Animal Welfare Professionals

I work with a non profit in western Maryland. There is not a veterinarian in this county who will work with us on low cost spay / neuter. Currently we are transporting community cats to other counties / states because in county rates are unaffordable. We are willing to pay for services. How can we encourage vets in the area to work with us? I understand that everything costs. However the community cat population is out of control which is bad for everyone. How can we find a solution that works for everyone? Not trying in any way to disparage the veterinarians BTW. I know it's a difficult job. I'm trying to find a community solution for a growing issue. Thanks for your help.

I work with a non profit in western Maryland. There is not a veterinarian in this county who will work with us on low cost spay / neuter. Currently we are transporting community cats to other counties / states because in county rates are unaffordable. We are willing to pay for services. How can we encourage vets in the area to work with us? I understand that everything costs. However the community cat population is out of control which is bad for everyone. How can we find a solution that works for everyone? Not trying in any way to disparage the veterinarians BTW. I know it's a difficult job. I'm trying to find a community solution for a growing issue. Thanks for your help.

Hi! I'm a shelter veterinarian in the PNW, but also worked for many years in private practice. I have a couple of thoughts regarding your question. I think many private practice vets are uncomfortable providing services for Community Cats, especially the kind that arrive in humane traps, because they are unfamiliar with best practices around handling, anesthesia, surgery and recovery. There are unique considerations for this population of unowned animals, including liability, acceptable standards of care, even anesthetic drug protocols. However, many veterinarians report an interest in providing services to help manage community cat populations. One way to help bridge that gap is to provide the training and experience that will make these vets more comfortable. Organize a MASH-style, S/N event with an organization such as Animal Balance that organizes and runs pop-up (or even regularly scheduled) S/N clinics. Invite local vets to participate for some or all of the event so they can see what the care looks like and realize that these events can safely provide care to dozens or hundreds of cats in single day, while maintaining high standards of care. Once you get some local vets on board, you might have more luck recruiting them to provide services on a more regular basis.

I also feel like corporate-owned practices need to be encouraged (or strong-armed) to participate meaningfully in solving access-to-care issues, instead of pretending like it has nothing to do with them and offering annual care packages or pet insurance is adequate. Why shouldn't Banfield or VCA fund training in HQHVSN for their veterinarians that express interest and set-up low-cost or free clinics or MASH-style events, subsidized by their highly profitable traditional practices and leveraging their purchasing agreements with veterinary supply distributors? The corporate practice model is ideally positioned to be a key aspect of addressing access-to-care as each clinic doesn't have to be profitable...they could operate low- or no-cost clinics subsidized by profitable hospitals and then use the good they're doing to promote what good guys they are :) Animal welfare stakeholders should be approaching corporate practices on a local, regional and national basis to ask them to participate in a more productive way.

Just some thoughts,

Rachel

I work with a non profit in western Maryland. There is not a veterinarian in this county who will work with us on low cost spay / neuter. Currently we are transporting community cats to other counties / states because in county rates are unaffordable. We are willing to pay for services. How can we encourage vets in the area to work with us? I understand that everything costs. However the community cat population is out of control which is bad for everyone. How can we find a solution that works for everyone? Not trying in any way to disparage the veterinarians BTW. I know it's a difficult job. I'm trying to find a community solution for a growing issue. Thanks for your help.

Hi! I'm a shelter veterinarian in the PNW, but also worked for many years in private practice. I have a couple of thoughts regarding your question. I think many private practice vets are uncomfortable providing services for Community Cats, especially the kind that arrive in humane traps, because they are unfamiliar with best practices around handling, anesthesia, surgery and recovery. There are unique considerations for this population of unowned animals, including liability, acceptable standards of care, even anesthetic drug protocols. However, many veterinarians report an interest in providing services to help manage community cat populations. One way to help bridge that gap is to provide the training and experience that will make these vets more comfortable. Organize a MASH-style, S/N event with an organization such as Animal Balance that organizes and runs pop-up (or even regularly scheduled) S/N clinics. Invite local vets to participate for some or all of the event so they can see what the care looks like and realize that these events can safely provide care to dozens or hundreds of cats in single day, while maintaining high standards of care. Once you get some local vets on board, you might have more luck recruiting them to provide services on a more regular basis.

