low cost vaccinations with low cost spay and neuter

[malernee]

http://www.pbcgov.com/pubsafety/animal/SPAYWPB.htm

Schedule

The Spay Shuttle is set up for the following dates and locations. Registration is from 8-9 a.m. Appointments can only be made in person at the location site and only when the bus is full.


Okeeheelee Park
7715 Forest Hill Blvd (west of Jog Rd)


WPB Wed-Thurs July 2-3




Wed-Sat July 9-12
July 16-19
July 23-26
Veterans Park
9400 W. Palmetto Park Rd., Boca Wed-Sat
Wed-Sat
Wed-Sat


Wed-Sat

July30 -Aug 1
Aug 6-9
Aug 13-16
Aug 20-23






Boynton Beach Civic Center
128 E. Ocean Blvd. Boynton Beach Wed-Sat
Thurs-Sat
Wed-Fri
Wed-Sat Aug 27-30
Sept 4-6
Sept 10-12
17-20, 24-27

John Prince Park
Parking lot between Congress & 6th Ave Lake Worth Wed-Sat
Thurs-Sat


Wed-Sat Oct 1-4, 8-11
Oct 16-18
Oct 22-25, 29-Nov 1





John Prince Park
Main Pavilion at off Congress Ave in Lake Worth
(Pet Party 2003 Fund Raiser Low-Cost Rabies & Microchip Clinic)


Sat Sept 13 (Only)
9:00AM - 2:00PM





The Spay Shuttle bus, a mobile spay and neuter pet clinic, travels throughout Palm Beach County and offers low-cost sterilization for dogs and cats. The cost is $10 for pet owners living in Palm Beach County. Anyone on an approved assistance program and can provide proof, the service is Free.

The Spay Shuttle provides services to all Palm Beach County residents. Proof of residency is required. Residents with clean, leashed dogs or cats in carriers should begin arriving for processing between 8 and 9 a.m. each day. Pets will be ready to go home with their owners the same afternoon. For more information, call 233-SPAY (7729). To leave a message, call 233-1261.

The service includes a rabies vaccination, County tag, and a tattoo for pet identification. Optional services include micro-chipping for $5 and other important vaccinations for $5. Any pet owner is welcome to visit the Spay Shuttle between 11 and 12 for their pet's rabies vaccination and County tag for $5 plus the cost of the tag, which is $35 for pets not spayed or neutered and $14 for sterilized pets.

The Spay Shuttle is set up for the listed dates and locations. Registration is from 8-9 a.m. Appointments can only be made in person at the location site. Please plan to wait until all surgery registrations are complete before appointments are scheduled.

[drmalernee]

