The University of Florida Small Animal Hospital offered free health screening services today to a group of special canines that dedicate their lives to the service of others. It's all part of the National Service Dog Eye Exam event. For Eric Hampton, an amputee who also lives with a neuro-muscular disorder his dog "Indie," acts as his walking cane and much more.

"No cane will put its head on your lap and look up at you when you're having a crappyday...that's something only dogs can for you."

Hampton and his wife brought along two other Golden Retrievers that they are fostering, to receive health screenings to check for things like cataracts, glaucoma, and heart disease. Three doctors were present to conduct eye and heart exams. Dog owners taking their dogs to receive these services would typically spend around two-hundred dollars. University of Florida Veterinary Cardiologist Dr. Amara Estrada says that she plans on being busy seeing dogs all day.

"For example we saw one agency one agency that brought in 20 dogs that saw both services so that saw both services so that would've cost them at least two-thousand dollars."

 Indie was just one of the 45 to 50 scheduled dogs. This is the second year that the hospital has put on this event. Chris Gilmore TV20 News