 |
No More Homeless Pets Forum
February 16, 2004 Getting Vets Involved |
Dr. Leslie Appel of Shelter Outreach Services will answer your questions about communicating with veterinarians. How can you talk to your vet about doing juvenile spay/neuter? Or feral cats? How can you create more harmonious relations between your group and the vets in your community?
Introduction from Dr. Appel:
Are you the member of a canine or feline rescue group?Do you work or volunteer at your local shelter?
Are you involved with an animal sanctuary?
Do you work with feral cats?
Are you a volunteer in your community who wants to help animals?
Are you interested in pediatric spay/neuter?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you have something in common with your local veterinarian: the common goal of ending companion animal overpopulation.
We all want to provide the highest quality care to companion animals, and ensure their humane treatment. However, we are also so busy in our daily lives and can get so caught up in our specific initiatives that we can have trouble working together.
If you have questions about how to work collaboratively with your local veterinarians, please join the forum and let me know how I can help advise you. We all have an important role to play in the humane treatment of animals, and together we can make a difference. After all, we are all in this together.
Questions
Convincing vets that pediatric spay/neuter is safe
Finding times to meet with busy veterinarians
When vets refuse to lower their prices for shelters
When a few vets badmouth a program
Starting a spay/neuter program from nothing
Do vet schools teach shelter medicine?
Our focus is spay/neuter but animals come in with untreated issues
Covering volunteer vets at our spay/neuter clinic from liability
How do you create a sterile area for surgery in MASH settings?
Getting people to your spay/neuter program
The vet on our board doesn't support some programs we want to do
How to get vets accepting of a voucher program
Building partnerships with vets to promote spay/neuter, behavioral services
Getting vet students in residency to help at a shelter
Forming partnerships with vet and vet tech schools
Convincing vets that pediatric spay/neuter is safe
Question from a member:
We have only one vet in our community that performs juvenile spay/neuter and the county shelter uses this vet for all spay-neuter surgeries on adopted animals. Most of the rescue groups and all of the other vets in our community are very much against juvenile spay/neuter. There have been a number of cases where very young animals have died from the anesthesia and most females develop hernias from early spaying. How do you address these issues?Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your question; Pediatric Spay/Neuter is an important issue for all shelters and rescue groups. Pediatric spay/neuter is safe and effective. The key in your community is going to be to educate everyone involved that these procedures are safe, effective, and necessary in the shelter community. I suggest that you try to do this in two steps. One, first you must educate and convince the local veterinarians that these procedures are safe and easy to do. Then two, you can educate the local shelters, rescue groups, and humane organizations that Pediatric Spay/Neuter is safe and is supported by your local veterinary community.Although this sounds straightforward, I realize this will be a challenge to do.
For many years in veterinary colleges, students were taught that animals should be spayed/neutered at 6 months to 1 year of age. As with anything, people are comfortable doing what they learn and have done in the past. So, some veterinarians may be hesitant to perform pediatric spay/neuter surgeries because they did not learn these techniques in school, and have also done thousands of sterilization surgeries on older animals without problems. However, pediatric spay/neuter really is not new (there have been reports in the literature of these procedures being done over 30 years ago), and it is now being taught and discussed at most veterinary colleges.
My suggestion for you would be to organize a Pediatric Spay/Neuter Continuing Education event for your local veterinarians. This event should consist of a lecture followed by a wet lab, and should be taught by a veterinarian from outside your community who has done thousands of these procedures. Is your community near a college of veterinary medicine? If so, you should use the college as a valuable resource. For example, several years ago we held a continuing education event at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine for practitioners to learn about Pediatric Spay/Neuter. We gave a lecture about the procedures, and then followed this with a wet lab where each veterinarian had the chance to perform anesthesia and surgery on female puppies and kittens and male puppies and kittens. We limited this event to 10 veterinarians, because each needed to do 4 cases (puppy spay, kitten spay, puppy neuter, kitten neuter), which meant that we had to have 40 animals. The puppies and kittens all came from local shelters and then went back to be adopted. After the wet lab, there was a follow up discussion. This one-day event was a great deal of work, but was also worthwhile. The 10 veterinarians came from several different areas, and after the event all were comfortable and capable to perform these procedures.
For the veterinarians in my own area, I know that they continue to safely and effectively perform pediatric spay/neuter without complications. Another option, if you do not have easy access to a veterinary college, is to approach the local VMA (Veterinary Medical Association) about holding a continuing education event. Your local veterinarian can tell you the contact information for your local VMA. A wet lab is a great deal of work, but even just having a continuing education lecture on the topic will be helpful. Pediatric spay/neuter is well within the abilities of veterinary practitioners. Also, pediatric spay/neuter is a common lecture topic at many national meetings as well.
After you have several veterinarians on board about Pediatric spay/neuter, then you can educate the rescue groups, shelters, and humane organizations. The best way to convince these groups is by showing them that the procedures are safe and effective. So, once several veterinarians are performing these procedures safely and effectively, the groups will see that Pediatric spay/neuter is safe. Holding a meeting for these groups would also be a good idea. You can have a speaker from outside your community come and discuss the topic, or you can have a veterinarian from within your community present the topic.
Finally, as long as specific anesthetic and surgical techniques are used for the pediatric patient, these procedures can be performed safely. Also, the surgery is usually faster, easier, and less expensive, and there are usually fewer post-op complications. Also, the recovery and healing times are typically shorter in the pediatric patient.
There are many articles in the literature about Pediatric Spay/Neuter. There is also a new textbook coming out at the end of June 2004 called Shelter Medicine for Veterinarians and Staff. I highly recommend this book. There is a thorough section on Pediatric Spay/Neuter with a large reference list. The textbook also covers many other important issues in shelter medicine. Below I will put some good references about Pediatric Spay/Neuter, so you can get started in educating your community about this topic.
Pediatric Spay/Neuter
Selected References
Aronsohn, Michael G. and Alicia M. Faggella. 1993. Surgical techniques for neutering 6- to 14-week-old kittens. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 202(1):53-55.
Faggella, Alicia M. and Michael G. Aronsohn. 1993. Anesthetic techniques for neutering 6- to 14-week-old kittens. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 202(1):56-62.
Faggella, Alicia M. and Michael G. Aronsohn. 1994. Evaluation of anesthetic protocols for neutering 6- to 14-week-old pups. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 205(2):308-314.
Grandy, Jacqueline L. and Colin I. Dunlop. 1991. Anesthesia of pups and kittens. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 198(7):1244-1249.
Howe, Lisa M., Margaret R. Slater, Harry W. Boothe, H. Phil Hobson, Theresa W. Fossum, Angela C. Spann, and W. Scott Wilkie. 2000. Long-term outcome of gonadectomy performed at an early age or traditional age in cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 217(11):1661-1665.
Howe, Lisa M., Margaret R. Slater, Harry W. Boothe, H. Phil Hobson, Jennifer L.
Holcom, and Angela C. Spann. 2001. Long-term outcome of gonadectomy performed at an early age or traditional age in dogs. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 218(2):217-221.
Root Kustritz, Margaret V. 1999. Early spay-neuter in the dog and cat. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice 29(4):935-943.
Salmeri, Katharine R., Mark S. Bloomberg, Sherry L Scruggs, and Victor Shille. 1991. Gonadectomy in immature dogs: Effects on skeletal, physical, and behavioral development. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 198(7):1193-1203.
