Transcripts
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
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:people and rescues making a
difference in the lives of animals.
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:Thank you for coming on
the show today, Karen.
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:I am eager to learn about.
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:The unique jobs you have in
the animal welfare community.
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:It seems like you do a lot.
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:I understand your group's
Slomba Shelter Solutions.
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:It plays a unique role in the
animal welfare community by helping
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:shelters and rescues improving their
operations and thus saving more lives.
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:I can't wait to hear about that
specific need that your group fills.
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:But before we start with that, can you
tell us how you came to be involved
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:in animal rescue and animal welfare?
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:Karen: Yeah, interestingly
enough, it was:
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:of dates me, but it was 2001.
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:I was living in Buffalo, New York, and I.
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:Went to a PetSmart and saw a cat that I
fell in love with, and so foolishly, I
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:called the director of the rescue and I'm
like, Hey, can you tell me about this cat?
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:And she's sure, do you wanna adopt it?
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:I'm like.
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:No, I just wanna know about the cat
now that I've been in rescue forever.
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:The kind of person I was at that moment is
the kind of person that makes us all crazy
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:'cause like, why are you wasting my time?
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:But it was an organization
called 10 Lives Club and very
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:small organization at the time.
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:And I started volunteering for
them and the next thing I knew
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:I was running their shelter.
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:The next thing I knew I was their
director of operations, and then I
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:got recruited to a shelter in Florida.
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:Now, before I go into the
Florida thing, let me tell you
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:that 10 Lives Club now today.
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:25 years later is adopting out about
3,500 cats a year, which is remarkable,
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:especially since it's just cats.
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:And today we brought in 50
cats from Jefferson Parish.
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:Animal shelter.
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:So we were really excited about that.
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:Excited to be able to help J Paws
and excited to bring animals here
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:that we knew we could get into homes.
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:So that was fun.
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:Dixie: Yeah that's amazing.
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:50 cats.
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:Wow.
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:Karen: And from Jefferson Parish
especially, because, that's where
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:you're calling me from is, Louisiana.
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:So it's like how ironic.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah, so then I just went into
animal sheltering for a lot of years.
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:I was a directors of a place called
Cat Depot and then a place called
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:Nate's Honor Animal Rescue Center.
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:And then I was the executive director of
the Animal Welfare League of Charlotte.
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:And to be perfectly honest,
from that last job I was fired,
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:which I share with everybody.
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:It was like, this happens.
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:It's like just like in football,
like coaches get fired and
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:they land on their feet.
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:Right?
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:Sometimes in animal welfare, especially
when you're running a nonprofit,
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:sometimes you're board of directors
can, really make life a little hard.
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:And so there was a lot of philosophical
differences between myself and my board.
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:And one day I walked in my office,
they're like, yeah, we decided
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:we're going in another direction.
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:And I was blindsided and devastated and.
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:What am I gonna do?
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:And so I started Slomba Shelter
Solutions just at that time, just
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:thinking oh, I guess maybe I can call
my friends and ask them for work.
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:I'll do consulting.
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:But it just morphed into this thing
that is way bigger than I ever imagined.
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:So we do a lot of consulting
for organizations, especially
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:in New York because there is a
law now that standardizes, the
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:animal care in animal shelters.
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:So there is, there are a lot of
things that shelters in New York
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:need to learn to be in compliance
with this new law which has been very
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:challenging for a lot of shelters.
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:And then but it's good to have
guidelines that everybody follows, right?
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:And then so we do a lot
of consulting in other.
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:States and municipalities on their
operations, but the main focus
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:of my business is spay neuter.
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:We stop me because I just
keep talking and talking.
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:Spay and neuter.
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:So our company provides supplemental
spay neuter support mostly for
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:animal shelters, but also for some
high volume spay, neuter clinics.
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:Across the country.
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:So the, the pop-up clinics that we
do at the L-A-S-P-C-A with Spay Mart
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:that's just one area where we do them,
but we do them really all over the
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:country where there's just not enough
spay neuter appointments for people
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:to be able to get their animals done.
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:And a lot of the shelters are
having backlogs of spay neuter.
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:So we just created teams to go
into shelters around the country.
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:We have about.
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:I'd say 200, a little over 250
veterinarians that work for us right now.
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:And probably 300 ish veterinary
technicians and we travel 'em
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:around the country and it's
really been very successful.
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:Dixie: When you do these spay neuter
clinics and you staff that, how do
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:you go about recruiting the staff?
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:And are you able to offer a lower
price for shelters and rescues?