WPEC News Archives -Full Story


Vets Injecting Pet Microchips That Can't Be Detected
Eric Roby The I-team has uncovered local vets using pet microchips that can't be detected by most animal shelters. All of the Bainfield Pet Hospitals in our area have started using a new chip that some say is giving pet owners a false sense of security.
They can be your best friend. Always there. Always willing to give you love or make you laugh. If a pet owner isn't carefull their dog or cat can end up at lost and locked up at animal care and control.
(Capt Gina DiPace Palm Beach Animal Care and Control)
"if we can scan an animal and find out where it lives we take it home immediately."
Microchipping is a nearly painless process involving a needle and a chip the size of a grain of rice. A scaner can then be used to track down where the dog belongs.
It's a common practice with impressive results. Daily.. chips are creating happy reunions in our area.
(Capt Gina DiPace Palm Beach Animal Care and Control)
"many many animals get returned continuously we return at least 3 or 4 a day."
But now there's a snag. A new chip is on the market sold by Bainfield The Pet Hospital. It's one of the biggest vets in the country. They operate out of Petsmart. There are 5 in our area. 41 in Florida. 330 in the U-S. The problem is their new chips don't work with existing scanners.
(Carl Leveridge, Ex. Dir Palm Beach Humane Society)
"The last thing we want to do is not reunite an animal with a loving home."
The results are deadly. Lisa Massey had her dog Hayden microchipped at a Virginia Banfield. He ran away. A shelter found him, but couldn't read his chip, He was then put to sleep after a few days.
(Capt. Gina DiPace Palm Beach Animal Care and Control)
"basically the microchips are null and void to us because we have no way to read it."
Captain Gina DiPace of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control is outraged. She doesn't understand why Banfield is using technology that can put pets' lives at risk. The I-team went undercover. In May we were told by several local Banfield employees all shelters had the necessary scanners to read the new chips. That's not true. At the time none of the major shelters had them. After selling the chips for months Banfield decided to temporarily stop. But two weeks after the order employees from 6 South Florida Banfields told the I-Team they were still offering the chips at a discount! Banfield's Corporate Office says that's a mistake. Banfield recently sent a free scanner to the 2 largest shelters in Palm Beach County, But only after the I-Team got involved. Banfield admitted they never heard of animal care and control or the humane society until we told them they existed.
(Carl Leveridge, Palm Beach County Humane Society)
"between the 2 of us we do just about all of the business in the county. Yes I am surprised."
Surprised, because in addition to taking care of tens of thousands of animals a year the humane society is in weekly contact with local Banfields. The shelter cremates their dead pets. Animal Care and Control was shocked when they finally got their scanner. The first time it was used it couldn't detect the Banfield chip.
(Dianne Sauve Director of Animal Care and Control)
"it didn't pick up the chip that it was engineered and designed to pick up were thinking there was some flaw in the chip itself."
The scanner appears to be working. It is possible the Banfield chip was not injected into the pet correctly.
Even if the scanners work local shelters say one just isn't enough.
(Capt Gina DiPace Palm Beach Animal Care and Control)
"if you only have one scanner it's impossible to scan every animal that comes into the door they come in from all different entranced here."
Animal Care and Control needs a minimum of 7 Banfield scanners. They would like closer to 20, but Banfield is refusing to give more than one per shelter. If a facility needs more it may have to pay for the 250 dollar device.(Capt Gina DiPace Palm Beach Animal Care and Control)
"it's actually very disconcerting that these people could be spending money thinking their pets are safe."
(Carl Leveridge, Ex. Dir Peggy Adams Animal rescue League of the Palm Beaches)
"We can look all day but if we can't read the chip we can't call the individual and reunite the animal."
Pet owners are told microchipping can save their pets, but until all shelters get the equipment needed the new microchips the size of a grain of rice may be as worthless as a grain of rice.
Banfield's corporate office says their braches will start selling their microchips again very soon.
Local shelters are worried. There are only a handful of the scanners in use in Palm Beach County. Only one major shelter has the scanner on the Treasure Coast. And there are none on the Space Coast. Right now Banfield is warning pets who have the new chip should also wear an identification tag as a back up.


July 22, 2004 - 5:56PM

[guest]

The Spay Shuttle provides services to all Palm Beach County residents.
It currently operates Wednesdays through Saturdays, except during a holiday week. If you currently have a scheduled appointment, please arrive on time.

Please call 561-233-SPAY (7729) for dates and location sites, or to schedule an appointment. Space is limited and appointments are not always available.

If you do not have an appointment, you are welcome to stand in line in case someone with an appointment does not show up. If this is the case, only an animal fitting the same size and sex can be accepted in its place.

Please be aware that, even with an appointment and because of emergency needs, we may not be able to accept everyone due to space and availability of a veterinarian. In the event of an emergency, all operations of the Spay Shuttle will be shut down until further notice.

Registration is from 8-8:30 a.m. If you plan to stand in line, please plan to wait until all surgery registrations are complete before appointments are scheduled.

Proof of residency is required. Residents with clean, leashed dogs or cats in carriers should begin arriving for processing between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. each day. After sterilization, pets will be ready to go home with their owners the same afternoon.

