Search Results for: mobile spay neuter clinic

Administration: Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic Scheduling Volunteer

*Recruitment Closed*

The OHS Mobile Spay/Neuter Services Clinic is a mobile veterinary spay/neuter clinic that provides subsidized feline spay/neuter surgeries for low-income pet owners in targeted Ottawa neighbourhoods. This program addresses the problem of cat overpopulation in Ottawa while reaching out to pet owners who are not otherwise able to afford traditional veterinarians.

The Ottawa Humane Society’s Volunteer Department is looking for volunteers who are interested in working closely with our mobile spay/neuter services (MSNS) team in an administrative capacity! This a great opportunity to help pets stay with their owners, building your customer service skills and helping a great cause! Administrative tasks may include:

  • Contacting MSNS clients to schedule clinic appointments;
  • Making upcoming clinic reminder phone calls;
  • Answering general program FAQ;
  • Providing excellent customer service;
  • Other clerical/administrative duties as assigned.

MSNS Volunteer Requirements:

  • Volunteers must have strong computer skills (Microsoft Office);
  • Experience with in an administrative role is preferred;
  • Volunteers must have excellent customer service skills;
  • Volunteers must be highly organized and have high attention to detail;
  • Volunteers must be consistent and reliable;
  • Volunteers must be comfortable speaking with clients over the phone;
  • Volunteers must have experience working with low income populations;
  • Volunteers must be able to make a minimum one year commitment;
  • Volunteers must be able to commit to a three hour weekly shift;
  • Volunteers must wear business casual attire.

Request a Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic Appointment

Six Things You Need to Know

  1. To qualify for service from the OHS Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic, show photo identification with proof of address in Ottawa and proof of income qualification. Proof of qualification must be provided during morning registration. Examples of accepted proof of qualification include:
  2. For all appointments, morning registration begins at 8 a.m. — full registration can take up to one hour. The owner of the animal must be present at morning registration to complete registration forms and sign the consent to surgery form. The person identifying as the owner of the animal must match the name on the proof of qualification (eg: ODSP stub).
  1. Cost for surgery is $30 per cat. Microchipping (optional) is an additional $20 per cat. Our clinic receives payment during morning registration and takes cash only.
  2. Cats must have no food after 8 p.m. the night before surgery. They can have water any time before surgery.
  3. We ask that cats be brought to our clinic in secure pet carriers, to ensure that all cats are safe and secure during morning registration. Upon registration, cats will be moved into cages on the mobile clinic; owners will be required to bring pet carriers home and return with them for pick-up.
  4. We require two business days’ notice if you are unable to attend your scheduled appointment. Cancellations made less than two business days before an appointment a “no-show” the day of the appointment are subject to our cancellation policy. Failure to notify us within two business days of your appointment will result in a $30/cat cancellation fee payable at your next appointment. Appointments are in high demand and your early cancellation will allow another patient access to a timely spay/neuter surgery. Please contact 613-725-3166 ext. 221 to notify us of a cancellation.

If you have not already read our Mobile Spay/Neuter Services FAQ, please click here.

Mobile Spay/Neuter Services

 

We are currently experiencing high-demand for the OHS Mobile Spay/Neuter Services. Currently, appointments up to one month in advance, and are offered on a first come first served basis. If you are unable to request an appointment, our clinics are full. Please check our website regularly for appointment availability and further updates. Thank you for your patience.

Living with an unsterilized cat can present some challenges. To assist in dealing with potential behaviours your pet may displaying because of not being spayed/neutered, info sheets have been created to help you care for your cat.

Caring for and Living With an Intact Female Cat

Caring for and Living With an Intact Male Cat

 

Supporting responsible pet ownership through Mobile Spay/Neuter

There are so many reasons why coming to work every day at a Humane Society can be intensely rewarding. In my role managing the Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic I have an opportunity to not only see the impact the program is making as a whole in our community (with close to 4500 cats sterilized since 2016), but I often have a chance to speak with our clients who are so thankful that the service exists.