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:Karen: Yeah, so what we do is for example,
if I use the L-A-S-P-C-A, for example,
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:we were fortunate enough Spay Mart and
myself to get a grant from PetSmart
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:Charities that allowed us to offer really
cheap, like $25 surgeries for rescues
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:across the Greater New Orleans area.
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:It depends on where, what your
funding sources or situations are.
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:But our costs are relatively low
because, we're paying our vets and
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:vet techs obviously a reasonable rate.
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:We don't wanna ask them to volunteer
because that's just not sustainable.
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:And then we, pay for the consumables.
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:We pay the L-A-S-B-C-A for the
consumables, and then my company
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:marks everything up just a
little bit, but not enough where.
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:Surgeries like we can easily, even
without a grant, we can do spay neuter
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:for $65 a piece which is in our eyes
relatively reasonable when a lot of
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:places, a lot of private practices
are asking for $500 for spay neuter.
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:So we are able to keep it a
little bit more affordable.
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:Dixie: Do you have a permanent.
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:Shelter or a permanent clinic for this, or
is this just all strictly like a pop-up?
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:Karen: Yeah, it's all popups.
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:So we go into, and that's the, our
secret sauce is we go into clinics
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:when they're closed, so they're not
utilizing the equipment or the space.
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:So we go in and we will, perform our magic
like on, on Saturdays when we do these at.
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:The Louisiana SBCA, for example,
we do a hundred cats and then, we
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:leave and we clean up and we leave.
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:It's like we were never there.
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:I always say it's like ServPro
liquid never even happened.
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:But the it's.
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:It's not in a permanent space.
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:We've done them at j ps, we've done
them at a Terrebonne animal shelter.
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:So you know, we can really take it
any place where there is available
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:equipment and a partner shelter that is
interested in expanding their capacity.
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:Dixie: And so if let's say the shelter
or the rescue was short on funds for
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:that, then it, would you be able to
do it, like you said, for the $65?
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:Karen: Oh yeah.
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:Yeah, no, so like, when we had the
grant, we did it for everyone for $25.
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:Now that we've run out of that grant
funding, we're able to do it for $65.
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:And sometimes, like there's a woman in St.
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:Mary's Parish who works so hard
and she pays for a lot of it
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:out, out of her own pocket.
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:There are cases where I will
discount what I'm getting.
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:What my company is making out of
it so that we can make it a little
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:bit less expensive for the rescues
who are just really struggling and
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:are who are working tirelessly.
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:Sometimes we'll do things like that so
we can make it even more affordable.
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:Like sometimes we can make it 45.
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:We can't really go much lower than 65 on
TNR unfortunately, because that includes
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:vaccines and so there's a little bit more.
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:Involved in that with the rescues.
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:They pay a little bit extra if
they want vaccines, but most of
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:the rescues do their own vaccines,
so they don't really need it.
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:They just need the surgeries.
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:Dixie: That would be great for some
of the rural parishes that we have.
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:'cause I know we have a lot of 'em.
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:And that's their biggest need.
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:Like they can't find the low cost options
like we have here in Jefferson Parish,
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:which is a much bigger parish than the
smaller parishes that are around here.
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:And some of them don't
even have a shelter.
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:Yeah.
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:So that would definitely be like a
good thing to to introduce them to.
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:Hopefully they can hear this.
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:And find out about it
and contact you maybe.
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:Karen: Yeah, absolutely.
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:We are always interested in creating
new partnerships and especially in
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:those areas where there's just nothing.
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:It's really great to be able to,
provide services that no one can get.
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:The challenge is in those places, is
there gonna be a facility that will allow
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:us to come in if they don't have it?
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:Like shelters are.
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:Usually the no-brainer, because
shelters are like, yes, please,
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:spay and neuter cats or dogs.
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:And so sometimes we'll have
to partner with a clinic and
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:that's not quite always as easy.
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:And then, there's like Spay Nation in
Lafayette who have, they've got a mobile
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:clinic and so we, we could talk to them
about doing a mobile clinic in, in some.
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:Parishes that are like, just have nothing.
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:Right now we're mostly doing L-A-S-P-C-A
and Jefferson Parish for the moment.
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:, Dixie: How many cats, let's
say just in Louisiana, are you
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:doing with these, pop-up clinic
clinics let's say in a given year.
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:Karen: We do, we, this year
we've done 'em once a month.
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:And we do a hundred cats each time.
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:So I guess 1200 cats.
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:Does that make sense?
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:Dixie: Yes.