The service fee is $15 and includes a rabies vaccination, County tag, and a microchip for pet identification. Other important vaccinations are available for an additional $5. Any pet owner is welcome to visit the Spay Shuttle between 11 and 12 noon for their pet's rabies vaccination and County tag for $5 plus the cost of the tag, which is $35 for pets not spayed or neutered and $15 for sterilized pets.

The Spay Shuttle is set up at various locations throughout the county.
Please call 233-SPAY (7729) or 233-1261 for more information.

[guest]

Other Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Organizations

The following organizations offer low-cost spaying and neutering for dogs and cats of all pet owners. Some offer free spaying and neutering for pets of owners who meet eligibility requirements. Call the organization for specific information.

Animal Birth Control 954-922-3604 uses local veterinarians.

Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF), offers free spaying and neutering for dogs and cats of low-income residents through its mobile Clinic. The Clinic will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (days to be determined by demand) in several low-income neighborhoods. Call 954-615-ARFF (2733) for the Mobile Clinic's locations or to schedule a surgery.

Humane Society of Broward County’s SNIP Program will sterilize the mother and/or father of puppies and kittens surrendered. Call 954-989-3977 and ask for Receiving.

MASH (Mobile Animal Services and Help) has a mobile spay/neuter van that is scheduled at different locations throughout Broward County 954-266-6826.

Pet Aid League 954-463-7729 uses over 20 veterinarians in Broward, northern Miami-Dade, and southern Palm Beach Counties for the operations.

Spay USA (800) 248-SPAY is a nationwide toll-free referral service with over 950 clinics and approximately 8,000 veterinarians participating.

Friends of Animals, Inc. 800-321-PETS is a nationwide toll-free service that works with local veterinarians.

[drmalernee]

Pre paid County Spay shuttle health care plan

cost 120.00
included services
new patient interactive online medical record
office visit
pre surgical exam
any needed pre surgical blood testing
worm testing (Fecal)
worming
pesticide free flea and tick treatment prevention
Daily post op doctor care needed while pet hospitalized after surgery
any needed Post operative pain medication
vaccination if not given by spay shuttle at time of surgery
suture removal if needed

[guest]

Cary Conover for The New York Times
A transponder, which is inserted under the skin.

But the industry that has grown up to market the tags in the United States has been locked in a bitter battle recently over which radio frequency to use. The wrangling has led to confusion and anger among veterinarians, animal shelters and pet owners, and in one case, a runaway dog being accidentally put to death.

The main dispute pits supporters of an international standard, which is also used in the United States in tracking livestock, against companies that have built the domestic pet tracking business based on tags and scanners that operate at a lower frequency.

A second conflict is over the insistence of American Veterinary Identification Devices, one of the first companies to make tags, that its tags be encrypted. The company says it does so to fight fraud. As competitors and many tag users see it, encryption serves mainly to tie customers to its database and drive up costs.

The infighting over the standards has been so intense that Iams, the pet food division of the consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, has suspended a pledge to donate 30,000 tag scanners able to read both frequencies to animal shelters - enough, it says, to blanket the nation.

"We won't go into a situation we know will put us into a lawsuit," said Kelly Vanesse, a spokeswoman for Iams. "It's a very emotional debate, and it's been very disheartening for us."

The first signs of a compromise emerged recently with a proposal July 12 by American Veterinary, known in the industry as AVID, and Banfield, a pet hospital chain that has been one of its leading opponents, to finance an independent study of the available technology and steps needed to create a universal tag- reading standard. The chief executives of the two companies wrote a letter asking the Coalition for Reuniting Pets and Families, a consortium of veterinary and animal welfare groups recently organized by the Humane Society of the United States, to oversee the study.

The letter suggested that the study could be completed within 90 days at a cost of $20,000 to $50,000. It recommended that a transition period of five years be proposed if the study concluded that new technology would be needed to create a universal system.

"I suspect the coalition will support anything that will put this issue to rest but we have to be sure we can do it in a way that won't be second-guessed," said John Snyder, the Humane Society's representative to the group. He said the group was trying to organize a conference call to discuss the offer before the end of the month.

