A New Kind of Urban Planning
MU Veterinary program reaches out to animals in urban areas
According to the Humane Society, more than 4 million cats and dogs are euthanized each year in the United States. Two University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine faculty members, with the help of MU students, other veterinarians and Spay Neuter Kansas City, are working to decrease that number.
Project "Helping Overpopulation through Education" (Project HOPE) was created in early 2006 as part of an effort to reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs who, if not adopted, are often euthanized. Members of Project HOPE travel once a month to low-income areas of Kansas City where they spay or neuter more than 100 cats and dogs during each visit.
"This partnership between the HOPE program and Spay Neuter Kansas City is a true win-win situation," said Richard Meadows, clinical associate professor of veterinary medicine and surgery.
Meadows and Joann Kunz, clinical instructor for small animal community practice, lead the Project HOPE team as they also perform general health and wellness procedures designed to improve the adoptability of sheltered animals.
"The animals and their owners benefit from the physical exams, vaccination, parasite checks, heartworms tests, dewormings and sterilization that the animals receive," Meadows said. "At the same time, the veterinary students get much needed supervised experience at the two most common surgeries most of them will ever do."
In addition to the surgical experience, students gain real world knowledge in epidemiology, public health, disease ecology, infectious disease control and population health.
"I think it's important for people to understand how bad the pet overpopulation problem is," Kunz said. "It's essential that we educate pet owners on the health benefits of spaying and neutering their animals."
Funded by a grant from Hills Pet Nutrition of Topeka, Kan., Project HOPE focuses on poor, urban areas, since overpopulation of cats and dogs occurs most often in these areas.