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:That's a lot.
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:Yeah.
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:Imagine how many cats that would be.
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:Karen: I know if they were
reproducing and we've talked about
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:maybe trying to do twice a month.
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:But we're just not there yet.
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:But always open to other situations.
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:As a funny thing, Michelle, who's the
director of Jefferson Parish Animal
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:Shelter was here today with her 50 cats.
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:And we were talking, I said, I really
wanna get in and do some more public
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:surgeries for Jefferson Parish.
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:Jefferson Parish is really unique because
you guys have the J-S-P-C-A and you have.
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:The fix a feline and fix a canine program.
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:So it's very easy for us to do
surgeries anywhere in Jefferson Parish
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:because it's the clients don't really
need to find the funding 'cause it's
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:there through those two programs.
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:I wish everybody had that program.
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:It's such a great program that
J-S-B-C-A runs Kudos to them.
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:Dixie: Yeah, it is a wonderful program
and it's a shame that there's more
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:people that don't take advantage of it.
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:Karen: Yeah.
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:And I think that it's just that
people, should know about it,
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:but they don't know about it.
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:So I wish there was a way for everybody to
do a little more education on it, now that
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:I think about it, it might be a great.
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:Idea to have some of those local
rescues all be promoting JS
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:PCA's fix AFE line program and in
addition to their own, of course.
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:Really the more that word gets
out, the more animals will
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:be done in Jefferson Parish.
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:And people don't realize how lucky
they are to live in Jefferson
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:Parish if they have pets.
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:Dixie: Yeah it's true and it is hard
even though when you tell people
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:about the program sometimes it's still
hard to get 'em on board with it too.
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:Karen: Tell me why you say that?
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:It's just that they don't, just don't
wanna spay and neuter their pets.
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:Dixie: I don't know.
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:I guess that's the big mystery.
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:I know there are situations, if I'm
on social media or something and I
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:see somebody that has a has a cat,
especially if they're giving the cat
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:away, the first thing that I'm gonna ask
is, Hey, is I can't spayed or neutered?
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:Good answer is that cat in an area
where you have low cost spay or
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:neuter, because even in Orleans
Parish, they have programs in Orleans.
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:Of course we have the one in Jefferson.
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:I don't know, like there was one just
the other day, it was a kitten and yeah.
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:So my first thing is, okay,
can we keep this kitten?
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:It's one kitten.
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:Can we keep that kitten in a home?
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:Yeah.
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:And so I asked the question, hey first
is the kitten spayed or neutered?
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:It looks like it's two pounds.
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:No telling and of course answer's no.
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:Okay.
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:Why are you getting rid of the kitten?
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:That's the second thing
that I'm gonna ask.
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:'cause if it's something, like I
can't afford to get it spayed or
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:neutered, or, I need some food.
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:Okay let us find a solution for you.
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:And so this particular situation
the kitten was not spayed, it was a
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:kitten they found that was outside
and they just couldn't have more than
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:one, and they needed it gone asap.
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:Okay.
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:So they had another cat already, but
they weren't willing to work with a
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:rescue to try to, get it in a home.
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:And they ended up finding a home for
it, which is aggravating because.
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:Now it's not because the
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:Karen: cat's still not spay.
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:Dixie: And and in that situation
too, I was even like, okay, you found
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:it a home, have them contact me,
I will give them the information.
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:But good is that gonna happen?
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:It's just sometimes people seem to
make up excuses too, there was another
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:one, it was an adult cat beautiful cat.
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:And they had an existing cat in the home.
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:So the female cat had five kittens.
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:She found homes for all the five kittens.
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:Unfortunately, I don't know how
that went with the spay and neuter?
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:But the adult cat the mom was not spayed.
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:The excuse she used for that was
that it was only five months.
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:That since she had her kittens.
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:And yeah, of course you
could go get her spayed now.
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:You could get her spayed, a month,
a week after she has the kittens.
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:Sure.
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:And the mantra
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:Karen: now is fixed by five.
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:Yeah.
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:Fixed by the time they're five months.
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:Dixie: Yeah.
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:So you don't even get into that situation.
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:But, of course she didn't do that, so I
was like, okay, let's see what we can do.
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:Why are you getting rid of this cat?
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:Oh it's not getting
along with my male cat.
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:Okay.
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:, I'm assuming the male was neutered or she
would've had more kittens and I was Right.
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:The male was neutered.
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:So I'm like your issue is
the female is not spayed.
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:That's your issue.
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:If you go spay the female, chances
are it will end up working out with
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:a, just a little bit of patience.
