The little engine that could: Animal Balance

We created an amazing model for the mass sterilization of cats and dogs in the US, it is called VetAID.

We developed it during the pandemic so that we could continue to sterilize the shelter animals so they could be adopted and not killed. It then evolved into a low-cost business model that suited the needs and ability of the organizations that were asking for veterinary assistance.

What is it? It is a replicable, teachable and scalable model for serving any community with humane population and disease control services. Wow! Every town needs the VetAid program!

Basics: 3 x days of surgery, a minimum of 200 spay and neuter surgeries, vaccinations, deworming, microchips, ear tips and a whole lotta love! A team of 10 AB vets and techs deploy to the location, build the clinic at the site and pack it down afterwards.

Animal Balance learned how to create these clinics over the last 2 decades. We island hopped for 20 years and provided these services to those without any veterinary resources. We gathered all the best HQHVS (high-quality high-volume sterilization) vets and techs who like nothing better than building clinics with likeminded people in remote, or unusual places.

Plus, using one's skill set to give back to a community, is the best medicine ever and we all know how hard it is to work in animal welfare. Humans need balance too!

What is so beautiful about this model is that we recruit different teams each time, so vets and techs are continuously meeting new team members. Our partners in the target area also get to meet a variety of skilled veterinary professionals, and quite often they find their future vets and techs this way. Of course, then they are encouraged to set up their own clinics, and they do!

It’s one of the most impressive programs we have ever developed. We love our island programs and partners of course, but now we have a whole new set of US based partners in NM, TX, AZ and CA. Guess what that has led to? Yes, now our US partners are getting the ‘MASH fever’ and want to travel with us to the islands and lend a hand, because now they can!

All of these relationships took time to develop respect and for trust to be established. The Animal Balance teams are highly trained and highly motivated. It is hard to not be impacted in a positive way by them. The work is solution based. We are determined to not let surgery be the reason as to why the dogs and cats cannot be adopted. We all know, a sterilized animal will go home quicker.

One day, the animal shelter will be an old concept for another time in history, and will have been replaced with truly low-cost HQHVS ( high-quality, high-volume Sterilization) clinics, low-cost dental clinics and a robust and well financed statewide foster care program…..one day. We will keep dreaming with you, until it becomes a reality.

Emma Clifford