The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) is a veterinary charity in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1917 by Maria Dickin to provide care for sick and injured animals of the poor. It is the UK’s leading veterinary charity, carrying out more than one million free veterinary consultations a year, and is the largest private employer of fully qualified veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses in the UK.
on Saturday 17 November 1917, after a long and bitter struggle for recognition and funding, Maria Dickin opened her first ‘People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals of the Poor’. Outside the dimly lit cellar in the Whitechapel district of London, a notice read:
Bring your sick animals.
Do not let them suffer.
All animals treated.
All treatment free.
The poor overcoming their initial suspicion of anything “free” the locals flocked to the tiny cellar dispensary. So many people would arrive each day that the police were needed to control the crowds. Very quickly larger premises had to be found to accommodate the treatment of over one hundred animals a day. Not only that but within six years, Dickin had designed and equipped her first horse-drawn clinic, and soon a fleet of mobile dispensaries was established. PDSA vehicles soon became a comforting and familiar sight throughout the country and still are today.
Today, PDSA treatment is only available to the pets of those in receipt of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit. For those eligible, treatment for sick and injured animals is free of charge. Recently, the PDSA started providing eligible pet owners with preventative services such as neutering, vaccinations and microchipping at a very minimal cost. Actually any animal they people owed qualified for this service until this week. Apparently the PDSA will now only accept one Pedigree dog per household it doesn’t matter if you adopted your dog from the city pound, took it in after the owners left their home and the dog inside to fend for itself or purchased the dogs 10 years ago when your financial situation was completely different then it is now and have an elderly dog in need of vet care. Sorry they will no longer treat your dog since it is Pedigree even if the dog was run over or broke its leg playing outside neither of which has anything to do with the breed of dog you still will not qualify for treatment.
At a time when many people in the UK are finding themselves in a financial situation that even 4 years ago they could no fathom they are having to turn to services that they used to donate money to as part of their yearly giving. Only they might not qualify because they chose at the time that they got their dogs whether from a breed rescue, a breeder that health tests and only mates dogs when they pass all genetic screening, or the local pound to pick the Labrador or English Bulldog or Visla instead of the unknown mix.
Instead of making the new policy about not being able to acquire a new pet while covered by this charitable program they are excluding pets people already own. I have spoken to many people who are outraged by this new policy because of its wording and how it is being presented as it will mean people will have to make the difficult decision to either give up a sick Pet because they cannot afford its care, Euthanize the pet though they no longer even qualify to bring the animal in for that so will probably have to bring them to the pound in order for that to occur as well, or they could give the animal away but as we all know it is hard to place sick elderly animals and now there will be a potential flooding of sick and elderly animals in rescues and pounds because people can no longer keep them. Due to this new policy many people are saying they will no longer make donations to this charity or shop in their stores so effectively they have no lost contributions they need in order to treat animals under their care because of a poorly thought out policy. The money once donated to them will now be going to breed rescues and local rescues who will have to take these elderly and sick dogs in even if it is just to do the humane and necessary thing to end their suffering because their owners will no longer be able to get them even that.