I also feel like corporate-owned practices need to be encouraged (or strong-armed) to participate meaningfully in solving access-to-care issues, instead of pretending like it has nothing to do with them and offering annual care packages or pet insurance is adequate. Why shouldn't Banfield or VCA fund training in HQHVSN for their veterinarians that express interest and set-up low-cost or free clinics or MASH-style events, subsidized by their highly profitable traditional practices and leveraging their purchasing agreements with veterinary supply distributors? The corporate practice model is ideally positioned to be a key aspect of addressing access-to-care as each clinic doesn't have to be profitable...they could operate low- or no-cost clinics subsidized by profitable hospitals and then use the good they're doing to promote what good guys they are :) Animal welfare stakeholders should be approaching corporate practices on a local, regional and national basis to ask them to participate in a more productive way.

Just some thoughts,

Rachel

I work with a non profit in western Maryland. There is not a veterinarian in this county who will work with us on low cost spay / neuter. Currently we are transporting community cats to other counties / states because in county rates are unaffordable. We are willing to pay for services. How can we encourage vets in the area to work with us? I understand that everything costs. However the community cat population is out of control which is bad for everyone. How can we find a solution that works for everyone? Not trying in any way to disparage the veterinarians BTW. I know it's a difficult job. I'm trying to find a community solution for a growing issue. Thanks for your help.

Thank you for addressing this issue. I am currently working with a nonprofit in western maryland to raise money for low cost spay / neuter clinics. The most difficult part of the process is to find a veterinarian that is willing to work with community cats. ATM we are driving all of our cats to other counties and states for spay/ neuter as there are no vets in the entire county willing to handle community cats or even offer low cost clinics. We are really struggling and I'm eager to see other responses to this thread. Thank you!

Hi! I'm a shelter veterinarian in the PNW, but also worked for many years in private practice. I have a couple of thoughts regarding your question. I think many private practice vets are uncomfortable providing services for Community Cats, especially the kind that arrive in humane traps, because they are unfamiliar with best practices around handling, anesthesia, surgery and recovery. There are unique considerations for this population of unowned animals, including liability, acceptable standards of care, even anesthetic drug protocols. However, many veterinarians report an interest in providing services to help manage community cat populations. One way to help bridge that gap is to provide the training and experience that will make these vets more comfortable. Organize a MASH-style, S/N event with an organization such as Animal Balance that organizes and runs pop-up (or even regularly scheduled) S/N clinics. Invite local vets to participate for some or all of the event so they can see what the care looks like and realize that these events can safely provide care to dozens or hundreds of cats in single day, while maintaining high standards of care. Once you get some local vets on board, you might have more luck recruiting them to provide services on a more regular basis.

I also feel like corporate-owned practices need to be encouraged (or strong-armed) to participate meaningfully in solving access-to-care issues, instead of pretending like it has nothing to do with them and offering annual care packages or pet insurance is adequate. Why shouldn't Banfield or VCA fund training in HQHVSN for their veterinarians that express interest and set-up low-cost or free clinics or MASH-style events, subsidized by their highly profitable traditional practices and leveraging their purchasing agreements with veterinary supply distributors? The corporate practice model is ideally positioned to be a key aspect of addressing access-to-care as each clinic doesn't have to be profitable...they could operate low- or no-cost clinics subsidized by profitable hospitals and then use the good they're doing to promote what good guys they are :) Animal welfare stakeholders should be approaching corporate practices on a local, regional and national basis to ask them to participate in a more productive way.

Just some thoughts,

Rachel

I work with a non profit in western Maryland. There is not a veterinarian in this county who will work with us on low cost spay / neuter. Currently we are transporting community cats to other counties / states because in county rates are unaffordable. We are willing to pay for services. How can we encourage vets in the area to work with us? I understand that everything costs. However the community cat population is out of control which is bad for everyone. How can we find a solution that works for everyone? Not trying in any way to disparage the veterinarians BTW. I know it's a difficult job. I'm trying to find a community solution for a growing issue. Thanks for your help.