Purina Better with Pets Prize
We know that pets and people are better together, that's why we created the BetterwithPets prize.
BWPP Winners - 2025
The BWPP 2025 recognises the work of organisations and social entrepreneurs who help improve the health and wellbeing of people in vulnerable situations through leveraging the pet-human bond.
Wag and Company– UK
Wag and Company North East Friendship Dogs is a registered charity and the only visiting dog charity befriending elderly dog lovers alone in their own homes as well as providing pet therapy visits, bringing pleasure and comfort to residents and patients across the 13 unitary authorities of the North East of England and North Yorkshire. Every week the health and wellbeing of thousands of vulnerable dog lovers across the North East is enhanced by Wag volunteers with two and with four legs.
Wag and Company is one of the winners of this edition of the Better With Pets Prize and is being awarded a grant of 75.000 € in 2 years.
Wag is the only dog visiting charity befriending elderly dog lovers in their own homes, hospitals, and hospices. Founded in 2016, Wag aims to end loneliness and fight isolation by bringing pleasure and comfort to residents and patients across the 13 unitary authorities of the North East of England and North Yorkshire. Every week the health and wellbeing of thousands of vulnerable dog lovers across the North East is enhanced by Wag volunteers with two and with four legs.
Diane Morton, Founder and Exec Chair of Wag & Company
100 % Life Dniprov Region – Ukraine
100% LIFE DNIPROV REGION is a Ukrainian charity that provides life-saving humanitarian medical services and develops partnerships with local and national dog trainers and certified canine therapists for implementing animal-assisted therapy programmes. Founded in 2005, and with over 115 people involved including full-time staff and volunteers, 100% Life integrates animal-assisted interventions to foster holistic healing and resilience in war-affected populations.
100% Life Dniprov Region is one of the winners of this edition of the Better With Pets Prize and is being awarded a grant of 75.000 € in 2 years.
The support from Purina enables us to turn animal-assisted interactions into a powerful tool for healing children and adults affected by the war in Ukraine. Thanks to this grant, canine-assisted therapy will reach those who need it most — communities living with constant stress and uncertainty. We are deeply grateful for this partnership, which helps restore a sense of safety, joy, and trust in the world.
Olha Ruban, Executive Director, Charitable Organization “100% LIFE DNIPROV REGION”
Acadia – France
Founded in 2015, ACADIA is the first and only organisation in France to train assistance dogs for young insulin-dependent diabetics! After a nearly one year long training with licensed dog trainers, dogs are then capable of identifying moments of hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia thanks to their extraordinary sense of smell, and alert their partner so they could take action to restore normal blood sugar levels before it gets too serious. Day or night, their nose watches over the glycaemia of the young fellow type 1 diabetic. Assistance dogs are handed over to young diabetics completely free of charge.
Acadia is one of the winners of this edition of the Better With Pets Prize and is being awarded a grant of 50.000 € in 2 years.
We are extremely proud to have won this award and to be recognised for the important work we are doing in helping diabetic children and their families. By increasing the number of dogs we train, we’ll be able to reduce waiting times for families, making a real difference.
Solène Grivolat, President at Acadia
BWPP Winners - 2023
The BWPP 2023 aims to fund impactful organisations who are striving to change society in a positive way through the power of the pet-human bond.
1st Prize - Pets As Therapy
Pets As Therapy is a national charity that enhances the health and wellbeing of thousands of people in communities across the UK by providing therapeutic pet visits to establishments such as care homes, hospitals, hospices, schools and prisons. Over 400,000 individuals benefit from PAT visits each year. Pets As Therapy is the winner of this edition of the Better With Pets Prize and is being being awarded a 2-year grant of 50.000 € per annum.
We know PAT visits can’t fix the world, but each and every day our volunteers and their pets are making a difference to people’s lives. From enabling someone lost in the fog of dementia to speak or being a catalyst for someone to speak when they’ve not been able to say what’s wrong. Our impact is immediate it’s in the here and now. If Pets As Therapy were an unpolished diamond, winning the BetterwithPets award will help it to shine by widening our reach and helping us refine our training and support, enabling us to address our growing waiting list and provide more PAT teams into the places which need us.
