Every pet deserves a vet!

Since 2012, Vets in the Community has been providing free veterinary care to the pets of homeless and vulnerably housed people in Nottingham. We work with a number of local and national organisations to ensure we reach as many people as possible, including hostels, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes, a rape crisis service and services for those escaping domestic violence. Eligible people are referred by one of our partner services (such as Emmanuel House, Framework or The Big Issue) and can attend our fortnightly clinics where they will receive free consultations and treatment for their pets from veterinary students, under the supervision of qualified vets.

For many homeless people, their pet is a vital source of companionship and security in an otherwise uncertain and unstable situation. Ensuring that they are happy, healthy and protected from preventable disease is a huge source of support for these vulnerable people. All donations help us to carry on providing this veterinary care to our very deserving patients.

On September 29th 2019 some amazing members from the VetSoc student group and the ViC committee will be running the Nottingham Half Marathon in order to raise money for our charity! We are extremely grateful to these individuals and very thankful to everyone who's donating to support them!

We are currently in the latter stages of building a specially fitted, 5.5 metre trailer to serve as a mobile clinic. Until last year, our clinics were run at the Nottingham Big Issue Office, however following their relocation we have had to find alternative accommodation. We currently pay to operate from the Nottingham Writers' Studio, but soon they will also be unable to accommodate us and our service is at risk of becoming homeless. A huge amount of planning and fundraising has gone into the purchase of this trailer and the whole committee is hugely excited about the future of our service.

The mobile clinic is a long-term investment that will be a brilliant asset for Vets in the Community; it will solve our ongoing problems with finding a suitable space to accommodate our clinics and enable us to reach more people and pets in need than ever before. Some of our clients find our current location in Sneinton inconvenient, both geographically and due to their own accessibility needs. For those who rely on Big Issue sales or begging as their source of income, making the walk to visit the clinic equates to a loss of income - this is particularly relevant in the light of the recent police crackdown on begging in the city which has left a lot of vulnerable people struggling. Our trailer will allow us to set up shop in a variety of convenient and public locations, both in the Nottingham city centre and the surrounding suburbs, with the goal of making our services accessible to everyone. This will improve our clinic turnout and caseload, and thus enhance the student learning experience. Additionally, at present, we are unable to respond to interest in our services from towns and cities further afield, including Mansfield, Newark and Loughborough. Once our trailer is up and running, we plan to run outreach events and vaccine drives in all of these locations and more!

Students from years 1-5 lead consultations which generally focus on preventative healthcare, for example routine vaccinations, flea and worm prevention, microchipping, nail trimming, expression of anal glands and general husbandry advice. While most of our patients are dogs, we also see some cats and even the occasional rabbit, hamster or ferret!

Our clinics provide both a fantastic opportunity for vet students to hone their clinical skills and a valuable service which has a huge positive impact on the wellbeing of our clients. Vets in the Community was one of the first projects of its kind in this country, but as research has emerged on the huge significance of the human-animal bond to homeless and vulnerably housed people, similar initiatives have appeared in other cities; these include StreetVet, Streetpaws, Trusty Paws and All4Paws.

Thank you so much for your support, we couldn't do it without you! Any donation your are able to make will bring us a step closer to securing a bright future for Vets in the Community.