Emergency Veterinary Care for Pets of the Homeless

As a veterinarian, I have to balance sound business practices with providing health care that improves the community in which we live. We know that there are many animals that are owned by people that cannot afford to take care of them in our community; many do not have a permanent residence. The homeless in our communities have pets that they love deeply. These pets, though loved, are at risk to carry many diseases that can be spread to other pets in the community. One of the ways I personally balance all of these things is to work with 'Feeding Pets of the Homeless'.

For the last four years, our hospital has been a drop area for food that is not going to be used by our clients which we then donate to Feeding Pets of the Homeless. We have a donation box that our clientele has embraced and supported, and we have helped local homeless clients with the monetary support of Feeding Pets of the Homeless. We have found the organization to be extremely professional and prompt with reimbursement. On these interactions alone, I would highly recommend that any veterinarian seriously think about working with this organization to help the health of the community at large and any funder provide financial support to that they may continue to assists pets.

I had the opportunity to work with Feeding Pets of the Homeless providing a vaccine/health check clinic in 2013. We performed a full exam and vaccinated 60 pets in a five hour period and handed out 20 spay and neuter vouchers. Feeding Pets of the Homeless reimbursed us for the vaccines that were used and for spays and neuters that we are providing. It was such a positive, rewarding experience, my practiced partnered with the agency to provide another clinic in January of 2014. (Since then, Dr. Ford and his staff have done two more clinics)

I want to highlight one example of the clients that we serviced through this event. 'Josh' recently was discharged honorably from the military. He had the poor luck to lose his job and have his apartment foreclosed on him, his 2 dogs and 3 cats shortly after getting out of the military. His pets are his family and he can't bear to be separated from them at this difficult time. We vaccinated all of his pets, trimmed the nails on the cats and found all of them to be healthy except for some mild old age changes. He was extremely happy to have someone to help him while he is in transition.

I would highly suggest that you join me in supporting this dedicated, compassionate group to provide veterinary health care to the pets of people that are going through tough times.

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Pets of the Homeless is the only national animal organization focused exclusively on feeding and providing emergency veterinary care to pets of the homeless. Since the founding in 2008, Pets of the Homeless has helped over 12,000 pets and has provided over 361 tons of pet food that has a fair market value of over $1.4 million.

Links:

• Family Circle Magazine article featuring Pets of the Homeless