The issue of overpopulation of strays has been at the forefront of the news for the past several weeks here on the island. Now that the San Pedro Town Council is working with the Saga Humane Society in a weekly round up campaign of unattended dogs, which according to representatives has been very successful, this alone does not provided a solution to the problem. In an effort to encourage responsible and affordable pet care, the San Pedro Animal Hospital (SPAH) has come onboard, now offering low cost vaccinations.
The SPAH has committed to assist as well as provide for healthier pets on the island. Weekly the SPAH does a round up along with Town Council officials, and offer a one per week spay or neuter free of cost. This is done to curb the propagation, and eventual overpopulation of pets. This week, they are offering a different service to pet owners; vaccinations at an extremely low cost. On Friday between the hours of 9AM and 5PM all pet owners on the island can get their pets vaccinated at a whopping 75% Discount.
Dr. Lourie Droke, DVM spoke of their efforts; “Here at the San Pedro Animal Hospital we are offering our low cost vaccine clinic on Friday August 31st. We want anyone who wants to, to bring their puppies and get them updated on their vaccines.” Dr. Droke will be offering rabies and the Distemper and Parvo Vaccines (DHLPP). These vaccines ordinarily go for $40 each, however during this one day they may be had at $10 each.
What do you need to do to get your pet vaccinated? Simply bring your pet and answer a couple of questions and get him/her vaccinated. “To acquire services, we need to know the age of your dog, and we’ll get your name and phone number to put them in our computer system with basic information like address, age of your dog, sex, whether it’s spayed or neutered and that’s pretty much it.”
According to Dr. Droke these vaccines are extremely important to secure a healthy pet. “While you can get only the rabies, we do recommend that you get both. The DHLPP is what protects your dog from five different diseases. So, needless to say it is extremely important. It’s not that common that these diseases are seen, but when they are seen the pets die from them. I see it several times a year someone loses their pet to one of these diseases due to not being vaccinated. The risk is there and the more pets are vaccinated, the less likely it is that we’re going to be seeing this disease.”
The vaccination is a joint effort with the San Pedro Town Council. “I’d like to add that we are offering some services to the town council to help with the dog population problem. This vaccination program was developed with the help of the mayor, and we are also working with the town council to try to continue to offer spays and neuters, once a week. We’ll be picking up dogs once a week in low income areas to spay/ neuter. As such, we are also helping SAGA by picking up strays in those various neighborhoods we visit to and handing over those pets to them – so please people, keep your dogs at home.”
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