Stubbs, W. Preston, Mark S. Bloomberg, Sherry L. Scruggs, Victor M. Shille, and Thomas J. Lane. 1996. Effects of prepuberal gonadectomy on physical and behavioral development in cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 209(11): 1864-1871.
W. Preston Stubbs, Katharine R. Salmeri, and Mark S. Bloomberg. 1995. "Early Neutering of the Dog and Cat." In Kirk's Current Veterinary Therapy XII, edited by John D. Bonagura, pp. 1037-1040. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company.
Theran, Peter. 1993. Early-age neutering of dogs and cats. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 202(6):914-917.
Comment from Pam with AVAR:
We (Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights) have a video on Early Age Neutering, which we produced in conjunction with UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The video includes a demonstration of an early age spay and an early age neuter on both a kitten and a puppy. We use it as part of a training seminar on early age sterilization that we offer to veterinarians. Thought you might be interested in this research since Dr. Appel talked about training opportunities in one of her questions earlier this week. For more information on the video, please contact me at pam@avar.org. Thanks!Comment from Julie:
In addition to the great references that Dr Appel shared, folks might be interested in a 2002 report about practicing veterinarians in New York who were surveyed about their beliefs and practices regarding the age at which dogs and cats should be neutered."When to Neuter Dogs and Cats: A Survey of New York State Veterinarians_ Practices and Beliefs" ; Spain et al. J Am Anim Hosp Assoc.2002; 38: 482-488.
This report is unique, in that it examines what vets themselves are thinking about pediatric spay/neuter. There are several instances where the survey uncovered beliefs that are at odds with current findings. As an example, the report identifies lower urinary tract disease in cats (FLUTD) as one of the most common medical concerns of pediatric spay/neuter, and then points out a long term study that discounts that particular concern. The article also discusses the response rate from surveyed veterinarians and compares that to other studies, which might be helpful to folks who are conducting surveys of their own community vets.
An abstract is available. Go to jaaha.org, and then search the archives. Full text reprints were freely downloadable the last time I visited this site, but it seems that is no longer the case.
Finding times to meet with busy veterinarians
Question from a member:
We have several veterinarians in our area who we think would be interested in getting more involved with our group, but our challenge is getting them to attend our functions. They are all extremely busy, and it's difficult for us to convince them to attend our meetings, conferences, receptions, etc. so they can learn more about us. It's even difficult to get one-on-one meetings with them because their schedules are so busy. Do you have any ideas about an event or meeting we could plan that would appeal to them?Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your question. That is great that you may have several veterinarians in your area who are interested in helping your group. Also, you are right that their schedules are so busy that they probably have trouble making it to your meetings. My suggestion would be to do something that won't add time to their already long days. For example, try to set up a lunch meeting at the veterinarian's practice. Ask if you can show up at the time he/she usually takes lunch, and be sure to tell the veterinarian that you would like to bring the lunch as well. That way, they can meet with you while also eating lunch, and that won't add time at the end of the day. I realize that this will be more work for your group, because you will have to meet each veterinarian on a one-to-one basis, but then once the veterinarians commit to helping your group, you can schedule a group meeting in the future.Another time slot that seems to work for some veterinarians is the early morning/breakfast time slot. So, you could offer to come to his/her practice early in the morning, before the clinic day starts, and provide breakfast. Most veterinarians are so tired by the end of the day that they do not like to attend extra evening meetings or receptions. Also, most try to protect any weekend or "down time" they may have, so I think it would be best for you to try to meet with your local veterinarians during their workdays, at their practices. Finally, one other option would be for you to ask if representatives from your group can attend the local VMA (Veterinary Medical Association) meeting and give a short presentation about your group. Most local VMAs have monthly meetings (or every other month or so) where business items are discussed followed by a continuing education lecture. Your local veterinarian can give you the contact information for the local VMA. The advantage of this would be that many of the local veterinarians would all be there, so you could talk to many veterinarians at once. However, I actually think it is better to meet one-on-one with each veterinarian to start. Then you will secure your supporters, which can help at a group meeting in the future.
Good luck, I know you will be able to find a time to meet with your local veterinarians.
When vets refuse to lower their prices for shelters
Question from Judy:
When our shelter had the chance to get a grant for spay/neuter, and asked our local vets for reduced charges than what they were giving us, they actually increased their fees for our group and for the shelter. This was a blow, but they explained it to us as being their "cost". They all got together and agreed to give us the same rate so we can't even try to get a lower rate from one of them. We were not able to get that grant.We now have a chance to get a different grant for early spay/neuter and I must contact them to see if they will cooperate by giving us a "deal". It would not be for all their clients but just for the early spay/neuters that come through our organization - that is, the shelter animals. There will not be many because our previous spay/neuter efforts have been highly successful and we rarely have puppies or kittens, but when we do, we want to get them taken care of before they are adopted. I dread the meeting we will have because I am going to hear them say that they can't afford to do it for less, and that they are in this to make money just like everyone else.
Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your email. It sounds like there is a history of bad feelings between your shelter and the local veterinarians. Many communities share histories that include frustration about shelter issues and there has often been conflict between shelters, other rescue groups, and even veterinarians. The most important thing now is to move on in a positive way. We all need to remember that we have the same goal of ending companion animal over-population, and providing quality care to animals in need. Instead of feeling "dread" about meeting with the local veterinarians, try to come up with new ideas and feel positive going into any meeting. Also, it might help both groups for each to try to understand what the other faces on a daily basis.While your shelter has the enormous challenges of taking care of hundreds or even thousands of stray animals, veterinarians have the challenges of providing quality veterinary care while paying off high veterinary college loans as well as the financial stress of running a practice. When I was a new graduate, I had no idea how much it cost to buy suture material, or turn on the lights at the clinic, or pay for business insurance, or buy antibiotics, etc... I thought we should help every animal even if the people could not afford to do so. I have learned over the years that there is a cost to veterinary medicine. Most veterinarians come out of veterinary college with thousands of dollars in school loans. If a veterinarian cannot earn a decent living, and leaves the field of veterinary medicine, then no one will benefit if practices shut down, not the veterinarian, not the client, and certainly not the animals.
I am not on any "side", I only hope to make your group understand what issues face many veterinarians. Most people go to veterinary school because they truly want to help animals. I think if we all remember that we are on the same side, the side to help animals in need, we can then accomplish so much more....
Going back to your situation, maybe the most effective way for your shelter to proceed would be to approach individual veterinarians instead of having a group meeting. In every community, there are many veterinarians. Some have a bigger interest in shelter medicine then others. If you can identify a few veterinarians who are interested in shelter medicine, you may be able to get much more accomplished for your shelter. You can do this by word of mouth, ask around about which veterinarians have an interest in shelter medicine. You can ask your shelter staff about which veterinarians they use for their own pets, and even ask which veterinarians your adopters see for their animals.
Also, I think it is always easier to explain your needs during a one-on-one meeting. Once you identify your supporters, having a group meeting will be easier. Also, when you talk to veterinarians, I suggest that you don't focus on the veterinarian giving you "a deal". Instead, talk about ways you can help the veterinarian provide the necessary service at a cost that your shelter can handle. For example, your group can offer to buy lunch for the veterinary staff after they help your shelter by doing spay/neuter that day. Another idea is to have a "thank you note" go home with every new puppy or kitten letting the new adopter know which veterinarian provided the spay/neuter service. This will give positive advertising to the veterinarian who helped your shelter.
