Great news for pet owners: The tribes this month are beginning a unique partnership with the Bend Spay and Neuter Project. The project will host clinics in Warm Springs once a month, offering free spay and neuter services for dog owners.
This is also a chance for volunteers to learn, hands-on, about the Veterinary profession.
The first clinic will be on Tuesday, September 6, at the Warm Springs Housing Community Building, 2776 Quail Trail, in the new Greeley Heights subdivision.
The Spay and Neuter Project will bring their mobile clinic, like a MASH unit, with a Veterinarian to the Housing community building. On clinic day, people can show up with their pets starting at 7:30 a.m.
The service is on a first-come first-serve basis, with up to 30 appointments available. The owners then pick up the pets at 4 p.m.
The procedure is performed in the sterile environment of the mobile clinic, with the dogs staying in standard pet carrying crates during pre- and post-surgery.
The service will include a pre-surgical exam, the spay or neuter surgery, pain injection, anesthesia and monitoring post surgery, and a rabbis vaccination if needed.
Daisy Fund
The background of how this partnership happened begins in the 1940s. At that time, a doctor and his wife were living on the reservation.
They were living on a ridge that gave them a view of some of reservation “rez” dogs, said Megan Gram, executive director of the Bend Spay and Neuter Project.
Years later, the wife wanted to leave a legacy to help address the dog situation in the county, and especially on the reservation. She created the Daisy Fund, which now funds the Bend Spay and Neuter Project.
Earlier this year after some consideration, the project leaders concluded that a way to fulfill the legacy—helping dogs at risk—would be to offer the free pet clinic on the reservation, Megan said.
Arlissa Rhoan and the Housing Authority this summer worked with the Spay and Neuter Project to secure the location; and the clinic is now set to begin next week.
Weather permitting, the clinics will continue the first Tuesday of each month at least through the rest of this year, Megan said.
It is possible in the future, she said, that the program could be expanded to include the ownerless rez dogs.
The project helps the dogs, and is a chance for people to volunteer and learn: Help will be needed with the pre- and post-surgery aspects of the procedure.
Volunteers are needed for cleaning, sweeping and mopping, cleaning instruments, wrapping and sterilizing surgical packs, helping lift and transport the dogs, etc.
There may be a need for people to help transport dogs of owners who do not have transportation, or otherwise cannot it make to the clinic.
For more information call 541-617-1010. Or go to:
Bendsnip.org
Or call Arlissa at Housing, 541-553-3250.
