Underdogs : Pets, People, and Poverty

This groundbreaking study examines the rapidly growing initiative to provide veterinary care to underserved communities in North Carolina and Costa Rica, exploring how those living in or near poverty respond to these forms of care.

For many years, the primary focus of the humane community in the United States was to control animal overpopulation through euthanizing or sterilizing dogs and cats. These efforts succeeded by the turn of the century, and it appeared as though most pets were receiving basic veterinary care, including vaccinations and treatments for common medical problems. However, animal activists and veterinarians have recently acknowledged that these efforts only reached pet owners in advantaged communities, leaving over twenty million pets unsterilized, unvaccinated, and untreated in underserved areas.

The problem of getting basic veterinary services to dogs and cats in low-income communities has suddenly become spotlighted as a major issue facing animal shelters, rescue groups, animal control departments, and veterinarians in the United States and abroad. In the past five to ten years, animal protection organizations have launched a new focus on delivering basic and even advanced veterinary care to underserved pets. These efforts pose significant challenges to organizations and to people living in poverty across the world who have pets or care for street dogs.