Another idea is to come up with ways that the veterinarian can help your shelter without reducing fees from his/her practice. For example, do you have a place at your shelter where surgery can be performed? Many shelters have veterinarians perform surgery at the shelter itself. Can your shelter set up a surgery room? If so, can you ask local veterinarians to perform surgery there? This is an expensive option, because initially you will need to obtain capital equipment, for example, an anesthesia machine, surgery light, surgery table, etc. But, much of this equipment can be obtained from donations or even grants. Once this is set up, it can be used for many years to come. Along this line of thinking, another idea is for your shelter to hire a veterinarian on either a full or part-time basis. If you consider this option of having a veterinarian do surgery at your shelter, be sure to work closely with a veterinarian in the planning stages. There are many things to be considered, such as where to induce and recover the animals, where to buy suture, where to purchase the drugs and surgical instruments, etc.
Also, is your shelter near a veterinary school? If so, many veterinary schools provide no cost spay/neuter services for shelter animals so that the students can learn to do these procedures. This is a win-win situation, as the students learn in a well supervised environment, and the shelter animals are spayed/neutered prior to adoption.
In our community, we have a non-profit corporation that employs a veterinarian to travel and work with local shelters to perform subsidized, high volume spay/neuter for shelter dogs and cats, barn cats, feral cats, dogs and cats from rescue groups, and dogs and cats from families of low income. This program is very careful not to provide these services to people who can afford veterinary care, and focuses on animals who would not otherwise receive veterinary services.
This program enhances the work of local veterinarians because they can proceed with their daily clinic responsibilities, and the low-income public is also educated about the importance of veterinary care. While a person might not be able to afford a spay for his/her dog, after the spay is done at a subsidized cost, that person may be able to see a local veterinarian to treat ear disease for example. Also, with this program, all animals can be spayed/neutered prior to being adopted out of the shelters.
Finally, most veterinarians want to help when and where they can. So, if you are working with a group of veterinarians, maybe they each can provide one or two spots a month to spay/neuter a shelter dog or cat (or puppy or kitten) at a special shelter rate. If they agree to do this, be sure to thank them. I am sure your group already does thank the veterinarians, but I have found that people are more likely to help if they feel greatly appreciated. Another idea would be to make a plaque for each veterinarian to place in his/her waiting room that says that he/she supports the local shelter. Any positive publicity that a veterinarian can get from the shelter is a way for your shelter to help the veterinarian in exchange for that veterinarian helping your group.
Best wishes for your shelter to gain a positive working relationship with your local veterinarians. Although this can be challenging, I am sure you can find an option that will work in your community.
Comment from a member:
Our group had the same problem in finding vets to work with us and our budget. We were referred to a local vet who helped out other rescue minded folks and he agreed to perform spay/neuter for the same price he was giving the shelter. We told him at the time that we would refer people to him... but I don't think that he believed us. We have put his cards on our table at adoptions, put them in the adoption packets and tell all of our volunteers to refer people to him. When we refer folks, we ask that they tell him that our group referred them to his practice. It's been about a year since we started doing this and he still is helping us out. We also heard that his wife doesn't really "like" us any more.In the past year, his regular paying clientele has increased by 50% and now he's not at home as much as he used to be. I would think that if all rescue groups tried to help the vets that help them, that maybe more vets would be willing to help. We still haven't gotten any other vets on board and now are worried that he maybe has too much business, but I don't think that he will be canceling our agreement any time soon. Oh, we are also going to start taking thank you cookies/snacks to the clinic and to PetCo (where we do adoptions) once a month as a way of saying thanks to his employees for putting up with us.
When a few vets badmouth a program
Question from Jill:
We are a 501 (c)(3) that is running a spay/neuter clinic for owned and unowned cats in low-income areas. We decided to stick to ferals and low income so that we wouldn't upset the local vets. From the majority of vets we get a wonderful response and they are very supportive. They volunteer their time at our clinics to spay/neuter for us at no cost to us.However, there are a few vets who will not volunteer at our clinics who are constantly badmouthing the program because we don't test for FeLV/FIV and because they feel we are not doing "high quality" surgeries because we are doing high volume. We strive to make sure we have high quality and don't' want the word spreading that we don't because of a few people who have never even seen our clinic or talked to us about our protocols. Any suggestions?
Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your email. I am happy to hear that you already have a great working relationship with the majority of veterinarians in your community. I am sorry to hear that you think a few veterinarians are trying to badmouth your program. My biggest suggestion to you would be to just focus on all the positive things you are doing, and focus on working with the many veterinarians who are on-board with you. Don't worry about what a few in the minority might say. Your good work at the clinics will speak for itself. I know this is easy to say and hard to do, but I know from experience that you will do more for your program by promoting the positive and not worrying about anything negative. We have a high volume (100 cases per week), subsidized spay/neuter program here. I mostly hear positive comments about the program, but on occasion, I have heard of a few negative things being said. In the past, I have tried to change opinions, but it can be frustrating, and honestly not worth the time or energy. I absolutely know that our program provides the highest quality veterinary care, and our work speaks for itself. Over time, this has been shown to be true, and I no longer waste my efforts on things that can't be changed, instead I continue to focus on the good work we are doing.If you feel compelled to do something, I would suggest calling the veterinarians that you think are badmouthing your program. But don't call in a way that is accusing them of anything, instead call to introduce yourself and talk to them about your program. I have found in the past that once I have personally spoken to any veterinarian who may not be supportive of my subsidized, high volume s/n work, that "clears the air", and I am able to explain the facts myself. I would then follow up with a short letter that includes a handout about your program. You can include the high quality protocols used, as well as the names of supportive veterinarians. You can even discuss issues that you know may be of concern, such as why you don't FeLV/FIV test. (I agree with your group by the way. FeLV/FIV testing is controversial in most shelter and feral cat settings. FeLV/FIV diseases occur in less than 5% of the cat population. Some people say these diseases occur in less than 3% of the cat population. Either way, this is a very small percentage. My personal opinion is that it is much more effective to use your financial resources to actually perform more s/n surgeries, then to spend the limited funds on FeLV/FIV testing.
Also, by performing s/n surgeries, your group is actually reducing the incidence of these diseases as well, since the females will be spayed, and not pass on FeLV to babies, and the males will be neutered, and less likely to fight and pass on infectious diseases. Also, whenever any medical test is done, you have to have a plan for whatever result you get. So, for example, if you get an FeLV + cat, what will you do? Some may suggest euthanasia. But the ideal is to isolate and retest in one month. Isolation and retesting is not reasonable in many feral cat and shelter situations. Some evidence suggests that 1/3 of FeLV positive cats can seroconvert to be negative, so some will argue against euthanasia based on the result of one test. The only thing that is clear about FeLV/FIV testing is that it is not clear and straightforward. There are many things to consider. You probably know all this, and have made an educated decision not to test in your situation.
For more supportive evidence for your position, you can go to the Cornell Feline Health Center website, as well as other feral cat websites. Best Friends has also recently had a forum about feral cats, I am sure much of this was discussed there too).
