Uptake, Impact, and Lessons Learned from the Provision of 11 Years of Annual Subsidized Veterinary Services in the Sahtu Settlement Area, Northwest Territories, Canada

• Main Author: Baker, Tessa M.
• Other Authors: Kutz, Susan, Rock, Melanie, van der Meer, Frank
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Graduate Studies 2018
• Subjects: subsidized veterinary services; dog health; dog welfare; Public Health; Indigenous communities; Veterinary Science; Northwest Territories; Canada
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/107798; https://doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/32961

Veterinary services are unavailable in many communities, which contributes to issues with human and animal health and well-being. Providing veterinary services in an evidence-based manner is important, but programs are rarely evaluated. The objectives of this research were to scope the literature to determine how subsidized veterinary services are evaluated in terms of impacts on animal and human health, followed by an evaluation of a decade-long program in the Sahtu Settlement Area of the Northwest Territories to understand the uptake and impact of annual services. Using methods commonly found in literature, a door-to-door survey, a dog census in each community, and a chart review of dog medical records from clinics in 2008-2018, were completed to evaluate community perspectives, the uptake of services, and changes in 7 dog population health and welfare measures over time. The number of owners and dogs attending clinics increased over time, as did the sterilization, vaccination and deworming of dogs, and dog body condition and age. Community differences, however, were evident in program reach, service uptake, dog husbandry practices, and community concerns about dogs. Results from this evaluation will improve future clinics and may guide programs in other underserved areas.