Downtown Dog Rescue

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Downtown Dog Rescue

DDR is a nonprofit organization that supports low income families care for their pets. https://bit.ly/SpayNeuterForm
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Our Pet Support Space Counselors can be reached by calling 323-880-8259. We supply veterinary vouchers, pet food and other supplies as well as resources for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. You can help support our work by donating here https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/8WZMGM11XFGI?ref_=wl_share

10/31/2026

Hope and Didi are both available for adoption! Let us know if you’d like to meet these two playful pups! Https://downtowndogrescue.org/adopt

10/30/2026

Max came to our clinic this week to have his sutures removed. Dr. Hoffman had removed a growth, and the area healed nicely.

Max’s person is disabled and lives on a fixed income. Veterinary care was beyond their budget, and our program made it possible for Max to get the treatment he needed.

If you’re wondering about his muzzle, it’s one way his person helps keep everyone safe. Max is a sweet dog, but clinic visits can leave him overstimulated. His person understands his needs and comes prepared. That’s responsible pet guardianship.

Being able to afford veterinary care and being a loving, responsible pet guardian are two different things. Your support helps us close that gap.

Does your dog need a little extra support at the vet, too? What helps them feel more comfortable?

10/28/2026

Happy 1st Birthday to our black beauty, Midnight! We celebrated with a cute cake from La Pawnaderia®️ and homemade pho. The best gift though would be a family of her own.

Midnight is a scared, young dog who is working out what to think of people and the big world around her. She's been bravely working with our trainer Krista Goodsitt every week and every session helps bring her out of her shell a little bit more. Nothing though will be as good as a place to call home. Midnight is looking for a patient person who can provide a calm routine and a safe space so she can learn to let her guards down. Please share to help her find her people!

10/27/2026

At 15 years old, Foxie needed emergency surgery to save her life.

Foxie was suffering from pyometra, a serious infection of the uterus that develops in unspayed female dogs. Left untreated, it is often fatal. Even much younger dogs can die from this condition.

At a veterinary hospital, surgery to treat pyometra can cost $2,000 to $3,000 or more. Imagine being told your dog needs lifesaving surgery when you have no money to pay for it.

That's the situation Foxie's person faced.

At Downtown Dog Rescue, we didn't ask why Foxie had never been spayed. We didn't lecture her owner about waiting too long or question their ability to care for her. We scheduled the surgery, knowing there would be no financial contribution toward the cost.

Because of Foxie's advanced age, she first needed bloodwork. Our veterinarian, Dr. Rachel Hoffman, determined that Foxie was healthy enough to undergo surgery.

Foxie was spayed, went home with antibiotics, and is doing well.

This is what access to veterinary care looks like when the ability to pay isn't a condition of receiving help.

We're asking our community to help us raise $1,000 to cover Foxie's veterinary care.

Every dollar donated helps us recover the cost of saying yes to Foxie, so we can say yes to the next dog or cat whose person cannot afford lifesaving treatment.

Foxie is 15 years old. She deserved the chance to get better, regardless of how much money her person had.

Please donate. Help us reach our $1,000 goal and make the next yes possible.

10/26/2026

We are partnering with Cathy Bissell and BISSELL Pet Foundation to save lives! We've spayed/neutered 32 pets today through their Fix the Future® program.

BISSELL Pet Foundation is breaking down barriers to affordable, accessible spay/neuter by sending veterinarians to shelters and communities in need.

Yesterday, our veterinarian Dr. Rachel Hoffman and veterinary staff who are trained to perform high-volume spay and neuter surgeries were able to provide sterilization surgeries, vaccines, microchips, deworming, and flea and tick prevention thanks to the Fix the Future program. All of these services were provided at no cost to the families who live in the communities we serve.

10/24/2026

Puppy Kia, now KIKI is adopted and she gets to grow up with big sis Noodles who was also adopted from DDR!! 💜
Congratulations to the whole family!

10/23/2026

This is Coba, who lives with her human family in a trailer beside a freeway on-ramp, along with her mama, papa, and brother dogs.