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:Yeah.
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:And no, then it came.
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:I can't keep it.
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:Okay.
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:Let us work with you.
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:And we even said there's
a popup clinic coming up.
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:We can get you into the pop-up clinic.
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:Can you go?
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:Oh, always.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Can you get the cat to the pop-up clinic?
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:Now it's my car's broken.
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:Oh, Lord.
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:And so it's just like one
excuse after the other.
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:This person ended up contacting
three different rescues.
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:All of them offering the same help,
but it's like one of these things
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:where she wants to get rid of the
cat, but then she's not willing to
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:put up any effort at all in trying
to get the cat into the appointment
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:or even bring the cat to somebody
who can go get it spayed or neutered.
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:Karen: Yeah.
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:It's interesting because when I
ran shelters I used to recognize
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:pretty regularly, like by the
time they're calling us, right?
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:They're done.
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:Like people do not wanna take one extra
step, and if we can figure out how
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:to get to them before they're calling
us, if we can figure out how to.
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:To get the word out there and
educate the community how simple it
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:is, because usually they only call
us when they're at their wits end.
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:So that's, that is really frustrating.
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:I think that, maybe the answer is.
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:Let us come get the cat and have it
spayed and neutered and would you be
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:willing, maybe not, but would you be
willing to try it and see if it works
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:when she spayed or neutered or foster her?
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:'cause we don't have space in the shelter
until we can, help you find a home.
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:And sometimes if you meet
'em halfway, they'll do it.
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:But the funny thing is with dogs, people
who have dogs, especially men who have
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:dogs, I hate to say it, but they're like,
I don't wanna take away his manhood.
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:It's are you serious?
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:Really?
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:Like I can't take those,
that dog's testicles.
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:I can't do it.
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:Like I just, I can't.
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:It's a morally disturbing thing to do,
and I'm like no, you don't understand.
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:Like we, we really have to do this.
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:So that has been a struggle for
me is to have that conversation
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:with people who just feel like.
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:It's unnatural to take
that from a boy dog.
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:Boy.
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:Cats are easier because they tend to spray
and their urine tends to smell really bad.
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:So people are like, alright,
I gotta get the cat neutered.
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:But male dogs are a struggle
to convince some people.
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:But you know what?
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:We never have a shortage of
people, coming to us to get their
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:animals spayed and neutered.
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:I'm sorry you've had those struggles.
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:'Cause it is frustrating.
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:Dixie: Yeah, it is frustrating.
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:And I think to me the most
frustrating part is that when they
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:want it to happen immediately.
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:And they're not willing to
wait a little bit of time.
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:'cause a lot of them don't understand
that these people that are in rescues the
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:animal shelter's a little bit different,
but people that are in rescues, they work.
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:Full time.
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:So they're all volunteers and they
cannot always take an animal right
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:away when you say, I'm moving tomorrow.
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:Can you take this animal?
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:You should have given us
a little bit more time.
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:Yeah.
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:We could have helped you, but not in
just a few hours because we all work.
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:Karen: It's sad because I think.
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:If people knew that maybe they
would do it differently, but
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:they just don't know any better.
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:But it puts you guy or the whoever
the rescue is in a horrible bind
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:because, half the time you're full.
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:So you can't take a cat.
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:You could take a cat a week from now,
or two weeks from now, but not today.
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:So it's a shame that once again, people
just, they don't, they're not, we are not.
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:Educating them enough, and I'm not
sure how to educate them more, but
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:I sure wish we could figure it out.
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:Dixie: Yeah.
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:That would be the thing to figure
out, to definitely get it to the point
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:where when they think of getting a
pet that's what they think about.
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:'Cause I know for me, that's
how I've always been, yeah.
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:I've always grown up and I'm
like, okay, we gotta a new cat.
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:We've gotta go get it spayed or neutered.
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:And I've been like that
ever since I was a child.
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:But it's getting, people.
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:To think like that as well.
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:Karen: I think that also, it
depends who you grow up with.
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:I have run into, young people who
are like my cat's pregnant, and
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:I'm like, oh, how did that happen?
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:I don't know.
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:We used to, growing up, we always had
cats that would come, home pregnant.
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:And I'm like, all so the disconnect
was in the family where the family
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:didn't make it a priority.
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:So this is what these people
have learned growing up.
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:So it's like you almost can't blame
anybody for not doing better because
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:in most cases, if they knew what an
impact it would have, I'd say a lot of
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:them would probably do it or how much.
