Pet Project : Illness: An organization called PAWS gives a hand to AIDS patients, taking care of their cats and dogs--and some of their fears.

A friendly calico cat named Terra licked her hand--a scratchy thank-you for the bag of canned liver-and-tuna and kibble treats that Nadia Sutton was carrying.

It was delivery day. And people from PAWS were visiting people with AIDS.

Sutton directs a network of Los Angeles-area animal lovers who have pledged to help those with acquired immune deficiency syndrome care for their pets, even if they are hospitalized.

Her group, called Pets Are Wonderful Support, delivers cat food every two weeks if AIDS has wiped out the patient financially. One of its 500 volunteers will come every morning to walk the dog if illness has weakened the person physically.

The free service is the only way hundreds of AIDS patients can keep their last remaining “family” members--their pets.

“People are terrified over who’s going to take care of their little cat or dog when they go into the hospital,” said Sutton, giving Terra a pat on the head.

Sutton saved a big hug for cat owner Sandy Blixton. He is a television writer whose AIDS was diagnosed eight years ago.

“Terra is my whole life,” Blixton, 58, said. “I lost my home, my companion, my savings . . . but I have my cat.”

Blixton said doctors initially feared that pets might endanger AIDS patients by exposing them to animal diseases. But he said experts now recognize the therapeutic value that a loving animal gives to a sick person.

A pet can be especially important for people with AIDS, said Nicole Russo, an official with AIDS Project Los Angeles, which endorses the PAWS program.

“An animal can absolutely be the last ‘family’ that a person has,” Russo said Thursday. “People’s friends and family can desert them. It sounds corny, but pets still love them.”

A few blocks from Blixton’s house, three PAWS volunteers take turns walking Philip Joyce’s dog each day. It is a fluffy, frisky Lhasa apso named Myrna Loy that enjoys stretching out on the couch with Joyce when he watches old movies in his apartment.

“I couldn’t manage without her,” said the 34-year-old interior designer, who keeps 15 prescription medicines lined up on a table next to the couch. “She drags me out of bed when I don’t want to get up. She follows me around--she’s someone to talk to.”

Joyce said he probably could not have managed without PAWS either. A pair of the volunteers took him to the hospital on one occasion when he collapsed. Another time, one of them picked up medicine refills when he could not get out himself.

“Sometimes we just sit and talk,” said one of the Myrna-walkers, 29-year-old record marketer Jackie Rowland of Hollywood.

“Philip’s taught me a lot about AIDS. He’s given the disease a name and a face. It’s a pleasure to be able to give something to his life.”

PAWS volunteers, including some with AIDS, currently assist about 500 people. A total of 900 AIDS patients and 1,400 pets have been helped since the program was created four years ago. Sutton started it after learning that a dying friend had been forced to give away his cats.

These days, Sutton runs PAWS from a 10-foot-square basement office off the Sunset Strip that she shares with assistant Steve Wayland. Grants and donations cover the $80,000-a-year operation.

Many PAWS clients are referred by community service groups. Others call (213 650-PAWS) on their own. Some, however, don’t hear about the service until it is too late.

Last week, Sutton’s volunteers helped find new homes for four dogs that were stranded at West Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont when their master died. Hotel manager Philip Truelove said staff members fed and exercised them and let the dogs remain in the man’s hotel bungalow until new owners could be found.

Volunteer Terrel Miller said she recently rescued seven cats from the home of an AIDS patient who was taken to the hospital. Before the man died, nurses were able to whisper to him that his pets were safe, said Miller, 39, a real estate agent from Atwater Village.

The 50ish Sutton, who came to Los Angeles 11 years ago after doing television and stage work in London, predicted that PAWS will last as long as it is needed.

“People are living longer and more powerfully with AIDS now,” she said. “Even if people are very weak, they should keep their dignity.” And their pets.