Where to find free & low-cost vet care is important, if you are on a budget. Also check local animal shelters, as often they can help. And read the post on where to find trustworthy pet insurance. There are a few charities that can help people who are eligible (usually on benefits):
- PDSA
- Blue Cross
- RSPCA
- Mayhew & Celia Hammond (London)
- Dog’s Trust & Cats Protection (certain procedures)
Free & Low-Cost Vet Care Outside the UK
- Blue Cross (Ireland)
- The Humane Society (US)
- Go Fund Me (CA)
- PetCard helps spread the cost
- The Farley Foundation (CA)
- Community Veterinary Outreach (CA)
- Pet Medical Crisis (AU)
- Vet Care Finance (NZ – affordable emergency loans)
Project Vets is a global charity that accepts donations of gently used veterinary/medical equipment to use for its important work.
Other Ways to Help with Vet Bills
- This book to keep your dog safe is an ideal read. It’s packed with fun illustrations, but includes important safety information on everything from toxic foods to avoid and garden safety, along with info on every other topic under the sun, and first aid.
- Animal Trust is England’s first non-profit vet. This means that staff still get paid, but prices are more realistic for the average person. Hopefully a sign of things to come?
- One good idea from the US is Waggle, a crowdfunding platform where people pool donations from vetted requests for help, then are informed how the animals are helped. Donations are also matched by people who have chosen to do this as their form of giving (often people of wealth who have lost a companion animal, and wish to help). Here, you can set up a crowdfunding campaign at Chuffed.
Free Vet Care for Street Dogs
If you know of a homeless person with a dog, let them know about:
- Dog’s Trust Hope Project offers free vet care via a card, and a list of dog-friendly hostels.
- DOTS (dogs on the streets), Street Vet and Street Paws offer free vet care to street dogs in several cities and towns.
Where Does My Dog Hurt? is by a holistic vet, offering 23 simle body checkups you can do to clear up behavioural problems or training issues, become familiar with normal range of movements and tune into temporary or chronic areas of discomfort and solve mystery limps, gimps and lameness. Save dollars with avoiding expensive diagnostics and captain your dog’s team of vet, trainer and chiropractor and keep your dog active and happy. Includes clear colourful anatomical illustrations and how-to photos for each check-up from nose to tail.
