• Vetiranary Medicine
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Conference Coverage
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Politics
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Hospital Design
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Conference Listing
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
CE Requirements by State
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Spay-neuter legislation supported by veterinarians in S.C., Ala. gets left behind

July 1, 2013

Three bills affecting nonprofit clinics fail to garner vote before sessions end. Veterinarians divided in support.

With most state legislatures wrapping up, three bills aimed at defining the role of low-cost spay-neuter clinics were left without a vote. The bills in South Carolina and Alabama will be reintroduced in the fall, supporters say.

South Carolina

Advertisement

In the final version of South Carolina’s House Bill 3492, which was an evolution from its original form, animal shelters would have been permitted to provide any pet owner with three services—sterilization, microchipping and rabies vaccination. The bill also stipulated that shelters would be allowed to provide any veterinary service to pets in low-income households, as defined by proof of low-income status such as enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Medicaid eligibility. Shelters would also have been able to provide medical care to animals they owned, physically housed or fostered. Once adopted, pets would no longer be eligible for shelter veterinary services.

The bill would have applied the same rules to public and nonprofit mobile clinics as well. All mobile clinics would have been required to provide pet owners with contact information for the nearest local emergency facility in case the pet needed immediate attention once the mobile clinic had left the area.

The bill also would have required dogs and cats to be sterilized before they were released for adoption. Owners were to be notified that they were free to choose their own veterinarian for the procedure and could provide documentation that the pet was scheduled for sterilization by a licensed veterinarian. If the owner chose to have the pet sterilized off-site, the shelter would have been allowed to charge a deposit to ensure that the pet had been sterilized. The bill also would have required shelter veterinarians to generate complete medical records and provide a copy of those records at the time of adoption.

The South Carolina Association of Veterinarians plans to support the reintroduction of the bill in the next legislative session.

Alabama

In Alabama, Senate Bill 25 would have allowed nonprofit facilities to operate only as spay-neuter clinics and would have prevented the clinics from performing rabies vaccinations or treating parasites. The bill also would have required spay-neuter clinics to submit semiannual reports to the Senate health committee and mandated that veterinarians doing follow-up treatment for spay-neuter clinics report any resulting complications or mortality to the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (ASBVME).

House Bill 188 was created when suggested amendments by the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association (ALVMA) were not adopted with SB 25. HB 188 would have defined nonprofit spay-neuter clinics as veterinary clinics with limited services. It would have permitted these clinics to provide rabies vaccinations and the treatment of parasites at the time of surgery.

Both bills would have amended the state veterinary practice act to allow for nonveterinary ownership, but only a licensed veterinarian can directly supervise veterinary medical services and make certain medical or surgical treatment decisions.

The ALVMA's HB 188 gained support from private practices over the more restrictive SB 25, which was supported by the ASBVME and Alabama Veterinary Practice Owners Association.

Related Content:

Practice FinancesLaw & Ethics
Market research: How to find your edge
Market research: How to find your edge
A technician’s true value
A technician’s true value
Build your first veterinary hospital
Build your first veterinary hospital

Advertisement

Latest News

Managing wounds in pet patients

Spectrum of care: protocols to support pet owners’ budgets

How to support women while still running a successful business

The Vets expands to Raleigh, NC

View More Latest News
Advertisement