1. Connie Varnhagen
General Veterinary Hospital
University of Alberta
Edmonton Humane Society Prevent Another Liter Subsidy Program
varn@ualberta.ca
Controlling Companion Animal
Overpopulation

2.  Companion animal overpopulation
 Spay/neuter program models
 Volunteering
 Protocols
 Getting involved/learning more
Overview

3.  Lack of knowledge
 Lack of finances
 Disposable pets
 Lack of veterinary care
 Cultural differences
Companion animal overpopulation: Causes

4.  Zoonoses
 Noise
 Property damage
 Injury to animals and humans
 Animal welfare effects
Companion animal overpopulation: Effects

5.  Voucher
 Fixed Clinic
 Mobile
 In Clinic
 MASH
Spay/Neuter Models

6.  Free or reduced-rate voucher for spay/neuter based
on specific criteria
Voucher
eedition.windsorthisweek.ca/doc/windsorthisweek/windsorthisweek/2012070501/27.html#26

7.  Advantages
Almost no overhead
Client may be able to choose veterinarian
Helps build relationships
 Challenges
Client compliance
Typically more expensive
Smaller numbers of animals than other models
Voucher
various

8.  Regular hours surgery by appointment, often
specializing in feral and pediatric surgeries
Fixed Clinic
spayneuter.ontariospca.ca

10.  Weekend clinics at the Edmonton Humane Society
 Low income, disabled
 Subsidized spay/neuter, general treatment
 No current start-up cost
Modified Fixed Clinic: Edmonton Humane Society
Prevent Another Liter Subsidized Spay/Neuter
Program

11.  Advantages
High volume/High quality
Known in the community
 Challenges
Local veterinarians perceive competition
Expensive to build and maintain
Fixed Clinic

12.  Specially equipped van travels to different areas to
reach underserved areas
Mobile
reginahumanesociety.ca

13.  Advantages
Wider geographic reach
Self-contained
Good for public awareness
Challenges
Expensive
Space limitations
Obtaining good will of local veterinarians
Mobile

14.  Use veterinary clinic when closed for specialized
spay/neuter
In Clinic
rescue4life.org

15.  Advantages
No equipment costs
Builds relationships
 Challenges
Obtaining good will of participating clinics
Volunteers
In Clinic

16.  Organization takes own equipment into community,
using borrowed spaces.
MASH
souldog.org
abtaskforce.org animalbalance.net

17.  Alberta Spay and Neuter Task Force
 Animal Balance
 Soul Dog Rescue (Colorado Animal Rescue League)
 PAE Ambato and Municipality, Ecuador
2 to 5 day clinics in underserved areas
Volunteers generally pay transportation
Clinic provides or subsidizes food and housing
MASH

18.  Advantages
Less expensive
Ability to serve areas of need
Develop public awareness
 Challenges
Storage
Time to set up and take down
Obtaining good will of local veterinarians
Volunteers
MASH

19. Success!
New Hampshire
subsidized
spay/neuter
program
(White,
Jefferson, &
Levy, 2010)

20. Success!

21.  Complete the Animal Empathy questionnaire
 Complete the Volunteering with Animals questionnaire
 Find your scores with the Score Sheet
So, do you think you’d like to volunteer?

22. Clary & Snyder (1991) Functions of Volunteering
Function Motivation to Volunteer
Values To express or act on important values, such
as humanitarianism and helping the less
fortunate
Understanding to learn more about the world and/or exercise
skills that are often unused
Enhancement to grow and develop psychologically through
involvement in volunteering
Career to gain career-related experience
Social to strengthen one’s social relationships
Protective to reduce negative feelings, such as guilt, or
to address personal problems

23.  Others who volunteer in veterinary care
How do you compare?
Mean
Animal Empathy 149
Volunteering with Animals
Values 5.0
Career 4.1
Understanding 3.8
Enhancement 4.3
Protection 4.6
Social 4.4

24.  The team...
arrives together
leaves together
parks individual egos at the door
recognizes that each position is indispensable to success
works very hard
has a blast supporting the human-animal bond
A typical day

25.  Safety of the animals and humans are key!
 Association of Shelter Medicine Veterinarians’ Spay-
Neuter Task Force, JAVMA (2008)
 Roles and responsibilities for all positions
 Animal care and handling
 Medical records, client communication
 Drugs
 Surgery
Protocols

26.  Effective
 Wide margin of safety
 Rapid onset, reasonable duration, rapid offset
 Economical
Anaesthetic protocols (Ko & Berman, 2010)

27.  Gas anaesthetic
PA: opiate + sedative (+/- anticholinergic)
Induction: dissociative + relaxant/sedative
 Injectable anaesthetic
Opiate + alpha-2 agonist (+/- additional dissociative, relaxant/sedative)
Common Anaesthetic Protocols

28.  Post-op pain control
 Long-acting, broad spectrum antibiotic
 Core vaccines
 Internal and external parasite control
 Identification
Identification tattoo/microchip
Surgical tattoo, eat tip/notch
 Medically necessary treatments
Common additional procedures

29.  Ask around!
Alberta Spay/Neuter Task Force (abtaskforce.org)
 Search the web (and contact for references)
ASPCA (aspcapro.org)
Animal Balance (animalbalance.net)
 Consider a career
 Start your own program!
How to get involved

30.  Spay/neuter campaigns are varied
 Spay/neuter campaigns are successful
 Spay/neuter campaigns are high quality
 Spay/neuter campaigns are rewarding
Summary

31.  ASPCA (aspcapro.org [click on National Spay/Neuter Project])
Models
Articles
General protocols
Links
 Humane Alliance (humanealliance.org)
Videos
Self-test!
PetSmart Charities (petsmartcharities.org [click on Spay/Neuter])
Lots of webinars, handouts, information
Spay USA (spayusa.org)
List of clinics
General information
Some good web resources