The lives of San Francisco's unhoused pet owners, and the support they need

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco is among the top cities for dog lovers. While you might think that every dog needs a home, we found that's not always true. As part of our efforts to Build a Better Bay Area, we're turning our attention to the homeless and their dogs and the care they both need.

We start in Oakland where that city recently did a sweep of a homeless encampment finding a few dogs living outside. It's a picture that may infuriate some animal lovers.

So we asked ourselves, does every dog have to live under a roof to be considered well-taken care of? We approached the first unhoused person in San Francisco we ran into who had, not one, but two dogs.

Their names, Baby Girl and Gypsy Girl.

"I get them their shots, I have food for them, you feel me? They are being loved, they're being taken care of the right way, just because you're unhoused doesn't mean you're better than me," expressed Shy Brown as her dogs licked her face.

MORE: San Francisco man brings passion to pups as he feeds dogs belonging to the homeless

"The pets of the homeless, provided that they had veterinary care, were healthy, were well-fed. The title of my book comes from that realization," said Dr, Leslie Irvine a researcher whose book is titled "My dog always eats first: Homeless people and their animals." Admittedly, she was once critical of homeless people owning dogs but changed her mind after interviewing more than 70 homeless people across 40 cities as well as social workers and veterinarians.

Dr. Ilana Strubel of San Francisco is one of the vets she interviewed.

"Today's clinic we had 50 clients signed up, 50 and each one had one to two pets." said Dr. Strubel who in 2001 began seeing pets who live with their homeless owners. Today through the program called Vet SOS, she sees their animals once a month for routine check ups in the SPCA parking lot.

The program is run by the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium.

Joseph Baker, an unhoused person, adopted his dog Gilligan after finishing a drug rehab program.

MORE: This man's passion for helping homeless dogs in SF will inspire you

"There are people out there who don't take care of them, there are but a good amount do take care of them and they are their child," said Baker.

Precious and Baby Girl, two other dogs helped Jamal Thomas get through a rough time.

"I'm not sure I'd be here if I didn't have my dogs, that's how much they mean to me. A few years back when I got them, I was going through a really hard time and that love, that unconditional love they have for you - how much they appreciate every little thing shows you there are reasons to keep going," revealed Thomas.

Every unhoused person we spoke to had the same outlook.

"My family is in another state. I don't get to talk to them or see them often. It's hard to be around people, so these are my people. This is my family - yeah," expressed a young unhoused woman named Ferox who had two cats.

MORE: How effective are California's homelessness programs? State hasn't been tracking

"Many are living on limited funds, so they make choice and a lot of them do purchase things, food for their pets over their own needs many times," said Johanna Liu, President and CEO of SF Community Clinic Consortium.

Vet SOS offers their homeless clients dog items, medications and pet food on Fridays .

Back to Shy Brown, she says the people she encounters on the street have more empathy for her dogs than for most humans.

"I don't mind that, I don't mind that, I don't because of the fact that they need just as much love as we do," she added.

For more information on Vet SOS call (415) 355-2248 or visit www.sfccc.org.

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