How needy pets and their owners can get help with medical care, vaccines and some TLC
On a recent Sunday morning, office space at Camillus House was transformed into a community pet clinic. It was for the Miami Veterinary Foundation’s monthly Project Unleashed, which provides Miami-Dade residents with free pet care, including vaccines, flea and tick meds, rabies tag, nail clipping.
Over 120 pets were served that day. The waiting room was buzzing with chatter and barking dogs as more people arrived and checked in at the front desk.
Vets assisted by vet tech students from Miami Dade College dashed from one four-legged patient to another. The Foundation has been partnering with Camillus House to host the pet clinic for about 20 years.
“We do a lot with very little,” said Dr. Irving Lerner, president of the Miami Veterinary Foundation and a vet for 42 years. “Our goal is to provide wellness and prevention care and promote responsible pet ownership.”
First established in the 1970s as the Dade County Veterinary Foundation, the Miami Veterinary Foundation has grown to become a vital resource for low-income pet owners with support from donors and partners, including the Humane Society and Miami-Dade Animal Services.
Led by a board of mostly working vets who volunteer their free time, the Foundation also provides pet retention assistance, kitten transport, spay/neuter and food distribution, among other services. They also award scholarships to vet students at the University of Florida.
“You won’t find better care and more amazing individuals who help people who truly love their pets, but don’t have the resources to care for them,” said Miriam Lopez, as she wrangled two big rescue dogs, Choco and Chady, at the clinic.
Lopez and her husband, Jorge Palacios, who have been married 36 years, have a soft spot for abandoned animals, including ducks, parrots and doves. They found the Foundation five years ago through its Pets for Life program, which focuses on pet retention, or keeping families and pets together.
Through Pets for Life, the Foundation covers the bill for surgeries and extensive care, even providing transportation to clinics. So far this year, they have served nearly 1,000 pets and earned a 2024 Championship Belt at the Humane Society’s Animal Care Expo for sustaining and growing the program successfully.
“A lot of families come to us desperate because their pet is sick and they don’t have resources to help them,” said Cassie Vazquez, case manager for the program, launched in 2020. “Working with families to find solutions and seeing how happy and grateful they are, is very rewarding.”
Being a case manager means working closely with families over time and building trust. Some of Vazquez’s clients have been with her since the beginning and together they have experienced the “ups and downs of pet ownership,” she said.
At the clinic that Sunday morning, Maria Perez was getting ready to celebrate an important milestone. She was there with her 14-year-old shih tzu, Junior, her only companion, for a check-up before finally moving out of Camillus House and into their very own apartment.
Three years ago, Perez’s health began to decline from renal failure and later a heart attack. Unable to work, she lost her home and moved into Camillus House, which provides housing and services to the poor and homeless.
When Junior developed life-threatening hernias, Perez thought she might lose him too. But the Foundation stepped in and covered all the costs for surgery, treatment and rehabilitation for a month at Dr. Lerner’s clinic.
“If it wasn’t for Dr. Lerner, Junior would have died,” she said. “They called me every day to let me know that he was OK. That’s what I’m most grateful for, the human factor, compassion, the hardest thing to find in people these days.”
How to help
Miami Veterinary Foundation
305-697-3301
Project Unleashed (free pet clinic)
The third Sunday of the month (except December)
Next one is on Oct. 20, 8 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Camillus House, 1603 NW Seventh Ave.
