VA gives dogs and cats to veterans for two years.
H.R. 10863 — Vets and Pets Act · Filed by J. Correa (D-CA) · Introduced Oct 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The Department of Veterans Affairs will run a pilot program for two years. It gives money to nonprofit groups that provide dogs or cats to veterans. The nonprofits also pay for pet supplies, spaying or neutering, and shots. The program gets up to $1 million in 2027 and 2028. Nonprofits must show they treat animals well and work with veteran groups.
Who it affects
Veterans get free pets and pet care. Nonprofit groups that give out pets get grant money. Veteran service organizations work with the nonprofits.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say which veterans can get pets. The VA will make those rules later.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Oct 22, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 22, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- pilot program — A small test of a new idea to see if it works.
- nonprofit — A group that uses money to help people or animals, not to make profit.
- spaying or neutering — Surgery to stop an animal from having babies.
- veteran service organizations — Groups that help veterans and their families.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,239 characters) on Oct 26, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,580 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-26.
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