A controversial subject in our practice continues to be our decision to run our own low cost cat neuter program.  Sure, we participate in programs run by the local shelter and other advocacy groups to get cats and dogs spayed and neutered, but this particular program is our own.  It has not been without debate.....we regularly take a look at whether or not it continues to make sense for us, and as you might guess, our closest local competitor wasn't too excited when we rolled it out.

The truth is, it never was our idea.  We were approached by an advocacy group a few years ago and asked if we would offer some promotion to celebrate national Spay/Neuter Month.  We decided to offer a special on every Thursday of the month - a low cost cat neuter.  At first, we were willing to do it for two reasons.......we are very community minded and the practice owner feels an obligation to "give back,"; and we knew that Thursday was a day we had less traffic and plenty of labor.   The program was a huge success.  Near the end of the month, we started looking at our expenses on a cat neuter scheduled for surgery as part of any other day of the week vs. our expenses on a cat neuter scheduled as part of a high volume, well planned process.   We realized that at our regular fee for the service (pretty reasonable to begin with) we were no more profitable when done on another day than we were at the lower cost when done as part of the program.

How can that be? When performed on a regular surgery day, other than actual surgery time, the process takes the same labor as any other procedure.....admit appointment, paperwork, logging into our procedure board, clean up, cage occupancy, cage cleaning, laundry, more paperwork, discharge appointment.  With our low cost program, we mail the surgery paperwork in advance and expect it to be completed upon arrival.  There is no admit appointment, they're not logged into our procedure board, participants must bring a large enough hard plastic carrier with laundry to avoid recovery in our cages, the discharge paperwork is pre-printed, and there is no discharge appointment. 

I can account for every cent of our expenses, and I promise you, there is no difference in profitability in the two models.  We don't take any medical shortcuts....we still do a pre-anesthetic exam, use the same anesthetic agents, maintain complete medical records, etc.   Because of the popularity of the program, we decided to continue it on a schedule based on demand.  Several years later, we offer it on the first Thursday of each month and we've gone from neutering approximately 150 cats per year to an average of nearly 500.  If nothing else, we can feel good about doing our part to help fight an overpopulation problem that may never be won.

While conventional wisdom may consider that this program devalues veterinary medicine, I can tell you that many of our clients, not to mention the community, feel just the opposite.  At a time when we risk quality veterinary care becoming inaccessible to some pet owners, this is a way we can reassure our clients that we care about the needs of our community, which has a large feral cat population. 

From a business standpoint, this particular block of time was not in demand, and if you believe that labor can often be considered a fixed cost, then most of the expenses associated with neutering 30+ cats in two hours was coming out of our pocket either way.  Although it wasn't our goal, we have recieved more positive attention from the community then we could have ever paid for, and based on numbers alone, we are making a difference.  Mostly however, I can't ever consider something a 'devalued service' if it is a 'community service' and in a town of under 10,000 there is no other way to survive.