before: Puff, a mixed-breed female who is not yet a year old, was diagnosed with intussusception, a dangerous inflammation of the intestines that is more common in younger animals.

Puff had had surgery for the condition earlier this year.  Kyle and his wife Pamela had put together enough money to pay for the first surgery but that was going to be difficult this time. 

Dr. Wendy Brooks suggested to Kyle that he could apply for an Angel Fund grant to help pay the costs.  The hospital assisted him with the application and he received $500 in assistance, an amount matched by the hospital.

That was a huge help, Kyle said.  “Angel Fund definitely got us where we needed to be,” he said.  “I didn’t want to let my dog go and, when I had no other options, Angel Fund really helped me out.  I’m very glad my dog didn’t have to die.”

He added that the staff at the Mar Vista clinic took great care “to make sure we were included in this [Angel Fund] program.”

He and Pamela rescued Puff last April when she was about two months old.  Intussusception can cause blockages and can have other severe complications.  It was a relief for both of them when Dr. Brooks’ surgery was successfully completed.   

Puff is doing very well now, Kyle said.  “She’s really healthy and is full of energy.”

Kyle, Pamela and Puff live in Rancho Park not far from Mar Vista Animal Hospital.

 When Leticia Shaw’s cat, Vishnu, had a urinary blockage that required surgery about three years ago, the veterinarian told her that the condition sometimes can come back.

“Ever since then, I’ve been really anxious about that,” Leticia said.  She has gotten regular checkups for Vishnu to make sure that doesn’t happen again. 

During one of those checkups this spring at Little Tokyo Pet Clinic, Dr. Mary Chung told Leticia that Vishnu had a heart murmur.  She recommended testing and x-rays to determine how severe the problem might be.

“That’s when Dr. Chung informed me about Angel Fund,” Leticia said.  “I applied for a grant. The entire staff helped me with that process. Thankfully it was approved right away.  I thought it would take way longer than it did.” 

The tests showed that Vishnu has a cardiac problem.  “They were able to do all the cardiovascular checks.  But, basically, they just mentioned to me that he does have the problem – and once he has it, there’s no going back,” Leticia said.

“Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like it’s too serious.  They caught it pretty early and they have given me heart medications and instructions on how to keep an eye on him to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

“There are warning signs like he might stop eating or when he sleeps his heart might beat too fast.  So they gave me a couple of things to check.  But honestly, he’s been amazing.  He’s been super normal – he plays, he’s still himself. So hopefully it’s something that won’t get serious and we can just keep it contained.”

Leticia is grateful that she knows about the issue.  And, she said, “thank God, things are going pretty good.  I’m not seeing any signs for concern.”

She also expressed her gratitude for the Angel Fund grant and what it did to give her peace of mind and to help pay the veterinary bill.

Vishnu is seven years old and Leticia is optimistic that he has many years ahead of him.  “He’s just so carefree and I hope he lives to 20. I can’t see him having any other problems.  He’s now on a veterinary-prescribed diet and he can’t eat anything else.” But, she said, “the really scary problem for me was the urinary blockage.”

Leticia works as an IT manager for the Downtown LA Proper Hotel.otel.H  Besides Vishnu, she has three dogs.  She and her animals live in North Hollywood.

Cheri Hanshaw, a fourth-grade teacher in Lancaster, owns a Shar Pei mix that she calls her lucky dog.  “Star is my lucky dog because she gets everything to happen to her,” she said.

The last couple of years, she said, Star has had veterinary bills of about $10,000, include more than $3,000 a year ago when she was hospitalized with pancreatitis.  The dog also has allergy problems.  “We’ve had one thing after another with her,” Cheri said.  “She’s usually at the vet’s every month.”

The latest iteration of her dog’s all too familiar relationship with veterinary medicine was recent surgery for a TPLO plate reaction, something that doesn’t happen often.  Cheri did some research, which showed that it only occurs to about one in 50 dogs.

“Basically she had an infection from the plate in her knee and ite had to be removed,” Cheri said.  “This is her second knee [to undergo TPLO surgery].  The left knee was fine and there was no problem after it was done a couple of years ago.  And we had surgery in November for the right knee.  It seemed fine and then after a few months, all of a sudden her leg started swelling up.”  

Star, who is eight years old, is a patient of North Valley Veterinary Clinic in Lancaster.  Dr. Eric Wright, who had done the TPLO surgery, told Cheri that the site infection could be treated with antibiotics but that it would continue to come back. “He recommended taking the plate out surgically so we don’t have to continue with these problems and spend all this money and then have to take it out surgically anyway,” she said.