Going back to your question, another suggestion would be to pursue positive publicity and get accurate information out there about your program. We routinely do this here using the media. There have been articles about our program in local papers and in editorials. A local TV station has also done a short story on our program. This not only gets positive and accurate information out there about our program, but also gets the information out to people who need to use our services to help their animals. (Our program provides s/n services for animals from families of low income, in addition to shelter dogs and cats, barn cats, feral cats, and dogs and cats from rescue groups).
Finally, I suggest that you have an "open door" policy. We invite anyone interested to attend our clinics, and see what we do. I would gladly welcome both people who are supporters, as well as people who are critics. The supporters are easy, they are there to help. I think it is great if any critics want to come and see our good work for themselves. I would encourage you to invite any veterinarian that has concerns to come and see the high quality service you are providing.
Hang in there through these little rough spots, I can tell from your email that you are making a difference in your community.
Starting a spay/neuter program from nothing
Question from Janet:
I saw you in Philadelphia at the No More Homeless Pets conference and was very impressed with your program where you travel to different shelters and do the surgeries on-site. Could you talk about how you got the shelters to build a surgery suite for you to do surgeries, how much it cost and what supplies you needed them to get, and how you went about doing it? We would love to do something similar with the shelters in our region where we found a vet willing to do that but aren't sure where to start.Response from Leslie:
Thanks for the e-mail. I am glad you have an interest in setting up a program similar to our program in your own area. Your questions are both simple and complicated, as there is so much to talk about when considering starting a new program! Our program is called Shelter Outreach Services (SOS). We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. We travel from county to county, shelter to shelter, and provide high volume, subsidized spay/neuter services for shelter dogs and cats, barn cats, feral cats, dogs and cats from rescue groups, and dogs and cats from families of low income. SOS also provides consultation for the area shelters about sick animals, behavior issues, infectious disease control, and any other shelter issue that needs to be addressed.What is most important about our program is that SOS works WITH the local shelters and humane organization to provide the much needed services. Another benefit to our program is that the shelters from neighboring counties are now all working together for the common goal of ending companion animal over-population. By working together on this important issue, the shelters and humane organizations and rescue groups have gotten to know each other, and can help each other with other common situations as well.
To set up a similar program in your area, you need a licensed veterinarian, a licensed veterinary technician, a veterinary assistant to clean the instruments and do the laundry and autoclave the packs, and of course you need the necessary veterinary equipment and also you need cooperation among local shelters, humane societies and rescue groups. Before I go into some details, I welcome you and anyone else from your group to come and visit our program, and see first-hand how SOS works. I also welcome any questions from your veterinarian as well. Your veterinarian may also want to come and see how our program works.
We travel with almost all of our equipment from shelter to shelter. SOS is responsible for all the veterinary equipment, while the shelters are responsible for all the other things needed, such as cleaning supplies, towels, cages/carriers, paperwork, food, volunteers to help at the clinics, etc... The shelters do all of the scheduling, and also collect the low fees from the people who qualify for low income. At the end of the day, the shelter writes one check to SOS to cover the cost of the daily surgeries. Do you have the CD from the Best Friends conference? On that CD I gave a handout that includes our Mission and Goals statement, our fee structure, and all of our handouts (including our Intake Form/PE form/Surg report, Waiver, Discharge Instructions, and Neuter Certificate).
The equipment that we travel with includes: 2 anesthesia machines, all related anesthesia equipment (including a pulse oximeter, endotracheal tubes, laryngoscopes), syringes, needles, anesthetic drugs, calculators, eye lube, patient prep solutions, surgical scrub, surgery packs, surgical drapes, sterile gowns and towels, suture material, caps, masks, white tape, roll gauze, leg ties, bowls, other sterile instruments and gauze, non-sterile gauze, anesthesia/drug logs, and other miscellaneous items needed to perform the procedures. At our stationary "home base", we have an autoclave, washer and dryer, double locked drug box, and a supply/storage room.
The good news is that no shelter had to "build a surgery suite". The nice thing about our program is that we can make any situation work. So, at each shelter or facility (one shelter got the local fire station to donate use of their old firehouse for the project, another group rents an old boat factory at a very reasonable rate, another group uses a veterinary clinic donated bi-monthly by a retired veterinarian, while still others use a room at their shelters) we determined which rooms/space would be best for surgery, recovery, intake, etc. Each facility/room was then cleaned appropriately. We leave a "surgery table" at each facility. We only have one real surgery table (donated by a facility that was no longer using it) at one location, all the others were either built by volunteers using wood, or other ready-made tables were put on cinder blocks. We can "adjust" the height as needed for different animals by adding things on top of the table, such as towels. On occasion, I have also stood on wood platforms or newspaper to gain height if needed. There is also a "surgery light" at each facility. Some are actual surgery lights, (others are other bright free-standing lights) obtained from a regional warehouse program called Intervol. Any 501 (c)(3) group is welcomed by Intervol. They have tons of old/used hospital equipment from human hospitals. All goes to third world countries in need, or veterinary-related groups here in the states that help animals. For more info, check out www.intervol.org. I also highly recommend that you contact your local human hospitals. We have received many generous donations from several local medical facilities.
We also were able to write grants and ask for other donations. There is a very generous company called Surgivet that makes veterinary anesthesia machines. They were more than generous and helped us purchase our two machines at an extremely fair price. An anesthesia machine can cost anywhere from $1500-$4000 dollars depending on what you buy. Previously used or demo machines have been the best buys for us. Surgivet makes great machines, in many models. I would only order from them for my anesthesia machine needs in the future. Their # is (800)241-4224. You can then ask for the regional sales rep in your area.
Before I go on in too much more detail, it will be very important for you to do this WITH your veterinarian. The veterinarian should look into ordering all the veterinary equipment, while you can help obtain all the donations and non-veterinary items, such as carriers, cages, towels, etc.
Other big cost items are the surgical instruments and autoclave. We bought our first 20 surgical packs using a generous grant from PETsMART Charities. I think we spent about $6000-$8000 on the instruments, and have since added many more (buying replacements as needed, and getting donations form Intervol, etc.). An autoclave can be purchased new or used, can be large or small, and can vary greatly in price from about $2000 to several thousand dollars. The program called Intervol sometimes also has autoclaves.
After getting the main capital equipment, your program will have to set up accounts with veterinary related companies to purchase the necessary drugs, suture, syringes, needles, etc. You will need a licensed veterinarian to do this, and the veterinarian will also need a DEA license as well. Companies that we work with to order our supplies are Henry Schien (1-800-VSCHEIN) for almost everything (they do have special pricing for shelters, most companies do, you have to ask for it), and we used to order suture through Schering Plough Animal Health, but they no longer have the contract for suture material, the new company handling Ethicon suture is Novartis. Again, you will need to work with your veterinarian to do this, as your veterinarian will have preference for suture types. We also order our portable oxygen (e-tanks) through a company called Lincare, they have a local office in our area. Our local shelters also order some parasite control through Bayer and Pfizer. Again, you will need a veterinarian to set up accounts at the drug companies. There is also a very generous company called SPS Medical in Rochester NY. They have helped us with the peel pouches needed to sterilize instruments in the autoclave. They have very fair pricing.
