The Veterinarian Brings His Healing Presence to Pets of the Unhoused

The man standing outside the tent on the street is not from the neighborhood. He is dressed in jeans and a doctor's blue scrub shirt and has a medical bag. The tent is one of many rough structures on the sidewalk. The man has his eyes fixed on the dog.
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Stewart examined Daisy in Los Angeles last July.

The article is from the January/February issue of the magazine.

He says hello when the tent flap opens. I offer free pet care to people who are homeless. He gestured at the dog. Can I look at your pet?
Is this animal control, here to take my dog? A slow nod. Stewart, who calls himself the Street Vet, pulls out his stethoscope and goes to work.
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Stewart is at Ocean Beach in San Diego. Brinson is a person.

At first glance, the streets of Skid Row are an unrelieved landscape of despair, with the largest concentration of homeless people who are not staying in a shelter. The love of pets is also present. There is no reason to think that the number of homeless people in Los Angeles is lower than in the rest of the country. Cats sit on sleeping bags, pit bulls, scruffy terriers and mutts trot alongside filled shopping carts, and chihuahuas ride in bicycle baskets and the laps of people who themselves are in wheelchairs. Various local groups and volunteers help the owners of these animals care for them, with weekly and monthly clinics, mobile spay and neuter vans, handouts of flea meds and food.
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There are homeless people in a part of San Diego. He says there is no shortage of customers. Brinson is a person.

Stewart is usually alone and looking for animals and people in need. It wasn't uncommon to find a pet that had never received care when I began this work. Everyone I met looked at me in the same way.

Stewart grew up with dogs, loved science, and knew he would become a vet when he was 10. A black track star in Albuquerque had an unusual ambition. When a coach asked about his future plans, he laughed with disbelief. The coach said he had never met a black vet. Stewart didn't think much about it at the time. He was Black himself. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of African American veterinarians might be zero.
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His travel bag has a lot of things in it.

Stewart graduated from the University of New Mexico and then went to Colorado State University to get a degree in veterinary medicine. He treated a lot of suburban clients with poor bank accounts. He moved to the Central Valley of California in 2008 for a job as a vetician. Everything changed.
I felt like God was keeping score and I was losing.

The Great Recession decimated the city of 200,000 with a 17 percent unemployment rate. Animals pay the price when humans go broke. The area's aging shelter, built for 200 animals, held twice as many, and its euthanasia rate became one of the nation's highest.

Stewart says he destroyed 30 to 50 animals every morning. There are healthy dogs and cats. It was killing me. I was losing and felt like God was keeping score. I did not attend school to destroy animals. I wanted to save them.

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Bullet is in San Diego.

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Stewart checks the dog outside. Brinson is a person.

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Reggie and Daisy are by Reggie's bus. Brinson is a person.

He helped the homeless man by treating his dog, which was suffering from a flea bite allergy. He held a clinic at the soup kitchen. He began to walk around the Bay Area looking for pets to help. He moved to Los Angeles to be the chief veterinary officer for the American Humane Association, which makes sure animals are treated well on film sets. He wore scrubs to identify himself and did what he could for free.
He was shocked by what he found. He questioned why homeless people had animals if they couldn't take care of themselves. Yet they were. Over the years, many studies have shown the importance of pets in the lives of unhoused men and women. In her 2012 book, "My Dog Always Eats First," sociologists found that homeless people have high levels of attachment to their pets.

His family didn't know about his hobby.

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In Los Angeles, a man named Julian bathes a puppy.

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The Street Dog Coalition at Father Joe's Villages in San Diego put on a monthly clinic for dogs that cost nothing. Brinson is a person.

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Stewart helps his homeless clients. Stewart says that the people are struggling but still generous. Brinson is a person.

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A puppy is being held by its owner. Brinson is a person.

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The Street Dog Coalition runs a monthly clinic where he examines a patient. Brinson is a person.

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The coalition's clinic is not limited to canines.
Stewart agrees. Pets were a big part of the people I met. Most of them were great pet owners. They did well with the resources they had, and made a lot of sacrifice for them. The bond between them was very different. They needed each other.

For five years, his efforts were a kind of secret hobby that his family didn't know about. Stewart and his brother, Ian, produced a reality TV show called "The Street Vet" that aired in Europe and the US on a Utah cable channel. He is starting a new veterinary practice in San Diego and is writing a book about his experiences on the street.

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Ben, who lives in a tent in Los Angeles with his partner and their dog, gives a lift to his pet rat Max, a patient of Stewart's.
The bond between them was completely different.

He started a nonprofit, Project StreetVet, to raise money to cover the cost of treating pet medical problems beyond the scope of a sidewalk exam. He has volunteered with large organizations that help homeless people. He likes doing it his way, even though he says there are more efficient ways to spend time.
He reassured Ben that the wound was healing well after his pet rat was attacked by a cat. I have seen birds and snakes, but this was my first rat.

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Stewart was spotted by a woman in Los Angeles and she pulled over to see him. Brinson is a person.

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At Father Joe's Villages in San Diego, Kwane Stewart made friends with a patient. Brinson is a person.

He told the man that his dog recently gave birth and that the puppies looked great. He also protects the pups.
Reggie is a young man who lives in a school bus and uses his own money to make lemonade for his neighbors. The man has a dog. Stewart says you are doing a good job.

The young man thinks this is a blessing.
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