Clare Davis, CEO of Pets As Therapy
2nd Prize - Center de Teràpies Assistides amb Cans (CTAC)
CTAC is our 2nd prize winner and has been awarded a 2-year grant of 30 000 € per annum. Since 2000, the CTAC Method has been successfully applied to animal-assisted interventions to provide the benefits of human-animal relationships to people of all conditions and vulnerabilities. This includes helping individuals during hospitalization, development with functional diversity, and in socially compromised situations.
Winning this award is a significant recognition of the efforts of our team, who have dedicated themselves to helping people through the benefits of the human-animal bond. Winning BWPP allows us to expand our reach and help more people.
3rd Prize - Street Vet
Street Vet delivers free essential veterinary care and services to those experiencing homelessness. StreetVet’s team of professional vets and veterinary nurses have provided essential care to over 2,000 people and their pets across the UK, delivering care and support required to ensure their combined wellbeing. Street Vet are our 3rd Prize winners in 2023 and will be awarded a 2-year grant of 20 000 € per annum. This isn't the first time they've been awarded for their great work to positively benefit society through the power of the pet human bond, as they were also our 2020 BWPP winners.
BWPP Winners - 2020
In 2020, the prize had a different approach and was funding projects instead of organizations.
Piloted Innovation Category: Winner
StreetVet Accredited Hostel Scheme was our winner of the Established Changemakers category and was awarded 50,000 CHF [Update to local currency] to support and accelerate their initiative to launch the first-ever ‘pet-friendly ‘hostel accreditation scheme enabling pet owners experiencing homelessness to be housed with their pets. StreetVet focuses on providing free, accessible veterinary care to pets whose owners are experiencing homelessness on the streets or in hostels and has unveiled a creative new way in which we can harness the positive and impactful power of the pet-human bond within society.
Everything about StreetVet for me has been a crazy journey, from an idea – just sticking a backpack on and going out, to this being what I do now every day. It comes down to our volunteers, who are amazing, and the strength of the human-animal bond, because that’s why we’re all doing it. The best part of this process and StreetVet has been about the people we have met along the way, be it owners with their dogs, or people who have wanted to make a difference.
Jade Statt, StreetVet Co-founder
Piloted Innovation Category: Runner Up
Gamelles Pleines was our runner up and was awarded 20,000 CHF [Note for Markets: Update tolocal currency] to scale the impact of their initiative. Gamelles Pleines works across France to help homeless pet owners to feed, care and keep their pets while harnessing the benefits of pet ownership for a successful social reintegration
It’s more than winning a prize, it’s about sharing an idea and a project. For me, the most important issue was to make visible the invisible, so people can see homeless people and their pets differently. I feel very happy because this objective is fulfilled because both Gamelles Pleines and StreetVet, are acting for the same cause in two different countries. It’s a big win for the homeless people.
Yohann Severe, founder of Gamelles Pleines.
BWPP Winners - 2018
In 2018, The OOPOEH Foundation won the BetterwithPets Prize and was awarded 40,000 CHF (Note to Markets: Update to Local Currency) to support and accelerate their innovative initiative. The OOPOEH Foundation, based in The Netherlands, hopes to reduce loneliness and increase physical activity for the elderly by matching them as a dog sitter to a family in their neighbourhood.
We are honoured and excited to be awarded this prize, this will allow us to increase our initiative’s social impact. We had a fantastic workshop with Purina and now look to continue our project to target vulnerable seniors with the advice and inspiration taken from the BetterwithPets Forum.
Sofie Brouwer, Founder of the OOPOEH Foundation
The other 2018 four finalists, Canine Hope, Dutch Cell Dogs, Medical Detection Dogs and K9 Hundekunde: Happy Kids with Happy School Dogs, were also awarded CHF 15,000 each as the judges thought all the initiatives were so fantastic.
We´ve developed our Purina in Society Commitments to set ourselves clear goals which can make a positive impact in the world, for pets, the people who love them, and the planet we all share.