By Natalie Sarzynski
Your cat’s been making weird yelping noises in the middle of the night. You quickly realize that unless you want to fill your neighbour’s house with miniature versions of the plant-gobbling mouse murderer, you’re going to need to check him into a clinic to get some of his bits removed. Great news! The Animal Health Program right here at the NAIT main campus has a clinic that offers exceptional pet services for your favourite snuggle buddies that won’t turn your pockets inside out.
The clinic offers services such as spays, neuters, vaccines, wellness exams, dental procedures and nail trims. Presently, they’re accepting cats that need to be neutered; all other operations are booked up for this semester. Pricing is based on administration fees: $30 for cat neuters and vaccinations, $40 for dog neuters and cat spays, and $50 for dog spays.
“Vaccines are crucial to disease prevention such as parvo, rabies and kennel cough,” said Elly Paslawsky, a Registered Veterinary Technician overlooking the students in the Animal Health and Veterinary Medical Assistant Programs at NAIT. She brought up that rabies is a deadly disease that occurs in Alberta more than most realize, “Your pet, if exposed, will be quarantined if they haven’t been vaccinated.”
Photo by Aidan O’Toole
In addition to the clinic, Lisa Selvey (Department Head of the Animal Clinic Services) informed me that the students volunteer at the Edmonton Humane Society and Animal Care and Control. Both programs, Animal Health Technology and Veterinary Medical Assistant, offer commendable involvement with a variety of large and small animals. Worry not, all the students are thoroughly supervised by highly skilled licenced Veterinarians or Animal Health Technologists. Your babies will always have an extra set of eyes looking over them to make sure that they’re properly taken care of!
Our student counselling super pup, Flynn, gives the program two paws up. He gets his regular check-ups done at the clinic. The service is offered to the pets of all NAIT students and staff members. Appointments must be booked in person. Have your NAIT ID on hand and be prepared to prepay for all your services. For most services, the pet’s weight is limited to 20kg. Lastly, don’t cut ties with your hedgehog’s veterinarian quite yet; the Animal Health program only takes appointments for cats and dogs.
Pop by the clinic in X-100, right by the bookstore. They are open to taking appointments between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday. A typical appointment will entail you dropping off your fur baby between 7:15 a.m. and 8 a.m. They’ll be ready for you to pick up at the end of the school day between 3 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.
Thanks to the wonderful staff and students at the Animal Health program and the Veterinary Medical Assistant program NAIT’s little treasures can keep wagging their tails without having to scratch away at student loans.
