Meek moved to Louisville in 2015 with two three-legged dogs, Roxie and Jack, and Latte, an unsocialized Chihuahua.
“I'm an old social worker, I've always taken care of things and people so this is just a way of life for me,” says Meek.
When Meek saw Roxie’s pictures and story, she knew she had to bring her home.
“This is Roxie,” says Meek pointing at her Min Pin. “She was my first special needs dog. She's the reason all of this happened.”
Before Janet adopted Roxie, She was so malnourished that her bones did not develop properly.
“Before they could get her to a vet, she jumped off the couch at the foster's home and broke her leg because her bones were soft, and they tried and tried to get her to heal but it wouldn't heal so she lost her leg,” says Meek.
Jake was hit by a car and left on the side of the road. He lost a leg, but found a home with Janet and Roxie.
After her first three adoptions, Meek wanted to do more so she adopted even more dogs who were overlooked by adopters.
Her house filled with more and more paws of dogs living with blindness, deafness, diabetes, congestive heart failure and cancer.
“They're not the first picks. People want little puppies and cute little dogs. They don't want an arthritic dog that’s blind or deaf or both, or needs medication,” says Meek. “These dogs have a lot to give and a lot, a lot of life, and they just need a chance.”
Rescues and shelters sent the dogs with special needs they got in her way.
Before she knew it, her home turned into Special Paws Inc, a nonprofit sanctuary for dogs with disabilities.
“If I can do something to make their life a little better. It makes my life a whole lot better,” says Meek.
Meek taught her blind dogs how to navigate and made changes to her house to accommodate other dogs.
“It's just like a family. I fall over toys and trip over blind dogs who are trying to figure out where they are and I'm trying to figure out where I am, but it works,” says Meek.
Janet cares for two dozen special needs dogs from across the state and country including one misplaced by Louisiana floods and one caught in the wild in the Virginia woods.
Meeks says although the dogs have gone through a lot, they enjoy each other's company and their daily routine.
“You've got these little dogs that know which room they eat in. They know which room eats before them so they get ready when their rooms get ready to eat,” says Meek.
Like Rocky who spent 12 of 13 years of his life locked in a cage, most of the Special Paws dogs were rescued from negligence and abuse, but not all.
Dorothy had a loving owner who passed away. Weeks after her owner’s funeral, she was found in the home.
“She was hiding in the recliner and had been there the whole time, and her little leg was just dangling.so she's a tri-paw but she doesn't know that she doesn't care. It doesn’t slow her down and she cuddles better than any dog you've ever seen,” says Meek.
Bonnie was attacked by a large dog when she was four months old. She lost use of her back legs. Janet had a custom wheelchair made for Bonnie.
“To be a handicap dog she's the happiest dog you’ve ever seen. I can't put on her wheels when she's inside because she runs over the small dogs,” says Meek.
Bonnie goes to water treadmill therapy weekly.
Making sure the rescues' lives are as special as they are, means everything to Janet.
“These dogs have a good life and they are spoiled and I want them to be because they deserve to be spoiled,” says Meek.
Most of the dogs require medications, special foods, treatments and surgeries which gets expensive for the dog lover.
Meek says she’s able to make ends meet with the donations and supplies sent from supporters across the country.
“I got a dog that's looking at possible surgery coming up and I have no idea how much that's going to be, but you know, it'll, it'll take care of itself. It always does,” says Meek.
For more information and ways you can support Special Paws Inc, go to their website.
You can also follow the dogs daily journey by following the Special Paws Facebook page.