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:It impacts the health of the animal.
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:Like a dog or a cat is much less
likely to get testicular cancer
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:if they are neutered, right?
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:So that right there.
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:Same thing with cats, like much
less likely to get mammary cancer
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:or ovarian cancer if they're spayed.
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:Not to mention like a omera, which
is an infection of the uterus that
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:happens, relatively frequently to
unspayed female cats and that's
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:fatal if it's not addressed.
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:I think if they knew all that,
maybe they do things differently.
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:And I do think there that people
feel like their barrier is financial,
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:even though there's a fix a feline
program, they just don't know about it.
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:Especially if you call your normal
vet, you're just a private practice
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:vet and you're like, hi, how much
would it cost to spay my cat?
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:And they're like $600.
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:Nobody has that kind of money.
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:And it's funny 'cause private
practice are raising the prices
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:on spay neuter, which is sad.
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:Not except for Genevieve Wisdom.
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:I'm gonna give a shout out to her.
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:'cause she's amazing.
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:She keeps her prices low.
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:Dixie: Yeah.
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:Now I did run into one
situation where I found a cat.
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:Very friendly little cat.
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:And so I figured he belonged to somebody
just because of the way he was acting.
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:And I happened to find the owner of the
cat, and of course he was not neutered.
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:So I asked her, I'm like,
Hey, why isn't he neutered?
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:And she said she went to go
take him to the vet and the
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:vet wanted to charge like $400.
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:And I was like, oh, I gotcha.
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:So she did let me get 'em neutered.
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:Karen: Oh, thank God.
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:But, and some people are,
they're like so grateful when
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:you give them an alternative.
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:I'm on the board of an organization
in Niagara Falls, New York, called
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:Better Together Pet Resource Center.
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:And this is a consistent thing we
hear, like people come in with pregnant
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:cats or adult cats that male cats that
are spraying or, and it's not that
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:they don't want to get their animals
fixed, they just can't afford it.
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:At regular prices.
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:So we did a vaccine clinic
and at our VA vaccine clinic.
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:Everyone that showed up it was like
for people who, were not didn't have
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:the means to do it on their own.
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:So we had this vaccine clinic and we
asked everybody if we were able to
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:give you an opportunity to spay and
neuter your cat, would you want it?
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:Every single person said yes, everyone.
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:And it , wasn't just cats,
it was cats and dogs.
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:So we made a deal with one of
the local clinics and we provided
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:transportation for all these people.
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:So all the people who were able
to get to our vaccine clinic
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:just brought their animals there.
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:We provided transportation to the clinic.
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:'cause transportation's
another big problem.
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:So that worked really well and I
was really excited to learn that.
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:Every single person there
wanted to get it done.
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:They just didn't think that they
could because of the prices.
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:Dixie: I've heard that from a few
other people that I have interviewed
431
:that live in New Jersey and New York.
432
:So their rescues are in
New Jersey and New York.
433
:It's funny because they
said the same thing.
434
:They said over there, it's a financial
barrier, so when they find they
435
:can get it done they get it done.
436
:And I was telling them, it's just here.
437
:It's just so weird because we
have it, but we just cannot get
438
:the people on board with it.
439
:Karen: Again, I think it's if more
people understood it was there.
440
:Then more people would do it, so
the question is maybe , we maybe
441
:collectively, like everybody in the
rescue arena in the New Orleans area,
442
:did you do a series of billboards.
443
:They're not expensive.
444
:There's a guy actually who owns a lot
of billboards around there who is a.
445
:A fan of rescue and about the fix
the feline and canine program, but we
446
:would see a lot more people getting
involved in doing it and having it taken
447
:care of their pets and the program's
been around for a really long time.
448
:But you tell me how is
it advertised right now?
449
:Dixie: Maybe it's 'cause I'm in
rescue, but I see it like all over,
450
:there's the groups on social media
that aren't just animal groups.
451
:And they share it everywhere.
452
:You know what I mean?
453
:I don't know.
454
:If we could figure that
out, we're all set.
455
:Karen: Exactly.
456
:Honestly, , I mean it would be really
interesting, a fun experiment to
457
:try to get all the local rescues
to like, at the same time do a mega
458
:promotion on the fix a feline program.
459
:Because like for instance, the Louisiana
SPCA, they take fix a feline vouchers.
460
:I mean they they would do it like
all the Jefferson Parish rescues and
461
:there are a lot of really good ones.
462
:Jefferson Parish would also, I
think, try to get the word out.
