b'A Proposal to State Representatives Could Be start small, and that effort is happening here in Florida. ThinkThe Solution For the Spay/Neuter Backlog of all the retired, or semi-retired, veterinarians that spend partby G. Robert Weedon, DVM, MPH of their year in Florida and could help provide spay/neuterservices in our communities. When I wrote the blog article, Why Play Golf When You Can To attempt to resolve that issue, I met with RepresentativeSpay Cats? I had joined a task force recently convened by the JosieTomkow(R-PolkCounty)todiscussexemptingUnited Spay Alliance to bet- spay/neuter (much like other exemptions listed in the stateter understand the ongoing practice act) from requiring veterinarians participating to obtainchallenges faced by the vet- a Florida veterinary license, as long as they held a valid licenseerinarycommunity,and in their home state and are under the supervision of a veteri-whatanimalsheltersand narianlicensedinFlorida.RepresentativeTomkowseemedrescues may do to support supportive,andputmeintouchwithRepresentativeSamveterinarypartners,and Killebrew (R-Polk County), who is supposedly one of the morecontinuetoserveanimals. animal friendly legislators in our state. He is researching theTheresnodoubtaboutit; issue and has asked for wording for a draft of the proposedwe are facing a shortage of legislationwhich we are working on. If you support the ideaspay/neuter veterinarians in of exempting spay/neuter services from the Florida Veterinaryour communities. A recent Practice Act (as long as the veterinarian is licensed in his or herstudy[1] suggests there is a home state and is supervised by a veterinarian licensed inDr. Weedon backlogofmorethan2.7 Florida),pleasereachouttoRepresentativesTomkowandmillionspay/neutersurger- Killebrew and urge them to support this initiative. The peopleies in the United States. We have done a great job of getting and the pets of the state of Florida would really benefit fromthe have your pets fixed message out there. The problem is increasedspay/neutercapacity,whichthisproposalwillnow that the owners are motivated to get their pets sterilized, help achieve.Utheylacktheaccesstocarebecauseofashortageofspay/neuter surgeons. This has the unintended consequence [1] Guerios SD, Porcher TR, Clemmer G, Denagamage T and Levy JK (2022)of leading to unplanned litters (and the pressure they put on COVID-19 associated reduction in elective spay-neuter surgeries for dogslocal animal shelters and rescues), and the cause of these and cats. Front. Vet. Sci. 9:912893. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.912893unwanted litters has shifted from simply irresponsible owners Dr. Robert Weedon, who serves on the board of the Alliance forto a lack of accessible care. Contraception in Cats & Dogs, is a long-time advocate for solv-Even though I already had an Illinois veterinary license, ing pet overpopulation.He recently joined a United Spaywhen I moved to Florida, I had to jump through a lot of hoops Alliance task force that is focused on alleviating the shortageto obtain a Florida veterinary license by endorsement. One of of HQHVSN veterinarians and modifying state practice acts tothe things that the Task Force has focused on is the issue of allow veterinarians licensed in one state to practice in another.license portability/reciprocity. On a nationwide scale, we need Dr. Weedon may be reached atTLC PetSnip,to make it easier for a veterinarian licensed in his or her home 1701 East Gary Road, Lakelandstatetobeabletocontributetothespay/neutereffortin 863.686.7647www.TLCPetSnip.organother state. But the Task Force believes that we need towww.TheNewBarker.com THE NEW BARKER 61'