Hearing about this tragic effect from Covid-19 really shook me to my core. I instantly started imagining all those poor helpful creatures sitting there, all alone in shelters just waiting for someone to come by and pick them up!

I started by reading up on the health benefits of owning pets and found studies that show owning pets can lower our blood pressure and stress levels. People with dogs and cats are less likely to be depressed, and pets promote healthy childhood development.

I was looking for a good angle to approach this, and when I found out that we can fight off loneliness and decrease stress during social isolation by saving a life I found the win-win I was looking for.

The idea was to contact a local shelter and have them send him a picture of a homeless pet. I would then take that animal and dress it up as a superhero to promote its superhero-like health benefits. I was really aiming for that change your smile, change the world feeling, as I really thought people could use a little bit of cheering up in these serious times.

It turns out, I was right. After weeks of social media filled with negative quarantine news, seeing a homeless cat named ”Meowzer” dressed up as "Meownder Woman" was exactly what people needed. The image was instantly well received by the crowd.

People enjoyed it so much; it was worth every minute of the time I spent on the project. And I just knew I had to keep going. I spend the whole next day contacting shelters and telling them about my project, and everyone really loved the idea of the 'superstars.'

Some people actually liked the images so much, they wanted to buy them to put in their offices and in their homes. I mean, how’s that for feedback?

At the end of the day, I just love animals and I don’t want people to feel alone. When you have an animal in your life, you’re never feeling alone.

I know I’m not going to rescue all the homeless animals of the world by doing this… but if even ONE animal finds a loving home due to my art, it’s been worth every minute of it.

Find out more and even take the chance to dress up your own pet as a 'celebrity' on my website, where every purchase leads to donations back to homeless shelters for pets.