7 more veterinarians coming to Kuujjuaq’s clinic
Pilot project helps ease facility’s staffing issues
Veterinarians neuter an animal at Kuujjuaq’s vet clinic. (Photo courtesy of Liam Callaghan)
Seven veterinary students from the University of Montreal are set to help out Kuujjuaq’s vet clinic in June, marking the second year for the pilot project.
A permanent veterinary clinic opened in Kuujjuaq last fall.
Liam Callaghan, who worked 12 years to bring a permanent vet clinic to town, said before it opened veterinarians would only offer a rabies vaccination and sometimes neutering services during occasional visits.
Back then, the way to deal with dog injuries was “with a .22,” said Callaghan.
“I was not particularly happy with that method, so I wanted to make sure we would be able to get something to deal with day-to-day dog issues.”
As soon as the clinic opened, he said, “the phone was ringing non-stop.”
Callaghan said there is generally a lack of veterinarians across Canada. That’s why the plan was to bring interns up during their final year of university to help at the clinic.
The first rendition of this initiative happened in the fall. Now the clinic is set to welcome the fourth intern from that original cohort.
The University of Montreal announced March 6 the project would be renewed for another seven students, with seven new two-week rotations.
“[The] mandate is to answer to the veterinary needs there, either preventive medicine, vaccination, health exams, to chronic illness follow-ups and urgent care,” said Dr. Edouard Martin, a teacher at the university’s veterinary hospital, in a news release about the project.
The cost for vet services has gone down since these rotations began. While it used to cost $500 to send a dog to a clinic down south even before paying the cost to actually see the vet, visits in town are closer to $200.
The clinic also helps with the stray dogs — Callaghan said that since the opening of the clinic there has been a 30 to 40 per cent decrease in the population of strays in the community.
“The craziest thing is the amount of volunteers we have in this town,” he said in an interview over the phone. “We have a Facebook page and it is non-stop.”
He said people offer to help with all sort of things, such as manoeuvring unconscious animals or transporting big dogs.
“With our own population growing, that means the dog population is growing as well,” said Callaghan.
“Dog teams are back, there are three or four of them in Kuujjuaq now.”
The goal now is to bolster the clinic with an X-ray and ultrasound machine. Currently, veterinarians are using hospital equipment to offer these services.
Don t own any critters , everybody in kuujjuaq SHOULD bring their dogs in to get neutered, that way , there will be less stray .
If every dog is neutered or spayed, there will be no more dogs after this generation.
Is that what we want?
It would be a better situation than it is right now.
First of all, the idea we could fix every dog in Kuujjuaq, which is obviously not the goal, is asinine.. Secondly, if you can read an article about collaboration and the attempt to advance the care for animals in the North and all you can respond with is to burp up rubbish is very sad…
The dog problem in kuujjuaq is only a problem because of people being the problem, that’s it that’s all. Over,
Better human better dog, as popular show host Cesar Milan, a dog trainer has as his motor.
Dog problem in kuujjuaq appears better, but still an issue. Does anyone know if the municipality that hires dog catchers and the killing of stray dogs are following the law, by having the said employees have the proper gun license? Young boys going around town in municipality trucks , guns on board ready to use on a dog.
Moto not motor.
There’s this myth that people have the rights to own dogs and treat them as they like. Looking at the dog slaughter issue of the past, and fast forwarding to now, it appears some think that rights were taken away with the slaughter, and maybe that’s true. But it doesn’t give anyone the right to have dogs, and more so because of the slaughter, and do what they like with their pets, or team. Kuujjuaq is notorious for not looking after issues as seen by drunks everywhere and breaking the law, now the dogs are right up there with people , but it’s people still that has the issue. The dog issue created by people can be resolved in one day, but like I say kuujjuaq has notoriously neglected every thing from morning to night.