Some animals are abandoned on the street.
Others are abandoned inside veterinary clinics by the very people who brought them there to be saved.
They had owners. They had names. They came with leashes, carriers, and medical histories.
Some were admitted for confinement.
Then the calls stopped.
Messages went unanswered.
No one came back.
And the patient kept waiting.
That is the part that hurts.
An animal does not understand unpaid bills, blocked numbers, or why the person who once held the leash suddenly disappeared.
It only knows that every time the clinic door opens, maybe this time, it is them.
But days become weeks.
The waiting slowly turns into routine.
Someone starts feeding them every morning.
A staff member gives them a nickname.
They find a favorite corner.
They learn whose footsteps mean food, whose hands mean comfort, and who will sit beside them when they are afraid.
And quietly, an abandoned patient becomes a resident pet.
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WE USED TO CALL THEM ABANDONED PETS
We used to call them abandoned pets.
But that only describes what someone did to them.
Because they were not abandoned by everyone.
We stayed.
A veterinary clinic is not meant to be a permanent home.
Sick animals come through our doors every day. There is stress, noise, and possible exposure to disease despite precautions.
We know that.
But when nobody comes back, where exactly do you send an animal who has already been left once?
So we make space.
We protect them as best we can.
We feed them.
We treat them when they get sick.
Some grow old with us.
And some die with us.
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WE BECOME THE LAST PEOPLE TO CARE FOR THEM
We become the last people to feed them.
The last hands to hold them.
The last voices to call their name.
And sometimes,
we are the ones who bury them.
So to my fellow veterinarians:
Post your resident pets.
Tell their stories.
Let people see that veterinary medicine has its own quiet form of rescue too.
And to the public:
If your local clinic has a resident pet, ask about them.
Maybe you can adopt.
Maybe you can foster.
Maybe you can help with food, medicines, or simply share their story until the right family finds them.
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IF YOU BRING AN ANIMAL TO A CLINIC, PLEASE COME BACK
And if you bring an animal to a clinic, please come back.
Do not let your veterinarian become your pet’s family simply because you chose to disappear.
Some rescuers save animals from the streets.
Sometimes, veterinarians save the ones abandoned inside our clinics.
They came to us as patients.
They stayed because nobody came back.
The clinic may not have been the safest home.
It may not have been the home we wanted for them.
But it became the home that refused to abandon them twice.
That is what a resident pet is:
an animal someone chose to leave behind, and a veterinary team that chose to stay.
Dr. Geoff Carullo is a Fellow and the current President of the Philippine College of Canine Practitioners.
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