I hope this answer to your questions is helpful, but there is really so much to talk about, I don't think that I can cover everything needed to start a similar program in one email. Again, I welcome you or any member of your group to come and visit and see SOS in action. SOS takes a great deal of work on our end AND on the part of each local shelter. I think it is important to see how much work each shelter puts into the program. But at the same time, each shelter or humane organization also loves participating in the program, and we all know how worthwhile the hard work is for the animals in our community.
Also, on the CD from the Best Friends Conference, Aimee St. Arnaud provides great resources for where and how to apply for grants and other fundraising ideas as well. The total amount of money needed for your program will be determined by the number of surgeries your group hopes to do each year. In addition to the costs discussed above and the items needed that are mentioned above, your group also must consider salaries for the veterinary staff, health insurance, as well as business insurance and professional liability insurance. We also have accounting and legal costs. I probably use our accountant more than others may, but with all the government paperwork that goes along with a 501 (c)(3), I think it is better to get things right the first time.
Despite this long email, and the hard work needed to make this a reality, what I hope you take out of this answer is that this can be done! I am happy to help your group in any way that I can. You can learn from our mistakes, and follow things that have worked for us. Ultimately you will develop your program into one that works for your community.
Do vet schools teach shelter medicine?
Question from Sue:
You mentioned that a lot of vets are trained a specific way and don't want to change. Are the new vets going through vet school all being taught to do pediatric spay/neuter, and to do surgery on feral cats and about pet overpopulation? It seems like all vet schools should be teaching this. If only a few are doing it then we are still sending out new vets who we will have to convert later.Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your email. I have good news in response to your questions. Yes, most if not almost all, veterinary colleges are now including shelter medicine in their curriculums. The extent of which can vary from college to college, but at least all colleges are now including this area in the education of today's veterinary students. Shelter Medicine is an up and coming area of veterinary medicine, and although this area has been around for over a hundred years, it is also a new and evolving area in our profession. This area does include pediatric spay/neuter, working with feral cats, and issues involving companion animal overpopulation.Also, more good news, there are even some new residency programs in shelter medicine, for graduate veterinarians to pursue further training in this important area.
Our focus is spay/neuter but animals come in with untreated issues
Question from a member:
We are finding that in our program that is targeted to low-income people that the animals are coming in with serious issues like horrible flea bites, earmites, untreated wounds, and other things in need of medical treatment. However, because the people don't have the money, they tell us they can't afford treatment. This puts us in a really awkward situation. We don't want the animals to suffer, but our main focus is spay/neuter only and we are limited in funds. How do you handle this in your program?Dr Leslie Appel's response:
This is a tough question, but a very important one. The situation that you describe above is a common one. Almost all programs that provide spay/neuter services for the animals of the low-income public have to face this issue to some extent. Each program will have to handle this situation in a way that is best for the specific program and community. The main focus of our program is spay/neuter as well. I can tell you how we handle situations like those described above. For us, everything is decided on a case-by-case basis, and we adhere strictly to our mission of providing spay/neuter services for animals from the low-income public, and we also strive to educate the public about the importance of veterinary care and animal stewardship. We, like you and most spay/neuter programs, cannot usually treat other problems that we diagnose in the patients, not only for financial reasons, but also for the reason of limited time.For example, we perform about 25-30 spay/neuter surgeries per day (one vet, one tech). This takes us the entire day. We start by doing physical exams at 8 am, and usually finish surgery and pack up by 6-7p. We are able to do this schedule because we limit our services to spay/neuter and a few related procedures like repair of an umbilical hernia at the time of surgery, cryptorchid surgery, etc. So, for example, if an adult dog comes in for a spay, and mammary gland tumors are found on the physical exam, we cannot/do not perform surgery to remove the mammary gland tumors. We educate the owner/guardian of the dog about the disease, and about our recommendations. We recommend that the person see a veterinarian in the area if and when that person can afford to do so. This is a complicated example, as they all are, since mammary gland tumors can vary greatly in size, number of masses, surgery needed, etc. The prognosis for mammary gland tumors with surgical removal is actually very good most of the time.
There are many examples like this one. Another "rule" that we try to follow is to make sure that the animal does not suffer. For example, today a stray cat was brought into the clinic in a trap. She was not truly feral, but was not a pet either. Someone was feeding her under the family's porch. This cat had severe dental disease, with several rotting, painful teeth. After we anesthetized the animal, I extracted the rotten teeth, and this alone will give the cat great relieve. We then spayed the cat (who had recently had a litter), and sent her home with Clavamox drops in hopes that the person feeding her can give her the antibiotic.
Another good example that you mention above is the animals with fleas or ear mites. In our program, we treat all animals for ear mites if we find this problem when we do our physical exam. A very inexpensive and effective way to treat ear mites is with Ivermectin. This is not costly, and easy to do. One dose of Ivermectin (given SQ) will cure the ear mites in about 99% of the cats, 1% or so will have to be retreated in 2-3 weeks. Most animals will not have a chance for another treatment, but at least most will be helped by this treatment. For fleas, we decide on a case-by-case basis. We cannot afford to treat every animal that has fleas, as we would be treating over 4000 animals each year. However, if an animal has a severe flea infestation, and especially if the animal is at risk for flea-related anemia (very young puppies and kittens are at risk for anemia if they have a severe flea infestation), then we do apply one dose of a flea control. But the most important thing to us is to educate the owner/guardian of the pet. Education is the key to any problem. We have found that most people do follow up in some way to our suggestions.
Another important example of what you can encounter at spay/neuter programs is an animal with the disease of pyometra (an infected uterus). This is a serous systemic disease, and requires antibiotics after surgical removal of the infected uterus. We give all such cases SQ fluid at the clinic, and send each dog or cat home with antibiotics.
Another example, and one that we fortunately don't see often, is an animal that presents for a spay or neuter, but is severely ill or debilitated. We again take these situations on a case-by-case basis. We had a cat recently that presented for a spay. She was an older cat that belonged to an elderly man. I found a large abdominal mass on physical exam, and the cat was cachectic (severe muscle wasting, usually associated with cancer). I explained the situation to the owner. He elected to proceed with surgery and to let me "explore" the abdomen. During the surgery, I found that the cat had a large abdominal mass that encompassed her entire small intestines. My recommendation was euthanasia under anesthesia for humane reasons, and this is what the owner elected to do. Through his sadness, he was also able to say that he was glad the cat did not suffer.
Untreated wounds, especially "cat fight abscesses" are also commonly seen. Opening up the abscess is usually the most important step, and can be easily done at the clinic. We discharge the cat with instructions for the owner/guardian to hot pack the area with moist heat and we send the animal home with antibiotics if necessary.
Another example of a recent case for us was a kitten that presented for a spay, and she also had a fishhook stuck under the tongue. This one is obvious, we removed the fishhook while the kitten was under anesthesia.
In summary, (sorry for this long answer to your straightforward question!), we educate each person about any problems that we find in his/her pet. We have found that once the spay/neuter surgery is done, people have more inclination to follow up on other smaller problems with a local veterinarian. So, although a person might not be able to afford to have a spay done at a private practice, if his/her dog also has an ear infection, that person might be able to afford the cost of the medicine for the ear infection. Again, educating people about the importance of basic veterinary care and basic health needs of animals is a critical part of our program. Good luck addressing the problems you will encounter. Also remember that, fortunately, Mother Nature is amazing and can take care of many problems as well.