463
:But I've learned that social media,
like we all rely on it more than,
464
:not, more than we should, but
we rely on it as being the only.
465
:The goal to get the word out and we
forget some of the ways that we used
466
:to do it before there was social media.
467
:So I do think that there's, there's a
lot of people who don't have the internet
468
:or who don't have a Facebook page.
469
:So they're not seeing that message.
470
:If you think about it, the private
practices, if somebody comes to them
471
:and asks to get their animal fixed and
they say it's gonna be $400, they're
472
:not, they're likely, sadly, the private
practice is not likely to say however.
473
:We can get it for you with this voucher
where they're gonna make a lot less money.
474
:That's also a challenge because
they're probably not promoting it,
475
:but they are re redeeming vouchers,
which right there is really important.
476
:Like they're doing something good, but
they're not necessarily promoting it.
477
:Dixie: Back to your clinics
though, when you do your clinics.
478
:Yeah.
479
:How long does it take to do a hundred cats
480
:Karen: Around six hours.
481
:Five to six hours.
482
:Depending on if, we get a good
groove going with our surgery
483
:team we usually start at about
eight o'clock in the morning.
484
:We're usually done around one,
two o'clock at the latest.
485
:So that's how long it takes.
486
:Dogs take longer, but my surgeons
love love, love cat days 'cause cats
487
:are way easier to spay than a dog.
488
:Dixie: Yeah.
489
:And I know a cat neuter is
just a matter of minutes.
490
:It's like really fast.
491
:Karen: Yeah.
492
:It's 30 seconds and for vets who are,
surgeons who are high volume trained,
493
:like most of our high volume surgeons
will do a spay like in six minutes.
494
:It's really remarkable to watch.
495
:Dixie: Yeah.
496
:Yeah, it is.
497
:I've actually seen my vet
do a neuter, so I know it.
498
:I know they're like really fast.
499
:She was done in just
not even five minutes.
500
:Karen: Yeah, not enough time for you
to pass out from looking at all at
501
:the insides of the cat, which happened
to me once when I was watching a
502
:necropsy, which was really mortifying.
503
:Dixie: No I watched her do a spay too.
504
:I was actually fascinated by it.
505
:I thought it was pretty cool.
506
:But, oh.
507
:Karen: You can come and watch our
surgeons do space anytime you want.
508
:Dixie: When you staff your clinics,
do you use volunteers as well
509
:or is it all just regular staff?
510
:Karen: We do, , we use volunteers.
511
:, We love to have volunteers and we never
feel like we can quite have enough.
512
:Obviously the technical part
of it has to be done by people
513
:who are experienced and fast.
514
:But we have, a lot of people, we try
to get volunteers to help with check-in
515
:and checkout, which is so important.
516
:And then we teach.
517
:Volunteers how to clean the surgical
instruments and wrap 'em up to put them
518
:in the autoclave for sterilization.
519
:If we have a lot of ferals, we are always
excited if we have a volunteer who will
520
:help us with cleaning the traps while
the cat is in the, on the surgery table.
521
:Yeah, so there's a lot of
opportunities for volunteers.
522
:And usually we have.
523
:Plenty, but sometimes we don't have
quite enough and it makes us sad.
524
:It makes our teams have to
work a little bit harder.
525
:Always, I always want volunteers
if anyone's listening, who
526
:might be interested in that.
527
:And the volunteers are
recruited through spay.
528
:Dixie: And that would be for local.
529
:How many states , do you do this in?
530
:Karen: Right now we are in, let me
see if I can do this real quick.
531
:New York Florida, like hugely in Florida.
532
:That's our biggest market.
533
:Louisiana, Mississippi New Mexico.
534
:Texas.
535
:We're working on Chicago and
Massachusetts, Georgia, South Carolina.
536
:I think that's it right now, but
we're looking for world dominance.
537
:I'm just kidding.
538
:Where, any state that calls us and
has an interest and has a little
539
:bit of funding to make it happen,
we will, mobilize and make it work.
540
:Some states are a little
harder, like for example, in.
541
:New York, if you're a vet tech,
you have to be a licensed vet tech
542
:in New York and you have to have
your license from New York State.
543
:So it limits our pool of technicians
that we have to work with.
544
:Whereas in Louisiana, you
don't have to be licensed.
545
:So in the event we are doing an, we're
doing a popup clinic and we have two
546
:surgeons and we need seven technicians.
547
:If I only have five local technicians who
are available that weekend, then I can fly
548
:technicians in from Florida and I'm not
worried about the licensing piece of it.
