Access to Veterinary Care & Animal Welfare Organizations

The purpose of this study is to better understand the challenges animal welfare organizations face around access to veterinary care and how these challenges impact the animals in their care. The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and Program for Pet Health Equity (PPHE) at the University of Tennessee joined forces to conduct a survey of shelters and rescues at the national level. This study grew out of a project completed for the California Access to Care Working Group (CACWG) by PPHE that explored challenges experienced by animal shelters in California due to inequitable access to veterinary care. The CACWG study found that lack of internal and external access to veterinary care negatively impacts shelter animals, shelter staff and volunteers, and the community at large.

Animal welfare organizations face a myriad of challenges s meeting the veterinary care needs of the animals in their care. This study shed light on some of these key issues as well as the various ways in which they impact organizations’ abilities to provide services. A number of important themes emerged from the study.