Covering volunteer vets at our spay/neuter clinic from liability
Question from Mary:
I am part of a spay/neuter clinic that our 501(c)(3) non-profit runs. We have volunteer vets, techs, and lay volunteers come in. We do owned animals for people who can't afford surgery and do screen using federal guidelines. We have a liability form that people sign releasing us if anything happens during surgery. We also have our volunteers sign a form in case anything happens to them while volunteering (like if they get bit or scratched or fall). We wondered though how well these would hold up if something did happen during surgery? We have not had any complications or difficulties yet and hope never to but do you have any experience with situations like this? We don't want to put our vets or volunteers at risk for liability.Response from Leslie:
Sounds like you have a great program underway, and that you are doing everything right. Ultimately, the veterinarian is the one responsible if there is a complication with a surgical procedure. That is why only a licensed veterinarian can practice veterinary medicine (both medical and surgical aspects of the profession). In addition to having your clients sign a waiver, it is very important for your veterinarians to have professional liability insurance (malpractice insurance). You will have to talk to your volunteer veterinarians about how to obtain this professional liability insurance. For example, some veterinarians will have their own professional liability insurance, while others may ask that you carry that insurance through your 501(c)(3).In our program, we have professional liability insurance (in addition to general business liability insurance) through our non-profit corporation. I do not personally carry my own professional liability insurance, but both our other veterinarian and I are covered through our professional liability insurance carried by our non-profit corporation.
Unfortunately, we do live in a society where people can be quick to file lawsuits. So, you are right to protect your program, veterinarians and other volunteers as much as you can. If you have not discussed these issues with a lawyer and an insurance carrier in your state, you should do so. We had a lawyer review our Waiver (all clients must sign a waiver before we do surgery on an animal), and we worked with a local insurance agent to get the best insurance to cover all aspects of our non-profit corporation. It is also a good idea to train your volunteers, and to have your volunteers sign a waiver protecting your non-profit as well. There is risk in everything, not just veterinary medicine, but taking the right precautions is the best way to handle any situation. You are doing this by having the right types of insurance, volunteer training, waivers, and by practicing high quality medicine and surgery.
How do you create a sterile area for surgery in MASH settings?
Question from Celeste:
Sounds like your program is very similar to what we're doing with the Oregon Neutermobile, except our surgeons do the actual surgery on the Neutermobile. We're very interested in the even more 'portable' method of your program. I'd like to learn more about the 'sterile field' that needs to surround the surgery area. Do you have portable, cleanable curtains strung up, like on M*A*S*H? Or do you set up the tables in a small room where the sanitation can be controlled?Response from Leslie:
That is great that you have a Neutermobile in action. You have the ability now to do both surgery on your mobile unit AND to travel to various stationary facilities to do surgery at these facilities.Sterility is always an important issue in surgery, no matter where the surgery is performed. We try to adhere to the highest quality possible, especially because we are doing surgery in many locations that are not "true operating rooms". We do not have the portable curtains you describe above. We set up a surgery table in an area of each facility that we can keep clean, and as traffic-free as possible. For example (an exaggeration to make the point), we do not put our surgery table near a door that many people would have to use to come and go. Instead we put the surgery table in as private a place as possible. Some of our facilities are not ideal, but we still adhere to high principles by using an appropriate sized sterile drape to cover the patient, using a sterile surgical pack, the surgeons wear sterile gowns when necessary and caps and masks are of course worn by the surgeons and the technician and other volunteers (as needed) who may have to walk by the surgery table. We ask the shelter volunteers to keep the rooms/spaces clean.
Often, some of the spaces we use for surgery are used for something else during the week. This is fine, as long as all is clean for us when we get there. Limiting traffic flow near the surgery table is a very important point as well. Also, since we are operating at a site that might not be ideal, we do give every patient a pre-operative injection of Polyflex (ampicillin, a broad spectrum antibiotic). By giving this antibiotic injection before surgery, the levels of the antibiotic will be highest in the patient during the surgical procedure itself.
If the surgery area is clean, the "sterile field" is easy to set up, as that is controlled by the surgeon using the appropriate drape material and surgical technique.
Did you attend the last Best Friends Conference? The presentation that I put on the Conference CD had several pictures included.
Getting people to your spay/neuter program
Question from Carol:
What kinds of outreach to the groups in your area do to promote the spay/neuter program? We are finding that even though we are offering free spay/neuter in some of the low-income areas that people are not calling us to make an appointment. We have tried doing direct mail to individual households and aren't sure if it is because they don't know us and don't trust us or don't have transportation or just don't understand the importance of spay/neuter or something else we haven't thought of.Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your email. This is another very important question. No matter how good a program is, if we can't get the animals/people who need help through our doors, it really doesn't matter how good the program is. In the beginning, our groups worked hard to promote the program and to educate the low-income public. Now, word of mouth spreads the information like wildfire, and all of our clinics (we operate Tues-Fri every week, 100 animals per week) are completely full and scheduled in advance.Some things that our groups have done to reach people in need include:
- advertisements in local papers, such as the Pennysaver, a free local paper that advertises things for sale or trade
- main newspapers (articles in these same local papers)
- public service announcements on radio (they are free)
- even the local news did a story on our program
Our groups have also "gone to the source" of suspected problem areas. For example, there is a local trailer park with a known (huge) problem with cats. There are over 140 cats in this one small park. Some volunteers went there, spent a great deal of time educating people about the importance of spay/neuter, in addition to telling them about our program. You are right when you mention the need for trust above. Trust comes with time, and once people start to trust you, they will tell their friends, and they will tell their friends, ETC! Our work/service speaks for itself. We have reluctant people continue to call and schedule more animals, once they see that we are truly trying to help them, and that their animals are better off after the spay/neuter. Once people see that your program works, your clinics will be full for weeks in advance.
Another important thing to consider is transportation. We have volunteers that sometimes have to go and pick up animals. We believe this is worth the extra effort, as these are often cases of multiple animals in the home.
We also have volunteers put up fliers in local laundry mats, convenience stores, the library, etc...
We are in a rural area, and have a large farming community. We have had volunteers go directly to the farmers to offer to help with barn cats. Some were hesitant to participate, but over time (a short time), we have had more and more farmers call about the program.
Finally, I think direct mail can have a place, but it can also be expensive, and in the beginning, it may help for your group members to go and talk to people face to face.
Keep up the good work, your program will soon be booming!
The vet on our board doesn't support some programs we want to do
Question from a member:
Do you think it is a good idea to have a veterinarian involved in decision making for a shelter? The reason I ask is that we are having some situations at our shelter that are presenting a few challenges. We have a vet on our board who we do all of our business with for surgeries and animal care. The problem is that he doesn't support pediatric spay/neuter or doing feral cats so we are forced to send out our three-five month old animals unsterilized with a voucher.We can't do any type of a feral cat program nor would he support us doing any type of spay/neuter program for the public that would compete with him. We really don't want to do this but are stuck because we only do business with this vet and since he is on the board, it would be very difficult to go to another vet. We fear that if we did go to another vet he would either stop giving us any price breaks or not work with us at all. He is a wonderful vet with great skills, and has been very kind to us with the reduced cost services he offers us but we feel like we are stuck in a corner at this point.
