Dogs & Homeless People

[Alkhe]

Not sure how i missed this thread the other day! Coincidently i was trying to look for information on assistance with pets for homeless people and found this thread.

In a related matter, is anyone aware of any services/vets/shelters that provide free/cheap vet care or assistance to homeless people in Melbourne? I work in the youth homelessness sector and this is something that unfortunately comes up on a regular basis!

Additionally I work with alot of young people in the prison system and it is near impossible finding homes for their pets when they get locked up. And as i'm sure others have mentioned, sometimes their pets are the only positive thing they have in their lives!

I believe that the Lort Smith provide some sort of payment plan - I remember reading about one man who had just paid off his dog's desexing. It may have been in that story in the Age a few weeks ago, or it may have been somewhere else.. but it was definitely the Lort Smith.

I know they're also doing various fundraisers to try and recoup some of the huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge amount owed to them from people who HAVEN't paid for their animals' treatment! So clearly they payment plans or things available.

[Horsegal98]

Had me in tears. Thanks for sharing.

[dogsaremyworld]

What a lovely story, I think it's a great program no matter who runs it. I have heard of Living Ruff before, but im not exactly sure how it works, and even heard a rumour that you have to pay for the boarding at the RSPCA - does anyone know if that's true or not?

I think it's great that this issue is being addressed - so many people are forced to choose between finding a place to live and thier pet, and that's a hard choice. I know if I was ever in that position, I would rather live on the street, than give up my dogs, so Living Ruff seems to help people in those positions.

That Rev. with Exodus seems to understand human nature quite well doesn't he? Seems like such a genuinely nice person.

[Horsegal98]

When I worked as a vet nurse In my sister's practice when I was finishing high school, we had a lot of pensioners through who couldn't afford treatment for their animals. We generally worked out payment plans that they could afford ($10 a week was pretty standard) and then proceeded with treatment. The problem is with this age bracket, not many took out pet insurance. It may have changed by now (this was early 00s. Most of them had geriatric pets that had more complex health problems too.

We never had any homeless people come with animals, but I would think the boss would have offered the same system if they could demonstrate need.

Edited December 29, 2012 by Horsegal98

[Brookestar]

The RSPCA does not charge homeless people for keeping pets in there shelters. Some RSPCA sites do have kennels that people can use when they go on holidays or the like and people are charged for that. They would however require that some sort of homeless service be involved, as some sort of proof. They are not simply going to house anyone's pets for free just because they say they are having a rough time, unfortunately way too many people would then abuse such a thing, each time they wanted to go on holiday - sad that such people exist, but they do.

Lort Smith and many other vet clinics do provide payment plans, concessions and the like. BUT they do so no medical need, not for preventative treatments, such as vaccinations, flea treatments, worming, heartworm prevention, etc.

There is also the National Desexing Network that provides low cost desexing throughout Australia. Many councils also provide low cost desexing. http://www.ndn.org.au/

Lort Smith does have very very low cost services and you would struggle to find vaccinations and the like cheaper anywhere else, especially for those that are on centrelink benefits, where they offer significant discounts. But the payment plans they offer are only for essentail medical treatments, not for routine or preventative treatments, like vaccinations, desexing, etc. Well that was the case only a few years ago and I doubt it has changed. Lort Smith will never turn away any animal requiring emergency treatment on the basis of ability to pay or enter into a payment plan.