The number of homeless individuals living in the streets is heartbreaking. But makes their situation sadder is that they have pets with them that they cannot provide veterinary or medical needs as much as they want to. The things that we can provide but most often neglect like food, water, and veterinary services is an everyday struggle for the homeless people.

And despite their situation, they will provide everything that they can afford for their fur baby and putting their personal needs last on the list. And when their pet gets ill, that becomes a huge problem. They will not be able to provide the medical needs their furbabies need.

A veterinarian from California realized this need and decided that he will no longer wait for these people to come to him and ask for help, he would go to them instead.

Dr. Kwane Stewart is a 49-year-old veterinary practitioner from California. He loves animals so much that he decided to make a career out of this passion. And his mission is to try and save every animal, even the stray ones, as much as he can.

Dr. Stewart has been a vet for more than two decades. In 2007, he realized that the number of stray animals who cannot receive treatment is truly heartbreaking. During his interview later on with CNN, he said, “I’d been practicing high-end medicine for clients who could pay for everything. But suddenly I was thrown into this economic war and people couldn’t even afford to help their pets.”

Then 4 years later, he decided to make a change. The vet started to set up a soup kitchen and offered free checkups for homeless individuals and their pets. And the response was overwhelming. This is when he realized that there is such high demand for the free services that he offers the homeless and their pets. Because of this, he committed to walk around the streets every weekend and offer veterinary help.

Talking about his soup kitchen, Dr. Stewart said, “Before I knew it, I had a whole line. There was something about it that I loved. I did it one more time before I decided to just take it to the street and walk to homeless people instead of waiting for them to walk up to me.” He added, “These homeless people take care of their pets even better than we do. When they own a pet, it engenders this generosity. They always make sure their pet is fed. Medically is where they need help.”

It didn’t take long for the doctor to be known as “The Street Vet.” Then people from other areas of the city came to visit him and brought their pets to his clinic. Thanks to his help, many injuries and medical conditions were treated on the spot. If he feels that his clients are financially challenged, then he will offer to pay for the medical needs and provide the treatment needed by some of the animals brought to him. And if the treatment is too expensive, he would ask help from others through his GoFundMe page.

Since he started providing free veterinary assistance, Dr. Kwane was able to help around 400 animals. Now, he has his own television show called “Dr. Kwane: The Street Vet.”