The clients we serve are income-qualified and in most cases, don’t otherwise have the means to sterilize their cat. I can say that with certainty, because we survey our clients, and 96% indicate it’s one of the top three reasons they chose our clinic. A close second is that they want their pet to be healthier; something all pet owners can appreciate. Finally, the third top reason is that they want to help end animal homelessness, chosen more often than the clinic being at a convenient location or that they don’t have a regular vet.

To me, this not only says something about how much the clinic is appreciated by our clients and how important their pets are to them, but also that the welfare of animals in our community is valued across all income brackets.

This certainly is not a surprise to me. Of course pet owners that qualify for the program are no less committed to their pets and animals in general than those with more wealth. A love for animals is not bound by financial borders, nor do financial circumstances indicate a person’s capacity to love and care for a pet. I truly believe that having a companion animal contributes to a person’s overall wellbeing (we’ve seen the research countless times) and the benefits should not be limited to those who are more affluent in our community. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always advocate for responsible pet ownership (which includes spay/neuter) and our mobile team is part of this advocacy during every spay/neuter appointment. What I also believe is that having a pet to love unconditionally is something that should not be conditional on annual income.

All people deserve respect and dignity, and I hope that those who have been clients at our mobile clinic have felt nothing but, and perhaps our ability to support them with a subsidized spay/neuter for their cat leaves a little extra at the end of the month for an annual check-up, or vaccine or even a microchip or city licence.

Amber Corby

Manager: Community Programs

Spay or Neuter Your Pets

Help prevent the suffering of thousands of unwanted pets by doing your part: spay or neuter your animal companion.

Contact a veterinarian for professional advice – the sooner the better. Your veterinarian can fully explain spay and neuter procedures to you and discuss the best age at which to sterilize your pet. You can also call the City of Ottawa Spay/Neuter Clinic  at 613-798-8970.

The OHS offers subsidized spay/neuter services to qualified clients and cats in Ottawa through the Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic.

The OHS is doing its part by ensuring that cats and dogs adopted from the shelter are spayed and neutered.

What does pet overpopulation have to do with me? Everything. If your pet has one litter, even if you find homes for most of the puppies and kittens, in one year, all the puppies or kittens could have litters of their own. Millions of dollars are spent annually to care for lost, abandoned and unwanted pets.

2017 Media Releases

2016 Press releases

 

Volunteer Opportunities

OHS volunteers help give Ottawa’s animals a brighter future and make our community a more humane place for all. If you are interested in joining our volunteer team, and making a difference for Ottawa’s animals, please review the volunteer opportunities and follow the application instructions.

Please note: Applications will not be processed for programs that are not open for recruitment. We have a limited number of available openings, and applicants must meet the volunteer requirements to be considered for an interview. We thank all applicants for applying, however, only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.

The Evolution of Animal Welfare: Part Two

Shelters like the OHS are providing more veterinary care for pets like Angel.

Last week, I reported that I recently had the opportunity to hear Jim Tedford speak. Jim is the CEO of the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators — the premier group that brings together senior staff in humane societies, rescues, and municipal animal shelters. Jim spoke about the evolution of animal welfare and I thought it was bang-on. I thought you might like to hear about it.

Last week’s blog covered four trends: fewer incoming animals; “The rise of the rescue”; changing community expectations; and sources of companion animals. This week, I have four more trends that Jim identified to share with you.

Veterinary Care in Shelters

Historically, many shelters across North America struggled to provide even the basic care, such as vaccines. Where once spay/neuter surgeries delayed adoptions, dentistry is now the main reason for delays. Larger, progressive shelters like the OHS, are now performing blood work and diagnostics, fracture repairs, lump removals, amputation and other much more advanced care that would not have been possible in the past.

