The Social Hearted Vet

The Social Hearted Vet I am Dr Lissi, founder of Cherished Pets, world’s first BCorp vet service.

10 years ago when Cherished Pets Foundation was a baby charity I met the amazing Anna Ludvig (far right), Founder of Luc...
19/08/2026

10 years ago when Cherished Pets Foundation was a baby charity I met the amazing Anna Ludvig (far right), Founder of Lucy's Project. Safe Families - Paws and All 🐾. It was at the time that my understanding of the link between pets and domestic family violence was growing.

Long story short: Anna and I became Founder friends and we have offered support to each other over the years. Founderhood can be a very lonely place at times and our challenges are often shared. We hold each other up!

Likewise, as Lucy's Project. Safe Families - Paws and All 🐾 and Cherished Pets Foundation developed so did our organisational friendship. Lucy’s Project does the advocacy and CPF provides services to supporting pets of people leaving DFV. So it was an absolute honour to participate in the LP roundtable events which have informed the “National Roadmap for Change to Prevent and End Family Violence against People and Animals” launched today at Parliament House, Canberra!

And there’s more: the amazing Monique Dam (centre) entered our world last year as CEO of Lucy’s Project and we both received Churchill Fellowships in closely related, synergistic but different projects. Monique’s report launches today and my report comes out next month. Thankyou to Winston Churchill Trust for supporting the work in the HAB field.

The relationships and connections here are real and effective. And today was a day to celebrate an almighty achievement.. to get this launch on the agenda at Parliament House.

Who knows where we will all be ten years from now. What I do know is that these collaborations are powerful towards the vision of embedding support for the Human-Animal Bond into human health and social service systems. We can only shift our systems through relationships and collaboration.

Follow us all to watch this space.
And visit Lucy’s Project to see the roadmap!

Thanks!

Who else is obsessed with their dog’s schnoz? 💕Or their silky ears? 🐶Or that waggily tail? 🐕Or those paws? 🐾I’m in love ...
19/07/2026

Who else is obsessed with their dog’s schnoz? 💕
Or their silky ears? 🐶
Or that waggily tail? 🐕
Or those paws? 🐾

I’m in love with Billi’s nose especially when she sleeps and it sometimes twitches a little.

How much do we love our dogs!

(And cats too but this post is for the hounds)

When your very own cherished cat needs an urgent dental ..Well it’s been a rollercoaster.Jaycee’s almost 21 years old.Sh...
22/06/2026

When your very own cherished cat needs an urgent dental ..

Well it’s been a rollercoaster.

Jaycee’s almost 21 years old.
She developed a swollen right cheek about two weeks ago.
She has hyperthyroidism and early renal disease.
She was still eating. Her normal purring affectionate self.

Doing nothing was not an option. With the issue most likely to be a tooth root abcess we needed to consider a general anaesthetic which is something that strikes fear in the heart of any human with a geriatric pet. 💕

Unresponsive to antibiotics I started to fear a tumour in her mouth. She was a bit cheeky and uncooperative to examine. Ie she wouldn’t let me have a proper look.

So today we took the plunge.
Our incredible dream team at Cherished Pets took my Jaycee into their care and supported me and my wobbles. Dr Beth, Dr George, Ebs, MJ and Sam.
Heartfelt thanks.

It went well.
She was in the queue after Nurse Georgi’s cat - sending love to Frank-n-kitten.

IV fluids for the day + GA + examination and the rotten tooth pretty much fell out, along with some of the gooey pus around it.

Tonight Jaycee is recovering well.
The next few days will be interesting to see how she rallies.
She has pain relief and antibiotics on board.
She’s a bit wonky and wobbly but has settled nicely now.

Loving an older pet is a rollercoaster.
We can do so much more these days to maintain quality of life.
It takes a great leap of faith to commit a 21 year old renal cat to a general anaesthetic and dental.
But this was a do or die scenario.

My team supported me so beautifully.

Feeling very grateful and I’ll keep you all posted on her recovery.

