A new partnership between the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine and the Central Missouri Humane Society is saving the lives of homeless animals.
The program allows Vet School students to perform free surgery on cats and dogs.
Dr. Matthew Prator is the clinical instructor of shelter medicine at the Mizzou Vet School. He’s in charge of the new program that lets Vet School students spay and neuter animals from the Central Missouri Humane Society.
Prator said, “Shelters across America are really cash scrapped and are always looking for ways to save money and ways to get money any way they can. By doing this, we’re able to alleviate some of the costs they were incurring for spaying and neutering these animals prior to adoption. They can use the savings for other services.”
The program has only been around for about 2 weeks and has already saved the Humane Society more than $2,000.
The new partnership is definitely a win, win situation. Not only does the Central Missouri Humane Society get free surgeries, students at the Mizzou Vet School get more experience.
In the past, the average Mizzou Vet School student performed about 3 surgeries before graduation. The new program allows students to operate on more than a dozen animals.
MU Veterinarian Student Nicholas Perez said, “It always helps to get surgery time. That decreases patient mortality. In private practice, you might be doing up to 30 surgeries a week. You can decrease the patient’s time in surgery which is always good for the patient.”
MU Vet School students are only working with Columbia’s Central Missouri Humane Society. Dr. Prator wants to expand the program to more rural areas throughout Missouri.
The students only spay and neuter animals.
MU Officials want their students to eventually perform more complicated procedures.
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