Demand for dedicated regional spay, neuter services was immediate and overwhelming; future staffing plans could help facility ‘go great guns’

Coordinators of the newly opened FOTAS Community Spay & Neuter Clinic in Medford say the response to the long-awaited facility has been immediate and overwhelming, as expected.

The clinic, located at 3265 Biddle Road and operating from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, officially opened to the public March 1. 

The clinic was abuzz with activity last Friday afternoon, playing host to a crew of paid and volunteer staff that operated like a well-oiled machine as people tended to groggy cats and dogs wrapped in colorful blankets while recovering from surgeries.

Board president Becky Cohn said the June announcement of plans for the region’s only dedicated spay-neuter facility was met with a steady flow of appointment requests more than eight months before opening day.

A volunteer manager stationed at the county shelter began fielding calls from pet owners last summer. The calls generated a waiting list by late February of more than 500 pet owners wanting to schedule their dogs or cats for surgery.

“She was getting so many calls about how soon the clinic would be opening and how soon they could get in, it just shows how much need there has been,” Cohn told the Rogue Valley Times.

“Appointments for spay and neuter are really hard to come by and, even if you get the appointments, they’re super expensive.”

After just three weeks, demand for the clinic’s services has been high enough that Cohn said FOTAS officials hope to hire an additional veterinarian and veterinary technician to expand clinic hours.

Cohn said the clinic opening within less than a year of securing a lease for the 5,200-square-foot former home of Southern Oregon Veterinary Specialty Clinic — which relocated to a Central Point location in 2023 — was a combined effort of FOTAS staff, volunteers and generous donors.

Some $120,000 of a $200,000 capital fundraising campaign has been raised, she said, noting, “Community support, I think, has always been one of our biggest assets.”

Going forward, Cohn said a “guardian circle” program — allowing donors to commit to three years’ worth of donations — would bring stability for the clinic and keep pricing affordable.

Portions of the infrastructure used for the specialty clinic, such as oxygen and exam rooms, were retained and offered a small amount of cost savings, but a painting and other upgrades were done to modernize the building.

In addition to two surgery rooms, the building includes a kennel area, cat intake and holding rooms, a laundry space, pharmacy, lab and doctor’s office.

Prior to officially opening, the clinic location provided a home base for the nonprofit’s mobile spay-neuter clinic, which operated in the parking lot enabling animals to undergo recovery from surgery inside the unfinished clinic space.

Fast-forward to February: In a soft opening of sorts, “volume” appointments were made available to local rescue groups with cats and dogs in need of spay or neuter. Cohn emphasized that the clinic is “affordable” but not “low cost.”

“The objective of this clinic was always intended to be high volume, but at the gold standard,” she said.

Smiling inside the busy facility last Friday, Cohn said the facility was the product of years of planning and working to fill a desperate need in the region.

While most patients were soundly sleeping, a doodle puppy named Edison greeted Cohn while an orange kitten named Becca, donning a plastic post-surgery cone, lured FOTAS Operations Manager Megan Ayars to scoop her up.

Petting the kitten, Ayars assessed a dry-erase board covered with surgery info and patient names, noting a balancing act of sorts in coordinating paid staff and volunteers to staff the clinic.

“We rely on 14 volunteers doing different roles in the clinic,” she said.

“So that’s one way that we all can involve our volunteers and save resources. … This business model will not work without really, really capable volunteers.”

Ayars said volunteers — of which the organization could use more — help with everything from handling animals and cleaning the facility to assisting during surgery. In addition to community animals, FOTAS provides spay and neuter services for the cats and dogs they manage through a large foster network.

Terri Frazier, FOTAS volunteer manager, said she was excited to see the clinic finally open.

“We’re all so happy. I just can’t explain how happy it makes us to be able to do this. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s so worth it,” Frazier said.

“We’re hoping to make a dent in the need for spay and neuter services. … Once we get the doctors all staffed up, and we have more regular doctor schedules, we will go great guns.”

For information on the new clinic,  call 541-200-2525 or visit online, fotasclinic.org

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or bpollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.