A veterinarian knelt down clutching a black Chihuahua named Spike in her arms outside the Colorado Convention Center on Sunday.
She was trying to give him a shot, but Spike wasn’t having it.
“Hold him like he was a baby,” Spike’s owner, Sharon Campisi, said.
The vet shifted her arms, and it was over. Spike yipped and quickly scrambled back into Campisi’s arms. His brother Ricky, a Chinese crested mix, was next.
Spike and Ricky got six vaccinations from Heather Martinez, a vet attending the American Veterinary Medical Association’s annual convention. And Campisi didn’t owe Martinez a nickel.
The free services were part of an on-site street clinic setup by the AVMA underneath the convention center’s overhang for the pets of people experiencing homelessness or near homelessness.
The vets tested each animal for heartworms, dispensed preventative medications, stitched small wounds and placed microchips into any dog or cat that needed one.
Campisi lives with a friend. She “has a good job,” but it’s not enough to make ends meet just yet. Sunday’s free clinic helped her keep saving for an apartment.
The pop-up clinic was a $250 vet visit for free, Street Dog Coalition founder and veterinarian Dr. Jon Geller said.
The Fort Collins resident started running free clinics in 2015, but this was the first time Geller partnered with the AVMA. He gave a presentation on “street medicine” during the convention and thought teaching other vets how it works would encourage them to set up clinics in their home cities.
“Ten percent of homeless people have pets,” Geller said. “Their lives are hard already, and they’re making it harder by having a pet.”
Most shelters in the Denver metro area can’t accept people with pets, the exception being people with service animals, and the occasional allowance that’s granted on a cold winter’s night.
William Nicol, his wife and their 9-year-old Chihuahua, Tinkerbell, have lived in their van for the past year.
It isn’t bad once you get used to it; it’s just different, Nicol said. “We don’t have a lot of the hassles people have.”
Veterinary care, however, can be a challenge given the amount of money the couple earns each month.
Pets become family, Geller said. They give their owners love, acceptance and protection, Geller said. Those things can be scarce when you don’t have a home.
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