Kristin Livan had just started to foster dogs in 2012 when she spotted pit-bull mix Sally, sadness all over her face, lying in a bottom cage at a New York City Animal Care & Control shelter. The 4-year-old pup was severely injured — it was suspected she had jumped out a window to escape a house fire — and scheduled to be put down the next day.
“Her ribs were exposed. The rancid smell of dying flesh was so extreme that I had to throw out the shirt I had on that night,” Livan, 35, told The Post. “But she scooted over to me on one shoulder and licked me. I needed to save her.”
Livan took Sally to a veterinarian friend who performed three surgeries at a discount, grafting skin from the dog’s chest onto her ribs and front paw. In between almost daily vet appointments, Livan cared for the dog in her Bensonhurst apartment. “Little by little, she started wagging her tail. She started getting up and eating,” Livan recalled.
It took just three months from rescue to find a forever home for Sally. Today she is happy, healthy and living with her family in Brooklyn — and she’s inspired a life-saving movement for dogs whose futures seem bleak because they are sick, injured or unattractive.
Since rescuing Sally, Livan’s pet project has evolved into a formal nonprofit organization, Unwanted NYC Pets, founded with fellow animal lover Betina Wassermann.
They’ve rescued 700 dogs and cats from ACC kill shelters or the streets, or are surrendered by owners. The women, along with a handful of other volunteers, foster the animals and get them medical treatment — as well as makeovers that exponentially raise their cute factor — then help find just the right homes.
‘I feel like I am needed, and I have worth, and there is purpose to my life’
One of Unwanted NYC Pets’ most drastic cases was a tiny guy named Puppy that Livan rescued from a kill shelter. His fur was matted to the point of dreadlocks and he was said to be about 14 years old.
After cleaning and grooming Puppy, cutting off his gnarly mats, Livan, who also owns the dog-grooming salon Tiny Tails in Bensonhurst, discovered how malnourished he was. “We fed him every few hours to build up his system,” Livan said. Amazingly, a vet then determined that he was, in fact, only about 3 years old. “He was just in such horrific shape that no one was able to tell!” Livan said. “He just needed some good loving, good food and a new haircut.” Livan’s aunt, who lives in Staten Island, adopted Puppy.
There was also Olivia, a 2-year-old mutt with a broken leg that was set to be amputated at a shelter. But Livan took Olivia to a hospital that was able to save the leg — so she can now happily romp with her new family on the Upper East Side.
Unwanted NYC Pets also takes in cats. Last fall, a kitten name Keta came into Livan’s care with a giant tumor growing on her face that made it hard to eat, drink and even breathe. Livan raised $3,800 to pay for surgery; adorable and barely scarred Keta is now awaiting adoption. (Every animal saved costs an average of $907, all of which is donated in cash or services.)
Livan and her fiancé, Ryan Mayer, keep two dogs and a cat of their own in their 700-square-foot Brooklyn apartment. (The couple split their time between New York and Mayer’s hometown of Melbourne, Fla.) On any given day, an additional two or three dogs and another cat also crash with them.
“Waking up in the morning and going and taking care of an animal who wouldn’t be able to get through without me,” Livan said, “I feel like I am needed, and I have worth, and there is purpose to my life.”
Wassermann, who in 2014 moved to Athens, Ga., where she manages the organization’s books and works as a certified dog trainer, has her own reasons for wanting to save the unsaveable.
The Flushing native, now 52, had been a marketing consultant for H&M until she was diagnosed with lymphoma in November 2009. After she was declared to be in remission, Wassermann knew she had to make a life change.
“Having gone through chemo and losing my hair and all of that, and working my regular job, I sort of had an epiphany,” she said. “What have I done for the greater good with my life? If I drop dead tomorrow, what can I say that I’ve done?
“I would have been happy if we had saved 10 [animals],” she added. “It has given me a reason to exist.”
Matted, malnourished Puppy was thought to be 14 years old when Kristin Livan of Unwanted NYC Pets rescued him from a New York City kill shelter. But after a makeover and plenty of food, Puppy was discovered to be just 3 years old. Now Puppy has a happy life on Staten Island.
The 2-year-old Shih Tzu was found covered in grease and living under a truck in Sunset Park. A customer at Livan’s grooming shop adopted her.
The kitten was suffering from a severe eye infection when discovered in a trash bag in Bay Ridge. Now healthy, she was adopted by an Upper West Sider.
The 2-year-old mutt’s broken leg was set to be amputated — but Livan found a vet who saved it. Today, Olivia summers in the Hamptons with owner Andrew Beckman.
Livan rescued then-8-year-old Roko from a kill shelter, where he was on the list of pets to be euthanized, A 95-pound hound mix who suffered from severe skin issues and thyroid problems, after rounds of creams and treatment (he still needs medication daily), Roko quickly found a new home in Brooklyn.
This 5-year-old Chihuahua mix came into a Manhattan shelter with a painful skin infection that had gone far too long without treatment. It took Livan about 2 1/2 months of medication and skin scrapes to soothe the dog’s skin so her fur could grow. Now Mia is living it up in Brooklyn.
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