Spay/neuter clinic requires more than donated time: Thunder Bay vet
Dr. Calli Thompson says the bulk of surgery cost is medication and equipment
A Thunder Bay veterinarian says if a spay and neuter clinic for lower-income pet owners were established, she would gladly donate her time — and believes her colleagues would too. But first they would need the right facilities and supplies.
Northwestern Veterinary Hospital’s Dr. Calli Thompson said the bulk of the cost that pet owners pay for a spay or neuter is the anesthetic and medication — not the vet's time.
“But we would also have to address where the funds are going to come from to purchase and pay for the more expensive part of things, which are those medications.”
Some pet owners say it costs too much to get their animals fixed in Thunder Bay and have gone to a spay and neuter clinic in Duluth, which charges much lower prices.
Thompson said she believes the prices at the Duluth clinic are low because it receives financial support, noting that in the United States, many spay and neuter clinics receive funding from the state.
She said spay and neuter facilities rely on outside support including fundraising or assistance from drug companies.
Thompson pointed out a potential ethical concern with people from Thunder Bay taking their pets to a clinic in Minnesota, because that clinic's funding is likely intended for animals in that area.
She encouraged pet owners seeking veterinary care to ask questions, including exactly what care is provided before, during and after the spay or neuter procedure.
"If something seems too good to be true, it probably is... or we're lacking an understanding of why it is so good,” Thompson said.
Keeping an 'animal's best interest in mind'
However, Thompson said she thinks “spay and neuter clinics to assist ... families of a lower income level or ... just in general to help us control the pet population problem is a great idea.”
But the surgery is “much, much more” than a doctor volunteering his or her time.
Thompson said, to perform surgery in Ontario, a facility must be certified as safe and suitable to use — including the ability to sterilize — by the College of Veterinarians of Ontario.
"As a practitioner, the most important thing to me, whether it's a fee for service I'm providing or whether I'm volunteering my time, is that ... we're doing that with the animal's best interest in mind,” Thompson said.
“The standard of care and the quality of medicine needs to be consistent … because otherwise ... you're really asking health-care providers to compromise their standards and their ethics to be able to provide those services."
Fundraising for all the required equipment, and the facility itself, could take years, she added.