549
:Whereas in New York, it's oh, I
can't fly somebody in from Florida.
550
:'cause they're not licensed.
551
:The weird thing, every state has different
rules, so it makes it complicated.
552
:But, we love the states that don't have
the licensing requirements for Fed Techs.
553
:, Dixie: When you do have a pop-up clinic,
where are your staff coming from?
554
:Do they like live in the cities
and the states that you're
555
:using, or do you fly them in?
556
:Karen: It depends on where we are.
557
:So like with Louisiana and Florida, for
example, I have enough technicians locally
558
:that there's no point in flying them in.
559
:Dixie: You said that you also do
like consulting with the shelters?
560
:Yes.
561
:When you do consulting with
the shelters I'm just curious.
562
:You mentioned there's this new law
in New York, so can I ask about that?
563
:Karen: Yeah.
564
:It's a really crazy law and
we're all really curious to
565
:see how it's gonna play out.
566
:So it's called the.
567
:New York State Companion Animal.
568
:Wait, let me think if I can remember this.
569
:New York State Companion Animal Standard
of Care Act, which is really long.
570
:And as of December 1st, all
shelters have to comply with this
571
:this law, which is very extensive.
572
:So it's certain.
573
:For example, there are legal
dimensions of cages to hold
574
:animals in that are acceptable.
575
:And hey, if you have cages that are
smaller than that, it's not in compliance.
576
:And so it's basically against the
law to house an animal that way.
577
:The law also requires.
578
:That you have written protocols for
every aspect of your operations and
579
:especially your medical protocols.
580
:If you have a veterinary staff, the
law requires that you have training
581
:manuals that are approved by the state.
582
:It's really crazy like training manuals
that, so you have a whole training
583
:component of your shelter and it's not
just Hey, we just have 'em shadow us.
584
:There has to be materials for training.
585
:So there's a lot of things
that, a lot of rescues.
586
:Are very nervous because they're
like, we're just a little rescue.
587
:Like I did a consult with an organization
not too long ago, and they're in a
588
:storefront and they adopt kittens out,
really, mostly only kittens, and they're
589
:a free roaming, for lack of a better term.
590
:It's almost like an adoption center.
591
:But the animals live there, so
they're considered a shelter.
592
:And I've really struggled with this one
because they don't have the appropriate
593
:living space according to the law.
594
:Okay?
595
:And they all the animals are free roaming.
596
:And there's, if you have free
roaming cats, the law says, and
597
:this is nuts, the law says you
can only have 12 cats in a room.
598
:And it doesn't matter how big the room is.
599
:So if the room is ginormous.
600
:Only 12 animals.
601
:And that to me is very arbitrary, but
it's what they came up with in this law.
602
:So they usually have 30 little
kittens running around this space.
603
:To me it's not an ideal way to
do it, but it works for them.
604
:They don't have a lot of illness.
605
:They take precautions to make sure that
they're weighing the kittens regularly
606
:to make sure that everybody's eating.
607
:And when I say kittens, not
teeny tinies, but four month old.
608
:Three month old.
609
:And they're doing good work.
610
:They're getting animals into
homes and for me, it's very hard
611
:for me to tell them, you guys.
612
:The way you're set up, you might
not be able to continue to operate.
613
:That's a very hard thing.
614
:But the way the law is set up is
that the Department of Agriculture
615
:will come in and they will inspect,
and as they inspect, they can issue
616
:fines or they can shut a shelter down.
617
:So on one hand, it's a great law because
it'll, it'll keep us from having.
618
:Rescues who are spinning outta
control, if that makes sense.
619
:Like rescues who have too
many cats and the animals are
620
:not humanely being cared for.
621
:But one of the big fears as
we roll into this law is that.
622
:A lot of rescues are gonna be forced to
shut down, which is not gonna be helpful
623
:it's a very interesting time in New York,
624
:but if the Department of Agriculture
ends up shutting, rescues down,
625
:I do think that we'll go back in
and try to amend the legislation.
626
:But it's gonna be really interesting.
627
:The other kind of consulting that we do
is we go into shelters and help them.
628
:Rewrite their SOPs and maybe assist
them in coming up with programs
629
:that are working around the country.
630
:But that specific shelter doesn't
really know about the program.
631
:There are like kitten diversion programs
for shelters that not everybody uses.
632
:And there's a managed admission is
something that not everybody does.
633
:It's helpful for them to learn.
634
:I love to think that, everybody
wants to hire me, but it's not me.
