localmatters.co.nz
March 4, 2020
Your locally-owned Community Newspaper FREE
Inside this issue Travel with the WOW factor
From left, Margaret Mitchell, Pat Daw, Helen Stancliffe and Hazel Impey of Coast Pet Care Community Vet Clinic. Vets have divided opinions on the new clinic’s low cost desexing service.
pages 17 to 21
New operation offers budget pet desexing A Silverdale animal charity has taken its service to the next level, opening a community vet clinic that offers low cost pet desexing and microchipping. The service, which caters for all companion animals, is primarily offered to rescue charities but also to people who struggle to access desexing due to cost. The organisation behind the service is Coast Pet Care Charitable Trust, which combines two other Trusts – CatsnCare and North Auckland Animal Rescue. Trustee Helen Stancliffe has been rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming
cats and kittens for more than 14 years. “Before this, we were keenly aware that we were only dealing with the fallout of mismanagement of companion animals and doing little to prevent the problem,” Helen says. She says offering low cost desexing and microchipping is a proactive approach that can reap huge benefits for the animals, the community and the environment. “We will be able to target problem areas where strays are endemic,” she says. The clinic has been set up at the
Coast Pet Care centre in East Coast Road thanks to donated money and equipment. It is staffed by local volunteers – two vets and six vet nurses. A $10,000 bequest and a grant of the same amount from the Lush Cosmetics charity pot fund were invaluable in setting up the clinic. Sourcing the equipment and materials meant Helen had to cast her net wide. Trays of surgical instruments were donated by Starship and Whangarei Hospitals. A vet supply company, Kahuvet, provided discounted products including a state of the art operating
Clearance
table, anesthetic and blood machines and a $3000 autoclave, for sterilising instruments. Shelving came from the Papakura Police Station and garage trolleys purchased from a hardware store proved to be cheap and effective workbenches. An anonymous donor provided an ultrasound machine, valued at around $2000. “A lot of people really believe in what we are doing and helped in so many ways,” Helen says. The normal cost of desexing, at around $100 for a cat neuter, $160 continued p2
50% off
Not available in conjunction with any other offer. No rainchecks. 53B Rawhiti Road, Manly Village Ph (09) 424 7708, Fax (09) 424 7427 www.unichemmanly.co.nz
Your local health professional
Manly Pharmacy