🙏🐞💕✨🐱

This is Flora 💕I have been her vet for almost 12 years.Her humans started bringing her to me when was in its infancy wi...
09/06/2026

This is Flora 💕

I have been her vet for almost 12 years.

Her humans started bringing her to me when was in its infancy with monthly pop up clinics at and home visits.

I remember her as a puppy like it was yesterday.. she was very wriggly back then.

Now she is an older, calmer girl and getting the top care she deserves with screening assessments and regular visits by our wonderful team at the clinic.

She reminds me of how far we have come at Cherished Pets.

A gracious, loved and healthy older girl.

We love Flora 🙏💕🥰🐞🐾

Very special experience last week at the International Dementia Conference to view the film “Human Forever”, hear speak...
06/06/2026

Very special experience last week at the International Dementia Conference to view the film “Human Forever”, hear speak at the plenary and then meet him afterwards. I was also chuffed to see that the dementia village I visited in the Netherlands as part of my Churchill Fellowship features in the film too!

An incredible story. A remarkable young man. A must watch film.

They are on a national tour so check out their socials for film viewing times.

It’s screening at Lido Cinema Melbourne this coming Thursday 11th June.

💕🙏🐞✨

Such a happy day yesterday with a visit to Foundation by the lovely Katie Belt (Social worker at ) and her two student...
03/06/2026

Such a happy day yesterday with a visit to Foundation by the lovely Katie Belt (Social worker at ) and her two students, Abbie and Sammy.

They met with our HABCare team and together we spent time discussing the joys, highs, lows, challenges and opportunities of social work in the animal welfare and veterinary space.

The vet social work/HAB social support community is small but mighty and these connections matter so much to build understanding and resources in this emerging space.

We’ve known Katie for almost three years when she started at Lost Dogs Home and she is a star!

More of this please.. and thanks to our own Rachel and Georgi for hosting the visit 🙏



What a special night we had at the ‘s Community Grant Gala which has become one of my favourite annual events. It’s a ...
29/05/2026

What a special night we had at the ‘s Community Grant Gala which has become one of my favourite annual events. It’s a chance to see all the amazing organisations doing wonderful work across the Geelong region.

Foundation is the recipient of a generous grant in this year’s round within the Health, Resilience and Connection Grants for Mental Health.

To see our social veterinary service being recognised in such a critical human health category is both a relief and a joy.. we know that the Human-Animal Bond drives human health and wellbeing. When people face hardship and crisis their pets matter more than ever and need to be prioritized in care planning. The difference our HABCare service makes in keeping pets healthy, well and together with their humans is vital to the fabric of a healthy and connected community.

We applaud for the incredible work you continue to do to help our region thrive.

Thanks to Gail Rodgers (CPF Board member) and Jenn Polley (HABCare team program support) for joining our celebration last night and representing our organisation.

Every moment matters. Every dollar matters.

Deepest gratitude indeed

🙏💕✨

Every response to this survey really matters so if you are in the vet world please consider gifting 25 mins to this surv...
29/05/2026

Every response to this survey really matters so if you are in the vet world please consider gifting 25 mins to this survey 🙏

Volunteers are the heart of our community services and home care assistance .. Thankyou to each and every one of you for...
21/05/2026

Volunteers are the heart of our community services and home care assistance .. Thankyou to each and every one of you for all that you do
💕💕💕

These are the moments I exist for as a Human-Animal Bond Vet.Helping older people thrive by keeping their pets healthy, ...
18/05/2026

These are the moments I exist for as a Human-Animal Bond Vet.

Helping older people thrive by keeping their pets healthy, well and together with them is my jam.

I love the magic of these connections 💕✨🤩

One of our nurses snapped this pic recently and it fills my heart that our team deeply get it too 🐶 this is our collective why..

I’ll be undertaking my Myer Fellowship over the next 12 months and am dedicated to making it possible for more older people to enjoy the benefits of healthy pets.

Let’s do this!

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