635
:It's really, I have a lot of people
that I know, like I have a very wide
636
:network of experts in the field,
and I'm very lucky to have that.
637
:So I just basically look at a shelter,
say, what are you looking for?
638
:Like even one shelter, they're
hiring all new staff because they're
639
:about to open their new building.
640
:And they're like, can you help us hire?
641
:So it just depends on what the
need is, and then I'll find the
642
:expert and put 'em together.
643
:So that's really what we do.
644
:I wish I had more time to personally
do consults, but 'cause I love it.
645
:It's fun to help people be better,
but it's a lot and we have a
646
:very tiny team in terms of admin.
647
:There's a lot to do.
648
:Dixie: Looking ahead, what is the
biggest goal you hope to achieve
649
:in the next five years to further
your cause of animal welfare?
650
:Karen: I would say looking ahead
in the next five years, ultimately
651
:I would like to be in all 50
states, spaying, neutering animals.
652
:To me, the consulting stuff is fun.
653
:It's a nice little offshoot,
but honestly, people.
654
:Spaying and neutering.
655
:If we're not doing that,
we're spinning our wheels.
656
:And so ultimately I'd like
to be able to do that.
657
:Oh, and the other thing, and I don't know
if I can do this in five years, maybe.
658
:Six.
659
:No, I'm just kidding.
660
:Maybe I'm just teasing.
661
:One of my major goals major goals is to
start, and I'm actually partnering with
662
:some really cool organizations on this,
but starting to figure out how we can
663
:train more veterinarians to do high volume
spay neuter, because a lot of times I have
664
:veterinarians who come to me and say, Hey,
I'd really like to participate in your.
665
:In your pop-up clinics and I have to tell
them no, because you're not fast enough.
666
:I don't wanna say it quite that way,
but it's , if they don't have the
667
:speed, then we can't provide the
numbers that we're contracted to do.
668
:So if we can train more people, and
then you think about it like the private
669
:practitioners who do a 45 minute spay.
670
:If we can teach them to do even
a 10 minute spay, then they
671
:can probably do more, right?
672
:Like more in a day.
673
:A day, because time is money.
674
:If they, if it takes 'em 45 minutes to
do it, that's their time for 45 minutes.
675
:But if you teach 'em to do it
quicker, then they could do four
676
:surgeries in that time or five,
and they're not gonna lose money.
677
:Does that make sense?
678
:It does.
679
:Yeah, so we wanna do that.
680
:We wanna teach a lot of like
students coming outta school.
681
:What's really terrifying is when
students graduate from vet school,
682
:most of them have only one or two
spas or neuter under their belt, and
683
:then they go into private practice and
they're like, oh my gosh, can I do it?
684
:It's scary.
685
:It's scary to them.
686
:So we'd love to be able to.
687
:And put together some coaching
scenarios for students so they can
688
:get more experience actually doing the
surgeries with coaches who will make
689
:sure that they're, gaining confidence.
690
:And then it's, it, we have more,
if they can be confident and feel
691
:good about what they're doing, we're
gonna have more surgeons a more.
692
:People graduating from vet school
who wanna be spay surgeons.
693
:Our biggest dilemma is that it's
hard for them to have the confidence
694
:to do it or to build their speed.
695
:So if we can provide opportunities
for students to do that, then
696
:that's a win for the universe.
697
:Dixie: Definitely.
698
:Karen: Yeah.
699
:Yeah.
700
:So I think training is a big
piece of what I'd like to do and
701
:make, just trying to provide more
spay neuter around the country.
702
:Dixie: Before we end the call, I would
like to know how many spays and neuter
703
:with all of your pop-up clinics do you
estimate that you have done in a year?
704
:Karen: That's so hard 'cause I just, I
haven't counted and I should, I would
705
:say probably, this is such a ballpark.
706
:I'd say probably 30,000.
707
:Dixie: Wow.
708
:And to think about that and then just to
imagine what the number could have been
709
:Karen: I know.
710
:I swear, even if you do
a hundred, it's like.
711
:The numbers are astronomical when you
think about what you're preventing.
712
:But yeah, we do a lot of surgeries
in a lot of places, so I'm gonna say
713
:30,000 is probably my best guess.
714
:Dixie: Wow.
715
:Thank you so much for
coming on the show today.
716
:I enjoyed speaking with you.
717
:Karen: I enjoyed speaking with
you and thank you for having me.
718
:That's all the time that we
have for today's episode.
719
:Thank you for listening.
720
:If you are enjoying our show, please
consider leaving us a donation.
721
:A hundred percent goes to our animals.
