March 24, 2023

Our Next Step in Keeping Families Together

Almost daily, we receive calls from struggling pet owners to ask if the OHS can provide veterinary care for their pet — often for a condition that earlier intervention might have prevented. Outside of our Mobile Spay/Neuter Service (MSNS) and microchip clinics, the answer has been no, but that’s changing.

This week, we piloted our first-ever Wellness Clinic and provided wellness exams, core vaccinations, microchips, and a few other basic veterinary services to nine cats and dogs whose families are not able to afford veterinary care. We talk to owners about how to keep their pets healthy and signs of illness to watch for.

Winter receiving her wellness exam

Winter and Hope, two kittens who are close to six months old, are two of the animals who came to this week’s clinic. We checked their heart, eyes, ears, teeth and their overall health. We also gave these kittens their core vaccines, de-wormer and microchips.

The services we offer are preventive, helping to lower the chance that the pet will need emergency veterinary care in the future.

Like our MSNS, Wellness Clinics are heavily subsidized, only made possible by a community that cares. Your generous support, we believe, will lead to fewer animals suffering, and will help to keep more pets in the homes where they are loved.

For our pilot phase, we are working through our partners and programs to serve our most at-risk clients. Once we have completed the pilot phase, our goal is to provide our Wellness Clinics to other at-risk, income-qualified pet owners who meet the same qualifications as our mobile program.

Wellness Clinics are the next step in our mission to help more families stay together. We are here for every animal that needs us, and we will do whatever we can to keep pets with families who love them.

Sharon Miko

President & CEO