Response from Leslie:
It sounds like you are in a tough situation. I absolutely think that there should be a veterinarian involved with the decision making at any shelter. A veterinarian is in the unique position to help a shelter with both ethical and medical issues, and has the knowledge of infectious disease, behavioral problems, and surgical knowledge and ability, all of which are critical aspects of shelter medicine.However, the veterinarian or veterinarians must be progressive thinkers and have a strong interest in shelter medicine. Also, there are different ways to have a veterinarian involved in the decision making at a shelter. One way is to have a veterinarian on the Board of Directors. Another way is to have a veterinarian on an Advisory Board. All 501(c)(3) organizations have to have a Board of Directors. This board makes the administrative decisions about the organization. Many 501(c)(3) organizations also have an Advisory Board. An advisory board does not vote, but also plays an important role in (as the name states) advising the Board.
Another way to have a veterinarian or veterinarians involved in decision making at a shelter is by having the veterinarian serve on a committee. For example, a shelter can have an Animal Care Committee, which would be a good committee for a veterinarian to join. Another way that some shelters have veterinarians help with decision making and medical problems at the shelter is to have veterinarians volunteer on a rotating basis to spend time at the shelter and perform whatever tasks are needed for that day.
This gives several veterinarians the opportunity to work with the staff at the shelter, and see firsthand what is going well, and what can be approved at the shelter. It will also give the shelter staff the chance to get to know several veterinarians and to feel comfortable with different veterinarians. Each veterinarian will have an area of expertise, and the shelter will be able to get advice from several sources, which can help the shelter explore all options.
As for your particular situation, I advise that you approach your veterinarian openly and be honest with him. It sounds like you really like this veterinarian, and it sounds like he genuinely has an interest in your shelter. But you have to be able to talk to him about issues specific to shelters, and about programs you would like to implement (both pediatric spay/neuter and feral cat spay/neuter programs are essential in shelter medicine).
You should also go to him with several ideas about the programs you would like to implement, and be prepared to explain why you want to do these programs. You should tell him how much he means to you, and how you value him as a veterinarian. You should also suggest that if there are programs that he is not comfortable participating in (for example pediatric spay/neuter), then you can suggest getting several veterinarians involved. You can explain that each veterinarian will have an area of interest and expertise, and that you still absolutely want.
Approach this vet, give him chance to change, tell him all the reasons you want to work with him, and how much you value his opinion. Also, you should give him a chance to understand what issues are important to the shelter. You say that he is a wonderful veterinarian with great skills, so I hope that once you give him a chance to understand and change his view about certain shelter issues, that he can then use his great skills to help you progress as a shelter.
Although this won't be easy, this will be an important task for your shelter. Any kind of change is tough, but often for the best of the group.
How to get vets accepting of a voucher program
Question from Jan:
I am in the process of starting up a low cost to no cost spay/neuter program, whereby we raise the funds and give a voucher to the client to use. When doing research on current spay/neuter prices in our area, without help from a program such as ours will be, I see the cost most times are out of the dollar range of the average person. I will be meeting soon with vets in my community, and need to develop a way of bringing them on board and helping in this endeavor.I understand the vets need to make a living and have their own business expenses, but because the s/n costs are so high the average Joe Smoll can't afford it, and neither will we be able to as an organization. What questions and ideas can you suggest that I use in my meetings with our local vets? The average spay cost in our area is $100.
Additionally, vets in our area either require the cat(s) have a rabies vaccination, fvrcp vaccination, or both. Even if the cat is an indoor only cat they require rabies because a bat might get in the house. Some require nothing. Some require distemper vaccination only, while others require leukemia and not rabies. It's very confusing. How can I come up with some logic in order to discuss possibly not requiring these vaccinations for our spay/neuter vouchered clients?
Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your email. I am happy to hear that you are in the process of starting a spay/neuter program. I have some important questions for you to consider as you get ready to do this. My first and probably most important question is what population of animals will be able to use your program? Are you going to follow low-income guidelines for people to qualify to bring their animals? Or will you focus on feral cats?When you say above that the "average Joe Smoll can't afford" the costs of spay/neuter in your area, this brings up a red flag for me, as I know it will do for the local veterinarians. The average person is usually above low-income guidelines, and I suspect that most veterinarians will not participate in a program that they perceive will harm their business, and take away services that their clients ("the average person") would normally have done at the veterinarian's practice for regular fees. So, before you approach your local veterinarians to discuss this project, I advise you to clearly define the population of clients/patients that you hope to help with your program, and be sure that this population is not already being served by the local veterinarians.
If your goal is to serve the low-income population, then you should also have a plan to verify low income, and be prepared to discuss this with the local veterinarians as well. Some things we do in this area to confirm low-income are to check a medicaid card for example, or use the HEAP (Home Energy Assistance Program) guidelines in this area, etc.
Another important thing to remember before you go to talk with your local veterinarians is that most practitioners do not really make money on a dog spay. If you calculate the surgeon's time (in addition to the costs of the drugs, anesthesia equipment, surgical instruments, suture material, lights, technical personnel, insurance, etc.) into the cost of the procedures, the price would truly be prohibitive if veterinarians charged what the surgery is worth. The average cost of a spay in your area ($100, mentioned above) actually sounds very low to me if that is for dog spays, and slightly low to average if that is for cat spays, compared to other areas of the country.
Another important question to ask the veterinarians in your area is whether or not they like voucher systems and will work with a voucher system. This question is critical to answer early on, because if veterinarians in your area do not want to use vouchers, you will need to come up with another plan. Voucher systems are controversial as to their effectiveness. Some estimates are as low as only 40 % success rate for people using vouchers nationwide. Also, in some communities vouchers work well, while in others vouchers completely fail. So, determining whether or not the local veterinarians will use vouchers is very important.
Also, I suggest that the questions that you asked above about vaccine requirements should also be addressed with your local veterinarians. They can explain if and why they require a certain vaccine. In many areas rabies vaccine is required by law. For our own program here in NY, we require the rabies vaccine for dogs and cats that participate in our program.
Finally, I advise you to ask your local veterinarians themselves about ways in which they can help you. Can they give you a certain number of spay/neuter slots per month for your program? Do they have any other ideas?
Best wishes for the success of your new program. I think that if you can show the local veterinarians that your goal is to help people/animals who do not have access to veterinary care because of their financial hardships, that you will find veterinarians to help you in your endeavors.
Building partnerships with vets to promote spay/neuter, behavioral services
Question from Cathy:
Our vets in town are all very nice and our rescue group has a lot of respect for them. We do have one area of frustration though that we don't know how to approach with them. They don't promote services that could really help us in our battle to stop pet overpopulation.For instance, many don't promote spay/neuter to clients, there are no posters or flyers promoting spay/neuter in their offices, they don't give out our number to people looking for help to get stray cats fixed even though we have encouraged them to do so, or give out microchip information, and very few of them give pet behavioral advice that could help keep an animal in a home.
Some vets do individually promote these things but we would really like to work with all of them (or at least a majority) to develop a way that would make it very easy for them to hand out materials to the public. Many have indicated that it is really difficult because they have so many different staff working at the front desk and are so busy that they don't have time to go into detail on a lot of these subjects with people.
But these could make them a lot of money too! Any ideas on how to partner with them more?
