WATERVILLE — Dogs and cats and their owners took over the American Legion Hall on Saturday for a free pet wellness clinic put on as part of a program aimed at helping low-income residents keep their animals healthy.

Lisa Smith needed help to bring in crates carrying her three house cats, Smoky, Gandalf and Shadow. Even though they don’t go outside her apartment, Smith was concerned that one of the bats that occasionally gets into the building could infect her pets with rabies.

Like others at the clinic, Smith said she has a hard time coming up with the money to keep her cats up to date on their shots or get regular check-ups at a vet. She is disabled and relies on Social Security payments to make ends meet, she said. Just scheduling a visit to the veterinary office costs $45, and after shots and other treatments, it costs at least $90 per cat, more than she can afford.

The Humane Society Waterville Area, along with partners including the Topsham-based Community Spay-Neuter Clinic, are working to help pet owners like Smith through the Pets-Animals Together, or PAT, project funded through a grant from PetSmart Charities.

The yearlong program will provide up to 500 free spay-neuter surgeries and other health services to residents in Waterville’s poorest neighborhoods. Organizers know that as much as people love their pets, their animals have never been spayed or neutered, and some may never have been to a veterinarian’s office. That leaves the city with an overpopulation problem, especially with cats and kittens. But it can also mean that the beloved family pet isn’t getting the health care’ it needs.

The PAT program is modeled on a strategy introduced by the Humane Society of the United States, where volunteers get out into poor communities to connect with pet owners and help them get health care’ for their animals.

Advertisement

An hour after the clinic opened its doors Saturday, veterinarians Elizabeth Stone and Matthew Townsend were already hard at work, doling out rabies and distemper vaccines and flea and parasite treatments to pets.

PAT outreach coordinator Joann Brizendine said that by the end of the clinic, the vets had seen more than 100 pets, and 45 people had signed up to take their pets to the Topsham spay-neuter clinic Stone runs.

“I think it was a very good turnout,” Brizendine said. The group had only six weeks to let pet owners know about the event and asked business owners to help them out by handing out fliers to pet owners. PAT plans another clinic in the spring, she said.

Tammy Hardy waited in line with her two pugs, Abbi and Blaze, on Saturday. Hardy said she works hard to keep her dogs healthy and up to date on their shots, but money is tight and it can be a struggle to pay for things like worm and flea treatments.

“We have to save for a while to make sure they have their shots, but they are our babies and we love them, and we do what we have to do,” Hardy said.

Having access to a free health clinic was “a godsend,” Hardy said. She knows plenty of friends and neighbors who also have trouble paying for pet health.

“They don’t want to get rid of their animals because they love them,” Hardy said. “I couldn’t live without my animals. I’d go crazy.”

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.