Dr. John Chang, who assisted with the plate removal, told Cheri that he could see where an infection pocket was attached to a bolt on the plate.

The latest surgery took place in March.  Because of Star’s history of medical problems, Cheri sought help from Angel Fund to help pay for the surgery.  Dr. Misty Hirschbein, who sees Star for most of her appointments, told Cheri about Angel Fund and helped her apply.  A grant of $1,000 was approved. 

Cheri expressed gratitude to both Angel Fund and the North Valley Clinic, which matched the grant.  But she also had to take out a loan to pay what she still owed.  “I’m so in debt for this dog!” she said.

Star was still healing a month after the procedure, she said. “We had expected it would be healed by now,” Cheri said. “But the infection is almost gone. 

“Star, the poor thing, has been living in a playpen since October.  She has not been able to go outside to be a dog.  She waits for us to come get her.  So when I’m doing my school work, I’ll pull her out so she’s closer to me and not so isolated.  I’m hoping she’ll be able to go back outside in a couple of weeks.”

Cheri lives with her daughter Kayla, who is a community college student.  Her son, Zachary, She has a lives independently.

She previously had borrowed from her mother and taken out a loan from her credit union to help pay for her dog’s care.  But Cheri is hoping things will change. 

“I’m looking forward to being able to take Star on hikes again and to do the things that we used to do, like going to the beach.  She’s almost there.”

If you would like to donate to the Animal Health Foundation to help more dogs like Star CLICK HERE or scan this QR Code

Ludovic Pathoux, who came to the United States from France in 2002, adopted Apollo, a beautiful white Pit Terrier, that he saw being neglected by a neighbor near his Los Angeles apartment some nine years ago. 

“In 2014, while I was walking my American Bulldog Georgia, I saw Apollo behind the fence of one of my neighbors,” Ludovic said. “He was lying in the sun for hours at a time and was left out both day and night.  I spoke to the neighbor about Apollo and his risk of getting skin cancer because of his exposure.”

The neighbor told Ludovic that she would like someone else to own the dog.  “Despite already having a dog and difficult finances, I decided to adopt Apollo,” Ludovic said.  “I simply fell in love with him and wanted to rescue him from his neglectful owner, even though I should not have had two dogs in my situation.”

Ludovic and the two dogs moved to an affordable cabin in the San Bernadino Mountains not long after Apollo joined the family.  A couple of years later, Ludovic moved to an apartment in Yucaipa with Georgia and Apollo.  A year later, he said, “my beloved Georgia died of cancer.”

Six months later, Apollo had a mole-like cancer on his leg that was removed by a veterinarian.  And a few months later, Apollo was diagnosed with a tumor on his spleen and a splenectomy was performed to remove it.  Georgia had a similar surgery a few years earlier.

In 2022, Apollo was diagnosed with chylothorax, a condition in which lymph fluids leak from his thoracic duct into the space around his lungs.  Dr. George Makar at Yucaipa Animal Hospital made the diagnosis.  Apollo is being treated there about once a month through thoracocentesis, a process in which a tube is inserted into his chest cavity after sedation to remove the fluids.  The treatments started a year ago at a cost approaching $750 a month.

“Fortunately the procedure does not worsen his health nor does it cause pain or suffering,” Ludovic said.  But the cost of his dog’s treatment is worrisome.   Ludovic has had difficulty finding work as an organizer, who can make sense of your garage, pantry or spare room.  (His website is http://www.ludovicorganizing.com.)

“I am not working every day so it’s up and down,” he said, and his erratic income prevents him from doing a lot of things he’d like to do, though he gives his dog’s health priority.  

With Apollo’s crucial treatments in danger, Ludovic found Angel Fund with help from the Yucaipa hospital.  He applied for a grant and Angel Fund provided $1,000 for Apollo, which was matched by the hospital.

“I sincerely thank the Angel Fund and Dr. Makar for generously helping me with this financial assistance,” Ludovic said.  “Apollo greatly enjoys human beings and despite the invasive monthly treatments, he loves to go to the vet and is very excited to be around the assistants and technicians who give him lots of attention.

“My unconditional love for him has motivated me to do everything I can to increase his life expectancy.”

One of the reasons Ludovic does not want to return to France is that he would not be permitted to bring Apollo with him, nor could he have taken Georgia.  He is intensely loyal to his animals. 

But he said: “I choose to stay in the United States because I am all right here.”  And he said, some 22 years ago “when I lived in Paris, I wasn’t happy.”