The proposal emerged shortly after American Veterinary and Banfield agreed on July 5 to settle a lawsuit in a California court. American Veterinary and Dr. Robert F. Stonebreaker, a veterinarian in Del Mar, Calif., accused Banfield of deceptive marketing. Banfield, which is 30 percent owned by Petsmart, has three stand-alone hospitals and about 450 others in Petsmart stores. It implanted chips based on the international standard for several months in 2004. The lawsuit said Banfield had not provided enough warning that most American shelters and veterinarians did not have the right type of scanner to read them.

The standards conflict has spawned antitrust and civil fraud lawsuits and spilled over into Congress. Supporters of the international standard recently succeeded in inserting a provision directing federal support for it in legislation that passed the House of Representatives.

There has also been at least one case of confusion that led to a dog's being put to death. The dog, a pit bull named Hayden, had been implanted at a Banfield hospital with a radio tag before running away from its owner, Lisa Massey of Stafford, Va. He was euthanized shortly before Ms. Massey arrived at the shelter where he ended up. Workers there had failed to find the tag because they were using a scanner that could recognize only lower-frequency tags.

Veterinarians say that it is likely that other animals have also perished or have been given to new owners because of the lack of a universal standard but that the extent of the problem is unknowable.

The radio tags are rice-size microchips originally developed to track and identify livestock. They are inserted into the shoulders of dogs and cats and less frequently to other types of pets.

When a radio scanner is passed over the animal, the energy from the scan powers up the chip to respond with its identification number. That number corresponds to information about the owner in one of many databases that have been set up by chip manufacturers, pet hospitals and animal welfare groups.

The pet identification business was pioneered in the United States by American Veterinary and Destron-Fearing, now owned by the Digital Angel Corporation. Digital Angel distributes its HomeAgain chips through Schering-Plough. Both companies use chips in the United States that operate on a frequency of 125 kilohertz.

The rest of the world, though, has settled on a frequency of 134.2 kilohertz. Advocates for the world standard, which has been officially adopted by the International Standards Organization, include a wide range of veterinary and animal welfare groups in the United States because it opens the way to more competition.

Prices for chips and scanners in Europe are about half those in the United States, according to backers of the international standard. While some pet owners may pay little or nothing extra to get a chipped animal from a shelter, American veterinarians often charge $25 to $60 for the service.

Because the data on the chip is just a reference number to an outside database, the pet owner must also register with the company or group that stores information about the animal and its home. That service typically costs up to $20 with additional charges to change information.

Chipping rates have soared in Europe with the adoption of the international standard, in part because European nations have begun requiring all pets crossing borders to be radio tagged. By some estimates, as many as half the dogs in England are now chipped, which would be 10 times the level commonly estimated for the United States.

Digital Angel, a public company based in South St. Paul, Minn., and American Veterinary, which is privately owned and based in Norco, Calif., have charged that vendors of the international standard have invaded the American market in a reckless way that endangers animals.

American Veterinary also said that moving to the international standard would waste the $20 million investment in more than 100,000 scanners geared to the American standard that have been distributed over the years.

Shering-Plough says that would-be vendors of the international chip have underestimated the investment needed to run accurate databases, without which the chips are useless.

The most aggressive newcomer has been DataMars, a privately held company based in Lugano, Switzerland. DataMars thought it had achieved a breakthrough last year when it reached a distribution agreement with Banfield.

Banfield announced a $19.95 bargain plan for chipping pets in February 2004 and implanted 26,000 animals over the next few months. American Veterinary and Digital Angel immediately said Banfield was misleading consumers because so few high-frequency scanners had been distributed that the tags would often go unread. And even when shelters had the scanners many workers did not realize that they worked on a different frequency.

Banfield stopped the implants in May 2004.

American Veterinary and Digital Angel filed patent infringement suits against DataMars and its American subsidiaries. In December, DataMars responded with a federal lawsuit in Alabama accusing American Veterinary and Digital Angel of illegally conspiring to keep it and other competitors out of the market.