The PDSA great in concept...but need to reconsider the people they give money to! (PDSA The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA))

Member Name: stephbond89

Product:	PDSA The People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA)
Date:	05/08/09 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great help to those who qualify for help when their animal is sick!

Disadvantages: Not everyone who needs the money gets it!

The PDSA is a charity who care for sick animals when their owners cannot afford to pay private vets fees and do not have pet insurance. It's a great charity and a very good idea as I know myself when an animal is sick it can be very very expensive to get them treated, but it needs doing. This is especially true in animals like Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Birds, Lizards, Snakes, as their insurance is soooo expensive, and not really worth getting as it doesn't cover enough and you end up having to pay the bills anyway.

A few months ago our Guinea Pig Gordon got ill, he started getting random scabs all over him which at first we thought were bites as he lives with a friend, we thought they'd had a bit of a fight. But when after a week they hadn't healed and in fact he had more all over him we started to get worried. We don't have much money, and although we got alot of stick on animal forums abotu "shouldn't buy an animal if you can't afford vet fees", this is a very silly thing to say as you don't tend to anticipate your animal getting sick and needing vet care, we have plenty of money aside each month for food and fresh veg for our animals, but not enough aside each month to spend £50 on vet fees, this is an average as a first consultation is around £20-£25 then treatment can be upwards of £30 depending what is wrong with them.

We took Gordon to the vet as we had no choice, and it cost us £45 which we needed for our own bills and food, and ended up going without so he could be treated, this wasn't even a second thought he needed treating and so he had to be treated even if it meant us not been able to buy enough food.

We then heard of the PDSA who help people with vets fees when they cannot afford them, we thought that this would be a means tested system, looking at what money comes in, and then what goes out, and what you have left over, this is what we thought would happen. But, when we looked into it, the PSDA only give their help to those on Income Support, which we're not, as we get £12 a month over the amount you need to earn to get the benefit. So we didn't get the help from the PDSA and ended up going hungry that month as we had to fork out £45 of money which we didn't have for his treatment.

If this was to happen at the end of a month when we had no money at all in the bank, and we really could not find the money anywhere, our animal would have to suffer and suffer without treatment as we couldn't afford vet fees, which are very very expensive sometimes! This wouldn't be because we didn't want to care for our animal but because we wouldn't have the money available to pay the fees, but the PDSA wouldn't help us, so our only other option would be to take our animal to the RSPCA who would more than likely take them.

I have since this incident started putting aside a little money each month for emergencies, even if it's only coppers left over, so that if anything does happen again we have the money there.

I think it is very very wrong that the PDSA work on a benefit basis, if we think about it, those on Income Support have the extra money from the benefit, which stops them living in poverty, and more than likely have more money than me and my husband, as I said we get £12 over the earnings, so those getting £200 a month from the Government get £188 more than us a month...so we're more needy than them!!!! But thats not how it's done, and for this I don't think the PDSA are much good. The principal of the charity is excellent, they do some fantastic work for those who cannot afford the vet fees if anything does go wrong, but they need to think of a new way to work out who needs the money, maybe bank statements and a budget sheet showing where everything is going and whats left at the end of the day, I think this would be much more effective as it would show those who need the money more!

All in all, a great charity which is probably going to the wrong people.

Summary: Need to review their entry requirements!