Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-03-2025 02:39 PM

    How do governmental shelters get vet care?  One of our partners that was doing low cost spay/neuter for shelter animals has stopped making it available. How in the world do other organizations pay for a vet? Our intake is well over 4000 animals annually and even with some grant money, there is no way we can now get these animals S/N before adoption. We are going to have to go back to a voucher system which doesn't come anywhere close to covering the cost for adopters to get it done. We have no low cost S/N anywhere close to our organization. We know that the percentage of pets being altered after adoption was only about 50% about 10 years ago and its much more expensive now.  We are heartbroken knowing that some of these animals will be reproducing.  Because we are a special service district (open admission), and the budget is very tight. Do you have any suggestions or constructive advice on how your organization actually got enough funding to get this done?


    #Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

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    Carrie Ward
    South Utah Valley Animal Services Special Service District
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  • 2.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-04-2025 12:00 AM

    We are a different kind of organization, but maybe this will give you some ideas.
    Basically, I will go anywhere to get a cat fixed. I live on an island with limited resources, so we have to be creative.
    We have one low-cost s/n clinic we work with, and two that are donation based. The donation-based do HUGE clinics and have expanded. I am eternally grateful for the relationship we have developed - many of our volunteers also volunteer there, and they allot us a set number of appointments each clinic.  We take many animals from our county's open admission shelter, as fosters, and the County has agreed to pay for the surgeries through an agreement with those clinics - they bill them directly.  Any animals we take outside our county facility we give a donation for.
    Perhaps an organization like Good Fix/Great Good might be able to connect you?

    We rarely use a regular vet. They are just too expensive. 

    At a minimum I am driving 45 minutes each way (usually roundtrip to dropoff, then again to pickup), I've been known to drive 2 hours each way to get cats fixed. Again, extremely grateful for these resources but there are basically never enough - the animals just keep coming!



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    Lucretia Worster
    Foster Mentor/Treasurer
    Action 4 Animals Hawaii
    HI
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  • 3.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-04-2025 06:07 AM

    The county shelter our organization supports had a budget for hiring a vet that was about half the salary a vet would require.  For years they could not get a vet to accept it.  They finally managed to hire a part-time vet (who also works at a private clinic) and it has made a world of difference for the animals there.



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    Jenni Ritchie
    Shelter Pet Safety Net
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  • 4.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-04-2025 11:54 AM

    So I have been wondering why vet students are not recruited by "real" vets to train in the art of S/N and gain credited for this experience by applying it towards their degree requirements.

    Human med students actively participate inn clinics, hospitals shelters, etc as part of their training.  Maybe vet schools should stop killing live animals and using dead animals for educational experience. No one has ever been able to answer this Q, I must be missing something, I'd just like to know what???



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    Carolyn Kostera
    NA
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-06-2025 09:02 AM

    Do you have a College of Veterinary Medicine in your state?  Both Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University work with shelters to provide very low cost spay/neuters and training for their students.  



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    Kingman County Humane Society
    director
    Kingman County Humane Society
    KS
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-07-2025 07:10 AM

    That would be wonderful! The state will be starting one but its several years away from happening. I would hope that they are going to promote shelter vet programs, but we can just cross our fingers. In the meantime, these animals will be reproducing...



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    Carrie Ward
    South Utah Valley Animal Services Special Service District
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-07-2025 07:07 AM

    Carolyn, I have wondered the same thing! To be a Doctor, they must do so many hours in a free or low cost clinic so why not veterinarians? The animals that come to us are in great need of spay/neuter and vaccinations. We have been able to do the vaccinations through grant money and some medical care. If we spay/neutered every animal that is adopted, that would add over $600,000 to our Budget!!! Our District just can't do that. These are not "owned" pets, but the vets in our area do not do "low cost" for anything!



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    Carrie Ward
    South Utah Valley Animal Services Special Service District
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-07-2025 07:00 AM

    Yes Jenni, we have had the same issue. We put out an RFP years ago and didn't get one response.  With the lack of spay/neuter (low cost) in this nation, we are experiencing an animal population explosion! I am not a huge believer in governmental intervention, but until the states and county leadership get involved it will continue to grow at an alarming rate. Breeders are allowed to breed and sell with no regulation and everyone is breeding their "doodle" whatever thinking they will make money. They are coming into the shelters and being abandoned at alarming rates! I wish I had an answer for this problem. 



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    Carrie Ward
    South Utah Valley Animal Services Special Service District
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-07-2025 02:45 AM

    We travel once a month with a van full of dogs or cats to a low cost clinic 2 hours away.  It's hard on the animals and the driver.

    The local low cost clinic lost their vet in 2018 and haven't been able to replace her.  I have seen dog and cat population creep back up annually since she left.  It is heartbreaking and frustrating. 



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    Amber Dennison
    Board of Directors, President
    Humane Society of the Ohio Valley
    Marietta, OH
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  • 10.  RE: Shelter Veterinarian

    Posted 07-07-2025 07:19 AM

    Amber, yes transporting animals can be hard on the driver and the pets. We do have a van to transport 8 dogs and up to 20 cats at a time but we have to have the money to pay for the surgeries.  We seem to be the forgotten step-child for every city in our District, we seem to be an afterthought. We serve 11 cities and the county area but can't seem to get the funding we really need. I have been applying for grant money, but as a governmental organization the funding we can apply for is very limited.  501(c)3's are actually in a better place for funding. Its seems that every grant I read is available only to those organizations. 



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    Carrie Ward
    South Utah Valley Animal Services Special Service District
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    Original Message


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