Spay days are always a reason to celebrate for the EberVet team but this was especially so on Heritage Day when even wild level 9 weather warnings failed to put even the tiniest dampener on our plans.
Working with animal welfare organisations The Outreach Program (TOP) and Helderberg Animal Rescue Team (HART) we identified pets from impoverished homes in parts of Rusthof and Broadlands in Somerset West/Gordon’s Bay that were in need of sterilisation and our clinical team sprang into action.
Spay days like these are often held in school or community halls but on this occasion we had to use our EberVet Pet Clinic in Strand which was challenging on the space front but with careful planning by our team, we managed to spay and neuter 47 animals.
Every bit of available clinic space was used to accommodate the spay clinic so that animals brought in by TOP and HART could be registered, anaesthetised, spayed or neutered and at our post-op station, have tick and flea medication applied and vaccinated against rabies. Then it was nap time in our cages until the animals were ready to go home.
Our nursing team also took the time to check teeth and clip nails and called in the assistance of our three volunteer veterinarians when illness or injury was detected.
As always, we were inundated with willing volunteers who, in spite of the public holiday and it being a Sunday, were thrilled to be part of the action. EberVet Vetshops’ Corine Geyser and Bianca Harris drove from Hermanus and Caledon to be there.
For Village Walk’s EberVet Vetshop manager, Yolande van Wyk, the spay day represented so much more than sterilisation. These free clinics also enable welfare organisations to establish closer bonds with the communities in which they work, said Yolande. This helped welfare identify those animals in need of additional assistance like proper shelter or veterinary care.
For EberVet CEO Dr Hilldidge Beer it was the selflessness of a team working towards a common purpose that inspired her. The EberVet Heritage Day Spay Day will be an annual event.
