The public will have the opportunity to get veterinary care for their cats and dogs during a clinic Sept. 26 at Home for Good Dog Rescue’s Almost Home Wellness Center between Aiken and New Ellenton.
Columbia-based PETSInc will provide the services, which will include spay and neuter surgeries, vaccinations and more.
Appointments are required for the spay and neuter surgeries.
The clinic will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“It’s kind of a pilot program, and if works out well, they (PETSInc) will come here once or twice a month,” said Toni Ann Turco, co-founder of Home for Good Dog Rescue.
Eventually, Home for Good Dog Rescue plans to launch CSRA Veterinary Services at the Almost Home Wellness Center and hire veterinarians to work there.
Like the upcoming PETSInc clinic, Almost Home Wellness Center would be open to the public, Turco said.
Home for Good Dog Rescue is based in New Jersey. The nonprofit rescues dogs from high-kill shelters in South Carolina and Georgia, then transports them to the Northeast to be offered for adoption.
“We do also some adoptions locally (in the Aiken area),” Turco said.
The collaboration with PETSInc, which also is a nonprofit, and the establishment of CSRA Veterinary Services will make it easier for Home for Good Dog Rescue to prepare its animals for adoption.
Currently, “we use various clinics in South Carolina and Georgia, and we have to drive all over the place [to get them spayed and neutered],” Turco said.
She added that Home for Good Dog Rescue hopes that offering affordable spay and neuter surgeries to the public’s pets will reduce the number of unwanted dogs and cats in this area, which is a problem.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Almost Home Wellness Center took place in 2020, and the construction was completed last year. Facilities include an operating room, an X-ray suite and a laboratory.
The Wellness Center is at 4568 Whiskey Road.