On the Street with Vet SOS: A Day in the Life of a Pop-Up Clinic for Unhoused Pets

One of the many beloved pups helped by the good folks at Vet SOS. photo: Vet SOS

It’s hard enough for many folks to afford regular vet visits for their pets. Now just imagine trying to provide that care if you don’t have a place to live.

I’m now approaching my sixth year managing Veterinary Street Outreach Services, a.k.a. Vet SOS, a program of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium that provides free veterinary care to the pets of unhoused owners living in San Francisco. I feel lucky to have such meaningful work, but like any job, it can present challenges. 

Take our outdoor pop-up clinics, which can be complicated by bad weather. Of course, if you’re planning to hold an outdoor event, the Bay Area’s temperate climate is about the best one can hope for. But even here, we have the occasional heat wave, smoke from wildfires, wind, and especially rain. With bad weather comes concern for our clients and volunteers, much of which is frustratingly out of our control on rainy, gusty days.

On one recent rainy day, while setting up for a clinic, I found myself worrying. Will we be able to keep our supplies dry? Will clients show up for their appointments in this downpour? How will I dry out our new canopies and prevent them from becoming mildewy or rusty? But once the clinic was up and running, I looked around and realized that nearly every client with an appointment had shown up. They were under our canopies, soaked but patient, waiting for their turn to be seen. 

The caring volunteer veterinarians take time to understand the needs of their patients. photo: Vet SOS

To reach our clinic, these folks had taken multiple buses with their pets, walked through heavy rain, and waited outdoors in cold, wet weather, all motivated by their deep love for their pets. Some clients came because of a serious concern about their pet’s health – a senior Chihuahua with a persistent cough, a young Pit Bull limping after playing too hard at the beach, and a cat with an unexplained weight loss. Others had trudged through the miserable weather for something as simple as a vaccine booster or to pick up flea control. Regardless of what brought them to us, each one came to our clinic because of their devotion to their pet. That’s what keeps me and others at Vet SOS committed to this work.

During that rainy day, Vet SOS volunteers were zipping around in the downpour, collecting patient histories, filling medication prescriptions, administering vaccines, and distributing pet food and supplies to our clients. Delivering veterinary care in the best of circumstances can be stressful and physically and emotionally draining, taking a toll on the mental health of providers (see “An Uphill Climb," May 2023). That’s why it’s even more impressive that Vet SOS volunteers show up on their days off, rain or shine, using their skills and experience to help pets and people. They take on difficult work because they love animals and know how meaningful pets are to their people. Their devotion is inspiring.

As we concluded our final appointment on that rainy day, I watched the last client walk away with their beloved pet, hunched over in the still-falling rain. Volunteers got in their cars to make their way home across the Bay Bridge in late afternoon traffic under a darkening sky. My worries at the start of the clinic were behind me now and my focus was back where it should be - on the pets we serve and the love and comfort provided by the human-animal bond. Despite the challenges we encountered, we had met them and completed another successful clinic day.