Pet Food Donation Sites
Feeding Pets of the Homeless® has hundreds of volunteer pet food donation site members who support our objective of collecting pet food and pet supplies. They are working with local food banks, pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters who have agreed to distribute the pet food to the homeless and disadvantaged in their communities.
Wellness Clinics
This nationwide program is free and serves pet owners who are homeless or qualify for low-income services. Every clinic is held at a location that already serves the homeless population, often a food pantry. Feeding Pets of the Homeless® sponsors and partners with veterinarians across the county to provide these free clinics. This partnership is based on the veterinarian and technicians donating their time and expertise and Feeding Pets of the Homeless® underwriting costs of medical supplies. The clinics typically offer: vaccinations; basic exams; minor treatment and medications; vouchers for spay or neuter surgeries; nail trimmings; ear cleaning. The shots are inexpensive preventative measures that assist in minimizing the spread of disease from one community to another, which is highly likely given the transient lifestyle of many homeless individuals.
If a pet is examined at the clinic and requires extensive treatment, the owner is referred to Feeding Pets of the Homeless®’ emergency care program.
The Wellness Clinic programs are our most cost effective program. This is the result of the veterinarians and staff volunteering their time, and there is no location fee.
Emergency Care Program
For the general population, the life of a homeless individual is unfathomable. For a homeless individual with a pet, life is hard, and choices few, but watching their pet suffer is unbearable.
The initial interview is administered by the Case Manager who determines eligibility basis on agency criteria. All treatment is pre-authorized; payable directly to licensed veterinarians. Treatment always includes updating of vaccinations at no cost. Examples of the need for emergency treatment include: parvo; swallowing of foreign objects; open skin lesion; broken bones, ear infections, palpable growth and mange (skin mites).
Pet Crates
The bond between the pet and its homeless owner is deep and soulful. Homeless individuals tell us that their pets offer them unconditional companionship. Their pets, just like your pet, offers them comfort, loyalty and love in the form of licks and wagging tails. Research has reported that an animal’s response is independent of its owner age, or economic circumstance. Owners say their pets “cover their backs” when they sleep in abandoned buildings, ditches and in the woods. To break the homeless cycle requires the owner to move into a shelter. Most shelters do not allow pets unless they are a service animal. Homeless pet owners will not abandon their pet and do not have the funds to board the pet. We offer crates to shelters that will allow a pet to stay with the owner. The agency orders the crates on-line and has the crate shipped directly to the shelter at no cost to the pet owner or shelter. The crate becomes property of the shelter for future use.
Veteran Pet Support
Feeding Pets of the Homeless provides emergency veterinary care, preventative wellness clinics, and pet food and supplies to the companion animals of homeless people across the country. The organization also provides assistance to veterans who are homeless as well as those veterans participating in the HUD-VASH program who are housed and in VA treatment programs.
HUD-VASH is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing program that combines the HUD housing vouchers with the supportive services provided by the VA to help Veterans who are homeless, and their families find and sustain permanent housing. The program targets the chronically homeless veterans who are most vulnerable and often have severe mental or physical health problems and limited access to other social supports. And we all have a responsibility to take care of them and their pets.