Monday, August 02, 2010
Alter your pet, not your wallet size
Empty syringes are ready for the clinic's first day of business on Aug. 11.
Photos by Michael Shroyer | Special to The Roanoke Times
Executive director Kelly Cass checks e-mail at the spay and neuter clinic.
Dr. Meghan Byrnes puts a prepared surgical pack in an autoclave machine to sterilize it.
Head veterinarian Dr. Meghan Byrnes (left) discusses organizational plans for the operating room with executive director Kelly Cass. Mountain View Humane Waldron-Ricci Spay/Neuter Clinic in Christiansburg will offer low-cost spay and neuter services beginning Aug. 11.
Nona Nelson, The Happy Wag
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CHRISTIANSBURG -- If there is one thing I have learned while blogging and writing about pets for the past three years, it's that there are too many homeless animals and not enough good homes.
Shelters and rescue groups scramble to raise the funds needed to house and feed stray and abandoned dogs and cats and barely are able to keep up with the demand.
A clinic opening in the New River Valley on Aug. 11 aims to reduce the number of animals facing life -- and perhaps an untimely death -- in shelters by reducing the number that are conceived.
Mountain View Humane's Waldron-Ricci Spay Neuter Clinic, a nonprofit clinic in downtown Christiansburg, plans to offer low-cost spay and neuter surgeries for cats and dogs.
A need in New River
Executive Director Kelly Cass said the 4,000-square-foot facility on West Main Street will fill a void of service between similar clinics in the Roanoke area (Angels of Assisi and Planned Pethood) and Bristol (Margaret B. Mitchell Spay/Neuter Clinic).
"There was a crying need in the New River Valley," Bill Watson, executive director of the Roanoke Valley SPCA said.
The RVSPCA is a partner in the new venture, along with the Humane Societies of Montgomery, Wythe and Floyd counties and the Montgomery County Friends of Animal Care & Control.
"Christiansburg was the natural choice," Cass said of the clinic's location, because of its easy access from Interstate 81 and U.S. 460.
The all-volunteer support group for Montgomery County's pound now adopts dogs to people with a written agreement that the animal will be altered within 30 days or upon reaching the age of 6 months.
"Our goal is that no dog is adopted that is not altered," Jason Shelton, president of the Montgomery County Friends group, said.
However, he added, animal control officers often lack the time to make follow-up visits to ensure the adopted pets have indeed been fixed.
The plan, Shelton said, is to have all adoptees from the Montgomery County pound sent to Mountain View Humane for surgery before they go home with their families.
He hopes the clinic will help cats in the county, because the pound does not take in stray or abandoned kitties.
"Certainly, we will look at felines because obviously we have cat problems here," he said.
Added benefits
Once Mountain View Humane is open, Cass said the clinic's medical director, Meghan Byrnes, a staff of part-time veterinarians and a rotation of veterinary students from Virginia Tech will be able to perform 70 to 75 surgeries each day.
Byrnes said that spaying or neutering a pet not only prevents unwanted offspring, but it also improves the animal's overall health.
"Spaying dramatically decreases mammary tumors," Byrnes said. "It also decreases ovarian cancer and uterine infections."
She said there is no truth in the prevalent myth that female cats and dogs should have at least one heat and one litter before spaying.
For males, neutering not only reduces the chances of testicular cancer and prostate problems, but Byrnes said it also can help deter unwanted behavior, such as humping and aggression.
And it can prevent life-threatening injury, too.
"Un-neutered males have the highest risk of being hit by a car, because they are determined to find a female," she said.
Tours will be available
Cass said Mountain View Humane also will aim to educate folks on the importance of spaying and neutering.
She said a conference room in the clinic will have a viewing window into the surgical suite, so "everyone from the Girl Scouts to the Ruritans" can tour the facility, see the actual procedures and learn more about pet population control.
"The other big goal is to help people get into a vet's office for the first time," she said.
While a rabies vaccination will be offered at the time of surgery, the clinic will not offer other medical services. Cass said some vets in Christiansburg have offered to do free incision checks for clients of Mountain View Humane so pet owners will get regular medical care for their pets.
An ounce of prevention
Thousands of animals, many younger than 6 months old, are euthanized in pounds each year in Southwest Virginia because of lack of space at shelters and a shortage of families willing to adopt, Watson said.
In addition to serving families in Southwest Virginia, Cass said she's already received calls for appointments from pet owners in West Virginia and North Carolina. The clinic's services are priced to be affordable for low-income families, but Cass said proof of income is not required.
"What we really want to do is tackle this on a regional scale," Shelton said.
There are just too many kittens and pups and not enough space.
"The solution is education and responsible pet ownership," Watson said. "We are hoping with this effort we can truly make a difference in the inflow of these young animals whose only mistake was being born."
Nona Nelson's column runs every other Monday in Extra.
