There’s a dire need for his kind of help. About 25 percent of Modesto’s homeless population owns a pet, but there are few healthcare options available to them. To fill that void, Stewart can often be found wandering dark alleyways and underpasses, anywhere he thinks the homeless might be camped out. He carries his medical bag, which contains treatments—vaccines, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, flea medications, and more—for most of the cases he encounters. Stewart pays for almost all of it out of his own pocket.
Occasionally, he comes upon a medical problem that requires more attention than he can provide on the street. For those expensive procedures, he set up a GoFundMe account to help cover treatment costs. “I don’t ever want to have to turn anybody away,” he explains.
Most of these people love their pet more than the average person. Joe is one of those people in particular. “When I first hit the streets, I was almost to the point where I had given up,” he said in a video that Stewart posted on the GoFundMe page. “This dog was an answer to my prayers. Every morning, I wake up, her tail is wagging. She’s always giddy. I don’t feel that loneliness. If something happened to her, I don’t know what I’d do. To have somebody like Dr. Stewart come out here to take care of my dog just because it’s the right thing to do, that’s huge.”
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