Funding Models

Overall, intake to shelters is falling across most of North America; costs, however, are not. In most cases they are increasing. “Quick turnaround” animals like young, small dogs are not being relinquished as quickly and the number of pit bulls and “blocky headed whatevers” is rising almost everywhere. Revenue from adoption fees is dropping. In a way, this is good news, because it means fewer animals need rehoming, but shelters are even more dependent upon donations than in the past. Some are opening their own for-profit veterinary clinics as a source of revenue. The OHS, though, has a policy of not competing against our community veterinarians.

Preserving the Bond

The OHS Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic helps preserve the human animal bond in our community.

Increasingly, shelters are recognizing that sometimes the best shelter is the home the animal is already in. To support this, many are offering such services as behavioural support, assistance with veterinary costs, and food banks. Providing these supports can be scary prospect for any shelter struggling to provide for the animals already in its care. The OHS’s strategic plan calls for forays into this work, starting with our Mobile Spay Neuter Clinic.

Shelters and Veterinarians as Partners

There is tremendous opportunity for partnerships between veterinarians and shelters. Shelters need all the help they can get. Increasingly, veterinarians are coming to understand that shelters are sometimes their biggest clients and are a source of long-term business from adopters. Remember, shelters are now the number one source of companion animals! The OHS enjoys an excellent relationship with our veterinary community and, in turn, it is very supportive of our work.

The world of animal welfare has changed pretty dramatically, even since I entered it 18 years ago — thankfully, mostly for the better. There are a lot of reasons why animal welfare has improved, but assuredly one of them is that we are all talking more, listening more, and learning more from one another.

Bruce Roney
Executive Director

Catching Up on Life-Changing Work

Last week, to celebrate World Spay Day, I had the honour of helping to provide spay/neuter surgeries to animals in the care of local rescue groups. Thanks to the incredible support from our community, at the OHS clinic, we spayed/neutered 34 cats, 3 dogs and 5 rabbits in need.   

On top of the success of World Spay Day, I’m pleased to say the OHS has relaunched subsidized spay/neuter services for cats of low-income pet owners. We will start by working through a waitlist for the OHS Mobile Spay/Neuter Service that has been growing since the pandemic began. 

By the end of March, we expect to spay/neuter up to 32 cats in need right here at our accredited veterinary clinic. In the spring, we are planning to roll out the Mobile Spay/Neuter Service into the community.

Spay/neuter is a crucial service for our pets as a pet that is spayed/neutered will usually live a longer, healthier life. Spaying/neutering your pet can also address common behaviour issues and make your pet less likely to roam.

Perhaps most important of all, spaying/neutering helps prevent pet overpopulation — reducing the number of homeless, unwanted animals in our community. This month is just the start of bringing back spay/neuter services to pet owners who need them most. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch up with demand, but we look forward to resuming this service for a community in need.

Dr. Shelley Hutchings
OHS Chief Veterinarian

Another Welcome Return

There has been a very welcome sight outside our shelter the past week: our mobile spay/neuter vehicle. In preparation for rolling our Mobile Spay/Neuter Services out into the community, we have been engaging in a series of dry runs — sterilizing OHS animals for adoption, rather than owned pets. We want to make sure that everything runs smoothly and safely for both animals and staff.

MSNS truck

Over the past two years, the OHS has provided sterilization services in the shelter clinic for our rescue partners from time-to-time, and of course we have continued to spay and neuter all OHS animals before adoption. Sadly, our Mobile Spay/Neuter Services had to be shelved during the pandemic. The close quarters and risk of COVID transmission simply made working on the vehicle too dangerous.

The popular program provides heavily subsidized sterilizations for cats of low-income Ottawa residents. We launched the program in 2016 as a part of our strategic plan to address cat overpopulation in our community. In its first four years, the program sterilized close to 6,000 cats. Without the program, estimates are that in just seven years, those cats and their offspring would have gone on to produce more than one million unwanted kittens. 

As the pandemic slowly subsides, there have been many welcome reopenings in our community. Most programs here at the OHS have reopened or will shortly. For me, our Mobile Spay/Neuter Services is one of the most important as it reduces animal suffering for years to come.

Bruce Roney
President & CEO