Response from Leslie:
That is great that you have a good relationship with the veterinarians in your town. The fact that you state that they are all very nice and that you have a lot of respect for them, makes me think that you will actually have an easy time approaching them about the issues you mentioned in your question.My biggest suggestion to you would be to be prepared to make it easy for the veterinarians to promote the services that you mention above, which are all important issues to help stop pet overpopulation! For example, your group should make the flyers and then ask if you can put them in the veterinarians' offices. Your group can also make handouts explaining the importance of spay/neuter. You group can make flyers and post your phone number for people to call if they need help with stray cats. Another suggestion would be to talk to the veterinary technicians at the practices as well. Many veterinary technicians volunteer to help shelters. For example, maybe you can ask a technician to volunteer to do a humane education seminar on a weekend to teach people about certain aspects of behavior problems.
Finally, maybe you can ask the veterinarians if your own volunteers could use space in your practice at a time when the office is not otherwise busy (maybe a Sunday morning), to hold an information class for the public about any of the important shelter topics you mention in your question. This way, your group can do the work, and still have the support of the veterinarians.
I know these suggestions will be a lot of work for you and your volunteers, but I am confident that your group can get the tasks done. You are starting ahead, as your group already has a good relationship with the local veterinarians.
Getting vet students in residency to help at a shelter
Question from Pam:
How can I find resources on vet schools offering residency programs? How would our local shelter go about getting a resident? Are there grants available to help pay the resident?Response from Leslie:
Every college of veterinary medicine provides residency training to graduate veterinarians. (Most also provide Internship training). A residency is a program of specialty training that is done under the guidance, supervision, and mentorship of board certified veterinarians. Usually, at the end of a residency program, the veterinarian can take a specialty board exam to become board certified in that specialty. A local shelter cannot offer a "residency program", even if there is a veterinarian on staff at the shelter. A residency must be done under the guidance/supervision of several veterinarians and specialists.There are many specialty fields of veterinary medicine, just like human medicine. We have board certified surgeons, board certified ophthalmologists, board certified radiologists, board certified oncologists, board certified dentists, board certified behaviorists, etc... There are also many veterinarians who are general practitioners and do not have a specific specialty. At this time, there is no specialty board in shelter medicine specifically. Shelter medicine is a new and up and coming area of veterinary medicine, although it has been around for hundreds of years. There are some new residency programs in shelter medicine at a few colleges of veterinary medicine, most of which are supported by private funding at this time. As this field develops further, we hope to have a specialty board of shelter medicine and more and more residency programs to be done at or through a college of veterinary medicine.
Your shelter can hire a full or part-time veterinarian, or try to work with a college of veterinary medicine if there is one in your area. Your shelter also can work with the local veterinarians in your community. See all previous responses to questions.
You have a good thought, to get a veterinarian involved at your shelter. I hope you are able to pursue some of the options discussed during this week-long forum.
Forming partnerships with vet and vet tech schools
Question from a member:
We have tried to get the vet school and our one vet tech school in the region to work with us on doing surgeries for shelter and/or public animals and they have told us that they can't have animals come in because they already have animals that they keep on site in kennels to use for learning techniques. They tell us they can't do anything because of disease concerns and IACAC regulations.They have also told us that they can't work with us on offering any discounts for shelter animals with special medical needs. We get a lot of animals that are not adoptable at the point we get them but could be with additional work. This often involves extra surgeries. We like having the resource of a vet school and a vet tech school in the area but we would really like to come up with ways to reduce the costs or ways to raise the funds specifically for these extra medical needs. Do you have any ideas on how we can partner with them more and perhaps allow animals?
Response from Leslie:
Thanks for your email. I am actually surprised by your email because most veterinary schools and most veterinary technical schools do work with shelters and use shelter animals in teaching. This is a win-win situation, as both the animals and the students' benefit. The extent to which a college of veterinary medicine partners with the local shelters will vary, and often greatly depends on the finances available.First, I would make an appointment with either the Director of the Hospital, or with a Dean of the College. Go to the meeting prepared to explain how a working relationship can benefit both groups, and ask if there is any way to implement such a program, on any scale. Many colleges may not be able to provide discounted fees for various surgical procedures, but many schools will have the students perform spay/neuter surgeries on shelter animals. You should come up with ways to make this easy for the college. For example, you can offer to transport the animals for spay/neuter to a specified location at the college, and pick up the animals as soon as they are ready for discharge. You can offer to have every animal up to date on vaccines. And you can ask the college what else you can do to make this a viable option for the shelter animals. Also, you can ask if you can set up a program to have veterinarians and students come to your shelter to work with the animals. Some colleges also have student organizations that are interested in shelter medicine.
I think you should be able to set up a program to have the vet students spay/neuter shelter animals (either on a large or small scale), but that it will be harder to get discounted fees on other procedures. You can try to raise the funds yourself (many ways to raise funds, such as writing grants, holding fundraising events such as a fun run, or walk-a-thon, or dog wash, or auction, or selling mugs/t-shirts, obtaining private donations, etc....). You can also ask the veterinary students to help with fundraising events. I have seen many veterinary students help raise funds for shelter animals by having bake sales, organizing a 5K Race, and holding a "Charity Ball". You can then ask the college if there can be a shelter discount. Showing the college that you are making an effort to raise funds, can help show that you are dedicated to the cause, and also understand that the shelter has to contribute to the veterinary costs for the animals. And, finally, if you do go to meet with a representative of the colleges, please emphasize the teaching/learning value to the students that will be achieved by working with the shelter animals.
Also, you can explain how the shelter can help the college. For example, tonight I received a call from a researcher who needs dog and cat testicles to study an aspect of fertility. I was happy to give the researcher the necessary tissue that was being removed from the patients anyway. And now, if/when the shelters need help, they can ask for a favor in return. Shelters and colleges of veterinary medicine/veterinary technical schools really can have a give and take relationship, with both groups benefiting from working with the other.
Comment from Heather in MO:
Our shelter too is in a town where there is a fabulous vet school. They do not help us one bit! We can talk until we are blue in the face but they have a million and one excuses. In fact, we have so many vets in our town that have offered to do free surgeries if they just had the space. Guess what? We are building a space. It is unfortunate that the students don't get the experience of working alongside our shelter. The vets that we work with say that their knowledge has expanded ten-fold because of their work with us.Comment from Celeste:
At the veterinary clinic I work at, we've installed clear, plexiglass, wall-mounted file-holders in each exam room.Since we know clients often have some 'down time' in the exam room in the veterinarian's absence, we pack the file-holders full of rescue and spay/neuter literature, as well as information such as the dangers to pets of secondhand smoke, etc.
We know it all gets rifled through regularly because the magazines, articles and pamphlets are constantly being rearranged.
We also have brochure holders all over the lobby to further our 'rescue agenda.' But, we find the client is much more likely to read when they're in the exam room, without the distractions that can clog our busy lobby.
So, I suggest that rescuers all over the country purchase a quantity of literature holders from an office supply store, then visit their local veterinary clinics, offering to not only donate the written materials and the holders, but to install them in the exam rooms/lobby, and even to visit regularly to change out the dog-eared papers for exciting, new materials.
One last note: Since clients will want a variety of topics to hold their interest, I suggest going in with other groups to provide newsletters, etc from several places. And, of course, the clinic may have some advertisements they'll want to include as well, like encouraging regular patient blood work and other care. Sharing is great!
