The Ottawa Humane Society is launching a fund-raising campaign to retrofit and operate a former post office in Vanier as a subsidized veterinary clinic.
The goal is to provide both preventive and urgent care for pets of low-income residents, so the animals are less likely to be surrendered to the shelter. Of 6,166 pets the Ottawa Humane Society cared for last year, 1,322 were surrendered by owners. Cost and housing concerns accounted for almost 40 per cent of the surrenders.
“What we have been seeing is animals coming to us when the owner is in such moral distress at the thought of having to surrender their pet,” Ottawa Humane Society president and CEO Sharon Miko said. “They don’t have another option. What we know, if that animal could stay with this family, it’s the best possible option.”
There will be costs for users, but the aim is to offer services at rates that will help to keep pets with their owners and offer preventive care before the animal requires more expensive urgent care, Miko said.
The program will have an anticipated operating budget of $2.3 million per year. About half of that would be offset by client fees. Services offers will include spaying and neutering, wellness checkups, preventive treatments such as vaccinations, microchip clinics and urgent care. Spay-neuter services will also be available to the general public, but at a higher cost.
To qualify for the reduced fees, clients would have to live in Ottawa and meet at least one eligibility requirement, including being enrolled in the Ontario Disability Support Program, Ontario Works or the Resettlement Assistance Program. Seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement will also qualify, as will people who can produce notices of assessment showing they earn less than $35,000 a year. A letter of referral from a social worker, social service agency or qualified City of Ottawa employee stating the need would also be accepted.
The Humane Society bought the former post office on Durocher Avenue last February for $3 million. It will cost about $9.4 million to get the facility up and running, with about half of its 9,000 square feet used for the veterinary clinic and the other half for other services, including a pet food bank. Some of the money raised through the $15-million campaign has also been earmarked for behavioural supports for animals with challenging behaviours, including a new building at the Humane Society headquarters on West Hunt Club Road with trails and dog parks.
Ottawa Humane Society president, Sharon Miko, is seen in front of this former post office, which the Humane Society intends to convert into a community vet clinic for low-income pet owners.
The vet clinic retrofit is scheduled to start this fall with an opening target date of the end of 2027.
There is growing recognition of the importance of the animal-human bond for people who have no homes or are precariously housed. According to a 2018 estimate, between eight and 19 per cent of the 35,000 Canadians who were unsheltered or at risk of homelessness had pets.
Researchers in relationship-centred veterinary medicine at the University of Guelph have found, for example, that the benefits of having companion animals for homeless youth included creating structure and routine and decreasing drug use. Other research found that the odds of being depressed were three times higher for homeless youths who did not have pets.
But, at the same time, costs of veterinary care have climbed. A Gallup survey of 369 Canadian vets released last year found that 96 per cent said pet owners’ financial limitations sometimes or often prevented them from delivering recommended care. About one in four of the vets said they were distressed because they were providing care that fell short of the “gold standard.”
Clinics for low-income pet owners have been cropping up across North America.
Dr. Jamie Freeman-Braganca is a staff veterinarian at the Kim and Stu Lang Community Healthcare Partnership Program at the University of Guelph, which offers veterinary care to pets in vulnerable communities.
There are a lot of misconceptions that these pets are not as well cared for, she said. But a study published in 2018, based on 1,124 visits to a community veterinary outreach, found that the animals were generally in good health.
“These bonds are among the most powerful I have ever witnessed in my time as a vet,” Freeman-Braganca said.
“People who work in this field will tell you that these pets are well cared for,” she said. “People are resourceful about taking good care of their pets. Some people will go hungry themselves rather than see their pet go hungry.”
One benefit of a community clinic is that low-income people can use their resources for themselves, Freeman-Braganca said. But research has also shown that, when money is tight, preventive care might not get done, and that can result in more serious and expensive treatments down the line.
One example is pyometra, a life-threatening infection of the uterus that often affects unspayed dogs and cats.
“We do see a lot of cats and dogs that are surrendered to our shelter every year for that urgent condition because it does require an emergency surgery that can be very expensive,” said Dr. Shelley Hutchings, the Ottawa Humane Society’s chief veterinarian.
“Providing that service ahead of time will completely prevent that condition from developing. Even things like basic vaccinations and flea treatments will help keep pets in their homes and help prevent them from getting sick and needing to seek that urgent vet care later on.”
Hutchings also expects that urgent care will be a main feature of the clinic for conditions like urinary tract infections, limping and cough.
“Our goal will be to be able to help these families with those types of conditions so that we can get them through it and keep them together,” she said.
End-of-life will also be provided, including allowing owners to be present with their pets. That’s important for that human-animal bond, for the grieving process and also for the experience of the pet to be with their family, Hutchings said.
“There are families in our community who struggle to afford euthanasia fees at a regular veterinary clinic,” she said. “So we will be offering this service at a heavily subsidized rate for income-qualified individuals just to make sure that they can access that really important care that’s needed in those situations.”
There are already a number of services already available in Ottawa, including Community Veterinary Outreach, a program for homeless people offering human health services alongside preventive veterinary care. The Ottawa Humane Society’s Sheltering Animals From Emergencies program offers free temporary foster care for the pets of people who are homeless or facing homelessness or who can’t care for their pet for extended periods of time, such as hospital stays.
The Ottawa Humane Society moved from its old building on Champagne Avenue in 2011. The new headquarters on West Hunt Club Road is spacious and new, but it’s difficult to reach for people who live downtown, Miko said.
“We recognized that we needed to expand our programming to where people were able to access it,” she said. “And that meant moving to a model where we were moving more into the community.”
The Humane Society had offered a mobile spay-neuter clinic, but found that, if they wanted to serve more clients, having a fixed base would be more efficient and would help keep more pets with their owners, Miko said.
“It’s keeping the animal in a place where it’s loved and well looked after, and the animal ends up not coming into the shelter system,” she said. “So we can still be here for the animals who truly have no other choice.”
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