This week, Dr. Hoffman spayed Coba at our Downtown Dog Rescue clinic in Maywood, ending a pregnancy with 15 fetuses. The family wasn't sure if the papa or brother dog had gotten her pregnant.

We first met her family during street outreach. Coba's mama dog had already given birth to more than 40 puppies. The family never wanted the litters but didn't know where to get their dogs spayed for free. They told our volunteers how difficult it was to "give the puppies away." They agreed to let us help.

But free surgery was only the beginning. It took five attempts to get Coba spayed. Each time, transportation to our clinic in Maywood had to be coordinated around circumstances that made keeping an appointment difficult. We kept returning.

When daily life is organized around survival, getting a dog to a veterinary appointment can become extraordinarily complicated.

Coba's mama dog, Jasmine, was spayed recently by Dr. Hoffman. This week, it was finally Coba's turn. We are still working with the family to get permission to neuter the two male dogs.

This is the part of animal welfare that rarely makes it into a photograph. The hours spent driving, waiting, calling, returning, and starting over. The relationships that have to be maintained even when progress seems impossible.

We cannot expect people living under difficult circumstances to navigate barriers that even people with stable housing and reliable transportation struggle to overcome.

Two female dogs are now spayed. Fifteen more puppies will not be born.
This is how we prevent unwanted litters before they become a shelter or rescue's responsibility to save them all.

10/22/2026

Street outreach often begins long before a pet comes through our clinic doors. It begins with volunteers returning to the same places, allowing people time to get to know them and decide whether to trust them with an animal they love.

This young mama dog was wandering through an area where people were living in vehicles, wooden containers, and cardboard boxes. No person or animal should have to call these conditions home.

When our DDR volunteer called out in English and Spanish, a man riding a bicycle stopped to explain. The dog had puppies. Her person was inside a makeshift house, very sick and too weak to open the door. He told us she wanted help with her dog.

What we can see on one visit tells us very little about everything a person has lived through. We don’t need someone’s entire history to respond with care. Our volunteers show up over and over because trust takes time.

Those relationships make it possible for someone to eventually place a leash in our hands and let us take their pet to our clinic to be spayed or neutered, which is usually the first step to being in our program for ongoing supportive services.

We promised to return next weekend. Keeping that promise is part of trauma-informed care: being consistent, respecting someone’s pace, and allowing trust to grow without pressure.

10/22/2026

Behind every surgery at our high-volume, free and low-cost spay/neuter clinic is work that never appears in our surgery totals.

Three-year-old Chewy was neutered this week by Dr. Hoffman at our DDR clinic located in Maywood. When our staff called to arrange his pickup, there was no answer. The clinic was closing, and we still hadn’t reached his person.

Then we learned that the number on his intake form belonged to a friend. Chewy’s person didn’t have a phone of her own.

When we finally connected, she was panicked. She would meet us anytime, she said. Whatever it took, she would get there. A volunteer returned to the clinic to meet her at 7:30 p.m. She was already waiting patiently at the door. She had borrowed an electric scooter to get there.

Chewy needed a safe ride home after surgery, and she had prepared for that, too. She had called a friend to meet her and drive them both home. She explained that Chewy was her family. She didn’t want him spending the night away from her when he could be home.

Even when surgery is free, getting a pet spayed or neutered can require arrangements that many of us never have to consider. A friend’s phone is the only way to receive a call. A borrowed scooter gets someone to the clinic. Another friend provides the ride home.

When someone doesn’t answer or arrive, we may not yet know what they are trying to work out. Our staff becomes concerned. We keep calling, ask questions, and work with them to find a solution.

Running an accessible clinic takes patience, flexibility, and people willing to help sometimes well beyond closing.

Chewy will count as one neuter in our records. The phone calls, borrowed transportation, evening pickup, and people who made it possible are also part of the work.

10/20/2026

Welcome new dog Bonnie. She is just under one year old. Loves to play with dogs Watch for more updates soon.

Address

5270 Atlantic Boulevard
South Gate, CA
90270

Website

http://www.downtowndogrescue.org/

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