By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s Animal Advocacy and Rescue Coalition (AARC) recently provided a low-cost spay and neuter clinic, part of the group’s ongoing efforts to deal with the local overpopulation of dogs and cats.
Katelyn Hurta, AARC volunteer director, said about 25 dogs and cats were spayed or neutered during the event, which was held June 27 in the organization’s clinic building at 404 Converse St.
group of small dogs as they awaken from surgery during AARC’s spay and neuter clinic. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
Hurta spoke to The 830 Times while the clinic was underway.
She said, “This is AARC’s second spay and neuter clinic. We have right around 25 animals, eight dogs this morning, and they’re all done and coming to after surgery, and now we’re starting on our cats.”
Hurta said Dr. Stephanie Probandt, a San Angelo veterinarian, led the clinic and spent three days in Del Rio.
Hurta said AARC has been working to have a dedicated building from which to offer the low-cost spay and neuter surgeries.
She said, “This building was purchased in 2018. It was Dr. Herman Rathke’s old veterinary clinic, and it had been sitting vacant for three to five years at that point and was in really bad shape, so they came in, completely gutted it, and it has taken about six years of fundraising and a lot of elbow grease to get to this point, where it’s fully renovated, and we got to come back in and start offering services to the community.”
She said the spay and neuter clinic is the second AARC has provided in two months.
Hurta said she wasn’t sure whether the group would be able to offer a third clinic this month, since their ability to set up a clinic is based mostly on the schedules of the veterinarians they work with.
“We’re aiming for our next clinic to be in August,” Hurta said.
Hurta said in addition to the veterinarian who comes in to do the animal surgeries, AARC must field a large group of volunteers from the community to work during the clinics.
“With these clinics, we need anywhere from 10 to 13 volunteers each day,” she said.
Del Rioans who want to help AARC combat the local overpopulation of dogs and cats can lend a hand by making a donation to the group.
“The biggest help is monetary donations. We are doing these surgeries at a huge discount to the public, so the vets that come charge $1,000 a day for their services, and so we are doing $25 spay and neuter surgeries for cats, $25 spay or neuters for small dogs, then our rates go up with the pet’s weight. It’s $25, $50, $75, based on whether you have a small, medium or large dog,” Hurta said.
“When we break those prices down, with what we’re actually bringing in, we’re not paying the vet back, so the biggest thing we need is just financial donations to keep this service available,” she added.
Hurta said Del Rioans can donate at AARC by stopping by The Bank & Trust and depositing funds directly into AARC’s account there.
“We also accept cash, check, PayPal or CashApp,” Hurta said.
Hurta said the cost of the surgery also includes a rabies vaccine.
“For people with cats, we have also been offering a cat vaccine. Most of these cats are feral, so we know that this is probably the only time they’ll be getting any kind of vet care, and so we offer the core cat vaccines for $5 extra, which is also a fraction of what you could get it from the store,” Hurta said.
She added, “We appreciate everybody’s support. The more support we have, the more we can do.”
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
