"I don’t remember much — a little of the 111 call, being in ED and then finally waking up on the ward with my dad next to me.
"I’d been resuscitated."
The woman, who wanted to be known only as Antonia for her own safety and that of her extended family, said the hardest thing about leaving her abusive partner was the thought of what would happen to her pet dog Koda.
"Koda would sometimes rip into the rubbish and cause a mess and that would make my ex-partner angry and aggressive.
"He would beat Koda unless I stepped in front of him and stopped it.
"I would always stop him and cower over Koda and block him from the abuse and try and hide him from getting abused, hit or yelled and screamed at.
"Often it would get to the point where Koda was so scared he would actually pee on the floor, and that would make the abuse even worse," Antonia said.
After getting out of hospital, Antonia said it was hard to find somewhere safe to go. Motels or Women’s Refuge were options, but they did not allow pets.
"I had family and friends I could stay with, but there was a chance he’d show up at their address and I didn’t want anyone else to get hurt in the process of me needing shelter.
"That’s when I called Pet Refuge."
Pet Refuge general manager Erin Ellis-Roberts said the facility reduced a major barrier to families leaving domestic violence by temporarily caring for their pets while families entered emergency housing or refuge.
It covered all costs, including vet treatment, transport, food, enrichment and training, to ensure each pet had the best opportunity to heal before being reunited with their owners in safety, she said.
"As of today, we have helped 500 pets from 307 families to escape violence."
She said at present, Pet Refuge was running an appeal to raise funds to cover costs over winter.
"The tough economic environment we’re in as a nation has meant cancellation and deferment of some of our fundraising activity, which is tough."
Like many charities operating in the family violence space, Pet Refuge was seeing a rise in the number of cases coming through in the South Island and the complexity of those cases, she said.
"That spike in the cost of vet care has been particularly large in the South Island.
"About 20% of the pets we care for are from the South Island, but in the last three months 35% of our veterinary spend has been for the pets in our care in the South Island."
This increase came as the cost-of-living crisis continued to affect the organisation’s ability to fundraise, she said.
Antonia urged southern residents to provide whatever funds they could to Pet Refuge, so it could help other people in her situation.
"All that mattered to me at the time was making sure my pets were safe and in the best place they could be, and they were going to be loved and looked after."
