They’ve spayed/neutered 5,000 animals––this year!
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:
DENVER, Colorado––If people won’t take
their animals to a veterinary clinic for spaying or neuter-
ing, Jeff Young takes the Planned Pethood Plus clinic to
the animals. Working out of a bus, in cooperation with
local humane societies and activist groups, veterinarians
Young and business partner Mark Chamberlain set out
to alter 6,000 animals during 1992; surpassing 5,000 in
mid-November, they were right on pace, Young said.
The humane organizations publicize Young’s arrival in
each community and get the paperwork done in
advance. This enables him to go right to work, per-
forming as many as 32 surgeries per day, at average
fees of $15/tomcat, $20/queen, $25/male dog, and
$35/female dog.
While Young is on the road, Chamberlain
operates at a similar pace and for comparable prices
from their full service clinic in Denver. Despite the low
rates, they manage to make a living––”and we make a
profit,” Young emphasizes.
Operating conditions are not always ideal,
Young admits, but most of the animals would otherwise
get no treatment at all. Because many of their customers
are low income people, some in communities without
veterinary clinics, Young and Chamberlain perform a
high percentage of early spay/neuters; it’s a matter of
altering when opportunity permits or possibly never.
They also do discount vaccination.
“We take a lot of flak,” Young says, “but we
believe extending care to animals who otherwise won’t
get it is part of being an ethical practice.”
Some of the Planned Pethood Plus profits help
fund the activities of the nonprofit animal protection
group Speak Out for Animals, coordinated by Erin
Russell. Young credits Russell with inspiring his work.
“I was raised as a hunter and trapper, in a hunt-
ing and trapping family,” he explains. “And I did vivi-
section in veterinary school. I wasn’t taught to be in
touch with my compassionate feelings, so for me it was
a cerebral thing at first. I was a professional person,
doing a job. Erin made me think about my work in a dif-
ferent way. Then I was able to acknowledge what I’d
probably always felt, intuitively, and change my
approach to the work to reflect that.”
Planned Pethood Plus welcomes inquiries about
its spay/neuter program c/o 4170 Tennyson Road,
Denver, CO 80212; 303-433-3291.
