Spay Day 2010
In a nationwide effort to help community members, improve animal health and reduce pet overpopulation, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine provided 77 low-cost spay and neuter procedures for large dogs from Yolo and surrounding counties on Spay Day 2010.
The event was held Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28 at the Gourley Clinical Teaching Center in the School of Veterinary Medicine.
More than 175 veterinarians, staff members and veterinary students volunteered to spay and neuter the dogs. Animals arrived Saturday afternoon and remained overnight in preparation for procedures Sunday morning. Veterinarians performed the exams and surgeries. Other specialists oversaw anesthesia and recovery. Students accompanied animals throughout the intake, exam, surgery, recovery and discharge process.
The event helps low-income pet owners protect their animals' health and well-being, and reduces pet overpopulation. Preventing unwanted litters eases overcrowding at local shelters, reduces euthanasia of healthy animals, and protects against illness or injury of abandoned pets.
NATIONAL MISSION
The UC Davis event was part of an annual event coordinated by the Sacramento Area Animal Coalition to spay and neuter animals in the Sacramento region through the national Spay Day project. The regional effort to spay and neuter up to 1,000 animals during a single event is the largest event of its kind in the nation. Since 2000, Spay Day Sacramento has been responsible for altering more than 5,000 dogs and cats in the largest one-day spay/neuter event in the United States.
Appointments were scheduled beforehand for the low-cost procedures, available for pets from households with annual incomes of less than $35,000. Each animal received services valued at $300, including the surgery, physical exam, vaccinations and an identifying microchip with lifetime registration.
The Ira M. "Gary" Gourley Clinical Teaching Center, named for a former faculty member, contains a suite with 28 surgery tables, anesthesia area, and recovery room. The building holds classrooms and animal holding areas, including 131 kennels. At this center, veterinary students learn the skills of anesthesia, surgery and patient management in a community-based surgery program that provides care for local shelter animals. Since 2004, on Spay Day, faculty members, staff and student volunteers have turned the teaching center into a large-scale community veterinary clinic to spay and neuter dozens of dogs.
UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine conducts a mission of teaching, research and service benefiting animal health, public health and environmental health. More than 500 students are enrolled in the four-year program of academic study and clinical training leading to the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree.