The head of the NWT SPCA is urging Yellowknife pet owners to exercise caution following the sudden closure of the Great Slave Animal Hospital.
"Everybody can do their part," said Nicole Spencer, the territorial SPCA's executive director. "Make sure that you're diligent in what you're doing with your pets. If you're out and about, maybe have them leashed so they don't potentially get injured or get into fights with other dogs.
"The best that we can do as pet owners is just be diligent, keep them safe as possible, be aware of their surroundings, be aware of where they're going, what they're eating, things like that."
The animal hospital, which was one of two such facilities in the city, closed on Feb. 14.
Spencer, who worked closely with the staff at the clinic, knew that the practice was facing challenges, but like everyone else, was caught off guard by its abrupt shutdown.
"I know it's been challenging for the last six months in different ways, but we weren't expecting this complete shutdown," she said. "It was shocking. We just kind of scrambled, thinking 'OK, what are we going to do?' Because we relied on the clinic a lot."
The sudden closure of the animal hospital left many pet owners in difficult positions as they scrambled to obtain important medications and figured out how to deal with scheduled surgical procedures.
Since the closure, Spencer and her colleagues have been trying to help those pet owners, working closely with the hospital's now former veterinarian, Katie Denroche, who was not involved in the decision to close.
"We've been working with Dr. Katie," said Spencer. "We have a direct line with her.
"At our [SPCA] location, we have some medication, and we have a surgical room for when vets are visiting," she added. "It's been a scramble, I'm sure, for Dr. Katie and her team. We've offered them our facility, as they need it, whenever they need it. [They] are going to be at our shelter performing surgeries that are needed 鈥� mostly, I guess, emergencies, lump removals, things like that.
"We're here to help as best we can 鈥� and the best we can is just offering our facility and whatever we have 鈥� so she's able to help the pets of Yellowknife as best she can."
Denroche, who Spencer called "a great vet" who has "really stepped up," is working on opening a new facility called Aurora Veterinary Hospital in the near future. She has already started for the new clinic, where the city's pet owners can stay updated on her progress, and reach out to her for help. However, the opening of the facility is likely still months away, hence the need for caution among local pet owners in the interim.
"It's just about patience right now, and everyone just taking care of their animals as best they can so they don't get in situations where they would need a vet," Spencer said. "I know I am being extremely careful with my pets. I know accidents happen, but just being diligent to make sure that we don't need a vet, to put even more stress on Dr. Katie and the other vets [in town].
"Hopefully in the next two months, we'll have a new vet clinic up and running."
Denroche couldn't be reached for comment.
