As the local animal shelter expands its public offerings to include some veterinary services, it has also launched local rabies vaccine and spay/neuter clinics.
Area resident Luba Ward brought her beagle Nibby to Georgian Triangle Humane Society for a rabies vaccination during a clinic on Monday (July 20).
The mother of three has been off work since the start of the pandemic. Her husband is the single income earner now, so she said having a clinic option like this has been a relief.
Sonya Reichel, executive director of GTHS, said the recent offerings from the shelter’s animal shelter are designed to help pets and people in all kinds of situations.
With support from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, they’ve been able to launch rabies vaccine clinics once a month, with the clinic on July 20 being the first one.
The vaccine and microchip clinics are open to the general public and offer the rabies vaccine for $20 per pet and/or a microchip for $25 (donated by 24PetWatch).
GTHS was offering spay/neuter clinics via a mobile unit in various locations throughout the communities it serves, but due to COVID they’ve had to relocate to the Collingwood shelter.
For the last five weeks, the shelter has reserved Thursdays in its animal hospital for spay and neuter surgeries for pets owned by people who are financially limited or in crisis, and otherwise unable to get their pet spayed or neutered.
“We were unable to run mobile clinics due to COVID, but simultaneously the need in the community was overwhelming,” said Reichel.
Lauren Parr, program coordinator and fielder of calls at GTHS, said she’s had 15 calls a day from people hoping to get their pet into the weekly spay/neuter clinics.
She said some people have veterinary relationships, but the one-time cost of the surgery is not possible in their financial situation.
Parr noted the surgery can cost between $400 and $600 for a cat and between $400 and $1,000 for a dog.
There is still a fee for the surgery at GTHS Animal Hospital, but it’s between $75 and $85 for a cat and between $150 and $190 for a dog.
“We’re not trying to take business away from local vets,” said Reichel. “We’re trying to take proactive action to prevent pet overpopulation.”
Parr reiterated there is a clear need in the area for the subsidized clinics. The only one that used to be available in the area was through the Ontario Barrie OSPCA, and the waitlist there was a year long.
She said it’s “awesome” to be able to tell the people calling about spay/neuter clinics that she can help them.
“We’ve had calls like that since I started and the answer was always, ‘sorry, we can’t help you,’” said Parr.
“It’s a final piece of our puzzle,” said Reichel.
Over the past couple of years the GTHS has adopted a focus of keeping pets and people together, and has overhauled many of its services and programs to match this motto.
The rabies vaccine, microchip, and spay/neuter clinics are part of that effort.
The shelter has also kept a busy pet food pantry program running through the pandemic to support pet owners who have faced financial hardships and need help feeding their pets.
Click here for more on the GTHS services such as emergency boarding for those facing illness or domestic violence and emergency medical assistance for pets.
The rabies vaccine and microchip clinics will happen monthly with future clinics scheduled on August 17 and Sept. 21 by appointment from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The clinics are open to the general public, but you must fill out a booking form to register for an appointment.
24PetWatch has donated the microchips for the program, and there is a further fee to register your address information with 24PetWatch for microchip identification.
The GTHS Animal Hospital spay/neuter days are Thursdays, but the shelter has also reserved four Thursdays this summer as cat neuter days.
Parr said reserving days for cat surgeries only allows the hospital to be more efficient in completing more surgeries in a short time frame.
Today, the first of the four, the shelter’s animal hospital staff completed 43 cat spay/neuter surgeries. Future cat neuter days will be July 30, August 20, and August 27. You can find the online registration information here.
