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A Silverdale animal charity has taken its service to the next level, opening a community vet clinic that offers low cost pet desexing and microchipping.
The service, which caters for all companion animals, is primarily offered to rescue charities but also to people who struggle to access desexing due to cost.
The organisation behind the service is Coast Pet Care Charitable Trust, which combines two other Trusts – CatsnCare and North Auckland Animal Rescue.
Trustee Helen Stancliffe has been rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming cats and kittens for more than 14 years.
“Before this, we were keenly aware that we were only dealing with the fallout of mismanagement of companion animals and doing little to prevent the problem,” Helen says.
She says offering low cost desexing and microchipping is a proactive approach that can reap huge benefits for the animals, the community and the environment.
“We will be able to target problem areas where strays are endemic,” she says.
The clinic has been set up at the Coast Pet Care centre in East Coast Road thanks to donated money and equipment. It is staffed by local volunteers – two vets and six vet nurses.
A $10,000 bequest and a grant of the same amount from the Lush Cosmetics charity pot fund were invaluable in setting up the clinic.
Sourcing the equipment and materials meant Helen had to cast her net wide. Trays of surgical instruments were donated by Starship and Whangarei Hospitals. A vet supply company, Kahuvet, provided discounted products including a state of the art operating table, anesthetic and blood machines and a $3000 autoclave, for sterilising instruments. Shelving came from the Papakura Police Station and garage trolleys purchased from a hardware store proved to be cheap and effective workbenches. An anonymous donor provided an ultrasound machine, valued at around $2000.
“A lot of people really believe in what we are doing and helped in so many ways,” Helen says.
The normal cost of desexing, at around $100 for a cat neuter, $160 to spay a female cat, and considerably more for dogs, is one reason that owners defer the operation, or decide not to desex their pets.
The community vet clinic asks for a minimum donation of $45 for desexing and microchipping.
“For some owners, it is an attitude shift that is needed – for others, cost is a genuine barrier,” Helen says. “We are taking one of those barriers away.”
She says while they are happy to assist holders of Community Services Cards, the people she especially wants to target are “the working poor”.
“There will not be a means test,” Helen says. “We are taking it on trust because, at the end of the day it’s reducing the numbers of unwanted pets that’s important.”
Local vets have had a mixed reaction to the introduction of the clinic.
Whangaparaoa Vet Centre practice manager, Dr Monique Veen, says a vet clinic should be there for the whole of a pet’s life including prevention of illness, help with behaviour, nutrition and advice.
“It is not a right, but a privilege to have a pet and this comes at a cost,” she says. “Besides all the fun, loyalty and companionship, owners have to put in the hard yards and those who rely on cheap desexing get a false impression of what is involved in having a pet.”
She also says desexing by charities at an unrealistic price is “an insult to the veterinary profession”, affecting the start of a bond between vet, animal and owner.
Community clinic vet Dr Roz Holland disagrees, saying that providing an affordable service demonstrates that vets care about the animals enough to volunteer their services to help people who struggle with the costs of vet care.
She says that the community clinic is not targeting clients of regular vet practices. “My experience is that many animals are acquired through random circumstances when an animal needs a home, and not by design,” Roz says. “Additionally, many people are struggling with providing the basics for their families. I am happy to give up some of my time and expertise to make the early costs of caring for an animal easier for people who are struggling, and for rescue services who constantly lack funds.”
A number of vets also questioned whether the clinic had the required qualified staff, sterile theatre, equipment and drugs for the task – something that Roz says is all in place.
Follow up care was also raised as a concern.
Roz says complications from desexing are low. “Animals would not be returned to their carers if there are any concerns, and we can address any post operative issues ourselves, generally at minimal cost,” she says. “There are emergency clinics available after hours.”
Hibiscus Coast Veterinary Hospital senior vet Dr Nicholas Munnings has been working with Coast Pet Care for five years, assisting with subsidised desexing and treatments for cats.
His Orewa clinic sees a lot of issues with colony cats and considers anything that reduces the numbers of strays is important, not only for the cats but for the wildlife they predate upon.
Coast Pet Care Community Vet Clinic began performing operations on February 21. Ten spays, 13 neuters and two cryptorchid neuters were performed in the first two days and all the animals were microchipped.
The service is dependent on the availability of the volunteer vets, so booking is essential. Info: coastpetcare on Facebook, email info@coastpetcare.co.nz or phone 09 424 1666.
