Share the Spirit: Animal Fix Clinic brings hope to those who fear losing their pets

It’s the kind of video that Animal Fix Clinic veterinarian Dr. Jean Goh has seen more than once. The situation surrounding it is one that she has witnessed more times than she can count.

The video circulated in August and showed two women abandoning a crate full of cats outside the Antioch Animal Shelter. Shelter employees later found the crate empty; somebody had let the cats out.

As for the situation that may have surrounded the cats’ abandonment? “It’s happening more and more and more,” Goh said. “People get a dog or cat or any pet with the intention that it’s going to be a family member and that it will be a lifelong thing. Then they go to the vet to get that animal fixed, and they get that first bill. And pretty soon, they realize, ‘I can’t afford this. What am I going to do?’ And when you think about some of the economic realities now, really, what is that person going to do?”

Goh is doing what she can to offer up at least some hope. She is the medical director of Animal Fix Clinic in Pinole, a veterinary outlet that offers services at sliding-scale pricing and operates with donor support and grants. The clinic also offers no-cost options when financially necessary.

This holiday season, Animal Fix Clinic is hoping to raise $25,000 through the East Bay Times’ annual Share the Spirit campaign, which provides relief, hope and opportunities for East Bay residents by helping raise money for nonprofit programs in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The money will allow Animal Fix Clinic to fund a second veterinarian on an additional day each month for a year and allow it to provide services to an additional 500 animals and their owners.

It offers three primary areas of care: spaying and neutering dogs and cats; a community cat program to help care for feral cats; and urgent or major surgery for animals that require it to survive.

That issue has emerged for various reasons, Goh and other area veterinarians said, but the primary problem is that many veterinarians fall under the umbrella of a bigger corporation, and as with humans, the cost for care seems only to go up. Veterinarians have had to pass those costs onto customers.

According to Goh, one in four people now struggles with veterinary care, which may cause them to change their mind after they’ve committed to caring for a pet for life.

“People get stuck,” she said. “The cost of care has gotten out of reach for most people.”

“It’s not the first time people have dumped animals at the Antioch shelter,” Kathy Cabrera, the president of K911 Animal Rescue in Antioch, referring to the abandoned crate of cats in August. “Sometimes, I show up and puppies have been dumped over the fence. It’s not just Antioch, it’s all shelters. The sad reality is that we have to turn a lot of owners away, because there’s just no room. … I feel for them. They’re crying, they’re distraught, they’re pleading. It breaks my heart.”

Goh does what she can do reduce that heartbreak. She took over the practice of running the clinic full-time in 2017, along with Robin Post, the director of clinic operations. The clinic itself began with the name Fix Our Ferals to care for community cats by trapping them, neutering them, and returning them to where they were found. Goh expanded the operation to include dogs, as well as the surgical treatment of dogs and cats.

“If I can fix it, I fix it,” Goh said, adding that she was fortunate not to be saddled with the same student and veterinary school debt as other veterinarians and thus had the freedom to do things that other veterinarians simply cannot do. “I didn’t have to work for that boss that says, ‘No.’ So I believe I need to do everything I can do.”

Often, it brings a happy ending. One owner who had spayed, vaccinated and microchipped his cat Lucy came to the clinic when she needed a tumor removed. Goh removed the mass; funding covered the cost. Lucy and her owner continued their lives together.

Still, Goh and others acknowledge that there is only so much that any one person or place can do — which is why they said having a facility such as Animal Fix Clinic is so vital.

“There is no way for one person or one entity to solve the problem,” said Erica Fraga, a community cat trapper in West Contra Costa County who has used Animal Fix Clinic often. “We are members of a community, and we have a problem in the community, so it takes a community to solve it. Having access to a (clinic) model like this one is something that is very helpful, and it should be a model for other ones.”

ABOUT SHARE THE SPIRIT
Share the Spirit is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by the East Bay Times/Bay Area News Group. Since 1989, Share the Spirit has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.

HOW TO HELP
Donations to Animal Fix Clinic will allow them to expand their operations from 4 days per week to all seven days. This would provide services to an additional 500 animals. Goal: $25,000

HOW TO GIVE
Donate at sharethespiriteastbay.org/donate or by mail using this form. Donations are tax deductible.

ONLINE EXTRA
Read other Share the Spirit stories, view photos and video at sharethespiriteastbay.org.