CVC In the News

Pro-Bone-O Looking to Expand and Help More People and Pets

Clinic holds hope for homeless pets

By Randi Bjornstad of The Register-Guard on Sunday, Oct 24, 2010 05:01AM

A group needs donations so it can open a veterinary clinic for homeless and low-income pet owners. View full article here . . .

Poor pets may get a paw up

Published 12/14/09 by Anne Williams from Register Guard

A medical facility for animal companions whose owners are impoverished is planned for west Eugene. View full article here . . .

Permanent Vet Clinic to Open in Eugene

Published 12/13/09 by Heather Hintze of KEZI

EUGENE, Ore. -- Eugene's homeless community will soon have a permanent place to go for veterinary care for their animals. View full article here . . .

Free and low cost pet care for struggling families

By Arrianee LeBeau KVAL News

Two local non-profits teamed up to establish a new clinic in Eugene that will provide low-cost care for animals. View full article here . . .

KMTR Video

January 31, 2010
By Heather Hintze

EUGENE, Ore.-- After a decade of hauling veterinary supplies back and forth to clinics at Saint Vincent de Paul's Service Station to help the pets of low-or no-income people, Pro Bone-o will soon have a permanent clinic. "There's really nothing like this that exists now and it's really the hole in the safety net that holds our social services together in this community and we're hoping to fill that as soon as we're up and running," said the Community Vet Center board member, Diana Huntington.

On Sunday morning, crews moved a portable classroom--donated by the Creswell School District--onto the land donated by Saint Vincent de Paul.

The Community Vet Center will provide a variety of services for pets of people who live below the poverty line. "The wonderful thing about this is no animal in Lane County will have to suffer parasites, disease, injury, unwanted litters due to an inability to pay," said Pro Bone-o President, Anne Baden. "It's a big step to help our neighbors take care of their family members who just happen to be dogs and cats," adds Huntington.

For the past ten year, staff have been commuting back and forth to their clinics the second and fourth Sunday of every month. "Right now, all of our clinic supplies fit in the back of someone's car and when we have a clinic, we drive the supplies there, unload it, set everything up, and then when it's over, take them back to where they're stored, which is a barn somewhere and now we'll be able to have everything on site," said Baden.

The new facility will also allow staff to perform surgeries, which they can't do at their current set up at the Service Station. Staff say the next step is to get utilities hooked up and the inside remodeled. The clinic should be up and running by this summer.

KVAL Video

KEZI Video

Construction begins on pet vet clinic for homeless

Eugene (KEZI) - From serving people who are homeless to serving their most loyal companions.

Dozens came together Sunday along Highway 99 North outside the Saint Vincent DePaul Service Station to celebrate the groundbreaking for a permanent home for the group Pro Bone-O.

Pro Bone-O is a charity that offers free veterinary service for the pet animals of homeless people.

For 11 years, Pro Bone-O has been running free clinics a couple times a week in borrowed spaces. Now they plan to have a permanent home.

For those, like Diana Huntington, who worked to get it, it's all about the bond between people and their animals.

“It doesn't matter if you are wealthy or non-wealthy, if you have a dog or have a cat, if you love them and they love you, we're all the same,” says Huntington.

Pro Bone-O plans to move a modular classroom onto land donated by St. Vincent DePaul. The project sill needs about $90,000 to remodel the classroom into a clinic.
They hope to open next summer.