BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 6th December 2019)– Owners of dogs and cats on the island have been applauded by an Assistant Professor at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM), Dr. Andrea Peda, who has observed that most people “are really good with taking care of their animals.”
She made the disclosure during an exclusive interview with this media house at a recent community outreach free Pet Wellness Day hosted by PAWS (People for Animal Welfare on St. Kitts)- which is an RUSVM student animal rescue organisation- on Saturday 30th November 2019 at the Douglas playfield in St. Peter’s which saw a total of two hundred and twenty-seven (227) individual animals checked-in.
Scores of pet owners were tended to by Ross clinicians, local veterinarian Dr. Ricaldo Pike as well as PAWS volunteers and other partnering groups such as SAFE (Saving Animals From Emergency), Ross University VIDA and The Feral Cat project at RUSVM. One Love Pets was also an event contributor.
Services provided included physical exams, vaccinations, deworming, flee tick and heartworm prevention, distribution of educational handouts, leashes and pet food.
Dr. Peda told: “We’re just promoting animal welfare and wellness and trying to educate the community on the importance of preventative care so and why we should do the vaccines, the deworming and all that. We do this once a semester so what that basally means is that every four months, we run this programme where we travel to different communities. We’ve been all around the island and we basically go to communities that are in need that we know need the help.”
Commenting on how the response from the public, she said: “It’s been an amazing response. I’m not sure how many animals we’ve seen so far today but probably a lot. The last one we did, we saw over 200 animals and I would say we seen at least 100 so far today. We usually do like a four-hour stint and we see mostly dogs but it’s for dogs and cats but I would say 95% of the population is usually dogs.”
Questioned about her observation concerning the care on animals in general, Dr. Peda- who is the coordinator of animal rescue activities on the island- had this to say: “So far, most of the people are really good with taking care of their animals; most people have had puppy shots given already. They may have problems with fleas and ticks and basically asking for the help which is great because people are wanting to take care of their pets which is what we’re here for; we’re here promoting that and I think it’s a good turn out with the way people are handling their animals. The animals look like they’re in good shape. People really do care about their animals and that’s what we’re here to promote more and really just build that human-animal bond within the community but so far everyone’s been great and if they have issues they are seeking the help which is what we want.”
Additionally, she gave an update on the Basseterre Animal Rescue Centre (BARC) located at Lime Kiln that was opened in July this year.
“We are not a clinic but we are a full service animal rescue and we have a student-run programme there, and it’s a community wellness programme. Ross University goes there every Tuesday and Thursday and we do wellness visits for community animals.”
She continued: “It’s very cheap; EC$50 per visit and with it you get a $350 value-physical exam, vaccine, deworming, one month of flea and heartworm prevention, a blood test and a microchip…and the goal with that is the same thing to promote wellness and get people to come in and take care of their animals. We provide free pick-up service so if people don’t have transportation, we’ll go and pick them up.”