A guide to Freedom for veterinary professionals
'Whilst being fostered with Freedom, Jake was taken to the vets and he was given the treatments he needed including pain relief for arthritis, treatment for abscesses on his eye and anal glands. It set my mind at ease and I thought he is now in a good place.' Annika, Freedom Client
We collect dogs directly from owners and place them with volunteer foster carers who provide a loving and safe environment for the dogs until they are able to be reunited with their owner. Vet practices participating in our scheme make it possible for our volunteer foster carers to bring their foster dog to their local practice for treatments. This means that dogs can be provided with the often-urgent veterinary care that they need.
A survey carried out by Dogs Trust in 2019 showed that 89% of domestic abuse professionals were aware of cases where pets had also been abused.
Abuse to pets can take many forms. Sadly, many people living with domestic abuse are likely to have their finances and movements controlled or be prevented from leaving their home to take the dog to their vet. They may not have had available funds for extensive treatments.
This means that when foster dogs are brought to a participating practice for the first time you might see signs of injury or neglect, they may need to restart all their preventative treatment and could have some untreated conditions, such as ear infections or skin conditions.
'My husband wasn’t very nice to my dogs. He would do things like prevent me from accessing things I needed. All my wage went straight on paying the rent and bills so I had little left over for myself, the children or the dogs. My dog has an allergic condition which had become flared up if I couldn’t get him the right treatment he needed. If I addressed this with him, he would send me some money, but it was nowhere near half of what I was paying. I think this was control because it meant that I had to ask him for money all the time and it felt demeaning. It was good to hear that my dog’s allergic condition was being treated and had improved whilst in foster.' Kerry, Freedom Client
If you’d like to find out more about becoming a participating practice for our Freedom scheme, please contact your local Freedom team who will be able to guide you through the process.
Once you sign up to our scheme:
- We’ll provide you with the name and contact telephone number of any foster carer that would like to use your practice along with the details of their foster dog and any future foster dogs that they care for.
- We’ll inform you once the foster dog has returned to their owner and no longer requires treatment at your practice.
- Our volunteer foster carers are fully supported by the Freedom team. This includes ensuring that we pay the participating vet directly for any treatments and so we’ll set you up to receive payments directly form us to cover the cost of the treatments you provide.