Resources for just about everything are limited in rural Alaska, including veterinary services. If Fido or Boots needs a shot or gets in a tussle with a neighborhood bully, it's not as easy as taking a ride to the local vet for care.
But Alaska's animal doctors recognize the need for care when it comes to village pets and sled dogs, so they pack up their instruments on a regular basis to set up remote clinics for their four-legged patients.
In Barrow, Dr. Sarah Coburn, who works for the North Slope Borough's veterinary clinic, said traveling to villages is her favorite part of the job.
The borough sends vets to North Slope communities twice a year -- spring and fall -- to provide vaccinations, exams, and spays and neuters. During the spring trip, vets go door-to-door to seek out pets, especially puppies, that need shots. The borough works with village agencies to provide spays, neuters and other exams.
"Just the reality of the environment is a challenge," said Coburn, who has been in Barrow for two-and-a-half years. "If we go to the villages too early in the spring, or too late in the fall, we run the risk of the vaccines freezing. Even if we use a truck to drive around town, in the time between taking the syringe out of the warm truck, and trying to get the vaccine into the dog, it can freeze."
Village residents are welcoming and appreciative, and there's a unique atmosphere and culture to each community, she added. And there's always a gaggle of children following along to help guide the vet to new litters.
Pups get the usual parvovirus and distemper shots and at 12 weeks should get a rabies vaccine. The rabies virus is alive and well on the North Slope, Coburn noted. Typically, contact with an infected arctic fox causes the fatal disease to spread among domesticated animals.
"The North Slope Borough offers routine spays, neuters, rabies vaccines, and de-wormers at no cost to the owners," Coburn explained. "Our veterinary clinic is also the Public Health Office, so the health department has been willing to subsidize the services that have direct implications for public health."
Loose dogs are a public health concern for a couple different reasons. If aggressive, they pose a threat, but even docile dogs can go after a small child or other animals on instinct alone. Also, dogs at-large are more likely to come into contact with rabid foxes.
And it's usually the unplanned, unwanted dogs that wind up roaming the streets.
So the fewer unplanned dogs, the better.
"People don't realize that puppies are a lot of work," Coburn said.
"If you aren't committed to the whole process of caring for a pregnant dog, paying for surgery if the labor and delivery don't go smoothly, paying for the initial vaccine series for the puppies, finding homes for the puppies, taking the puppies back if the new owners change their minds, etc., you should spay your dog."
Besides the routine procedures, Coburn offers education to community members about health concerns and environmental precautions.
"Lay vaccinators," who are certified to give rabies shots to cats and dogs, are available in the villages to administer shots when the vet isn't there, Coburn said. The borough has a list of rural shot-givers for interested residents, she added.
With the unforgiving Arctic winter settling in, dog owners with outdoor mutts should make sure the animals have adequate shelter and that dog houses are void of snow. Straw and caribou hides make good insulation for doghouses, she said.
But some breeds -- like boxers, pit bulls or Labradors -- just aren't meant to be outside, Coburn added.
Food and water should be given at least once a day and "eating snow is not a substitute for drinking water. Dogs learn very quickly to drink water when it is available. If they are dehydrated or hungry, it is even harder for their bodies to deal with the cold temperatures and stay healthy."
Love, attention and exercise are also imperative for well-adjusted, healthy, happy pets as well as working dogs.
And while Coburn and North Slope Borough team have that region covered, other advocates are working to help remote communities elsewhere in the state. This year, the Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach, Inc. program extended its services to six remote villages, offering low- and no-cost spays and neuters as well as vaccines and wellness checkups.
Sally Clampitt is one of the founders of the nonprofit group, which includes volunteer vets. Some 54 dogs were spayed in the six villages, she said. Those spays will prevent thousands of unplanned, unwanted puppies from being born in the next five years.
The vet outreach crew, which overall included eight volunteer vets and a few vet techs, traveled to Kokhanok, Nondalton, Galena, Tyonek, St. Mary's and Iliamna-Newhalen in just under 12 months.
And along with the 54 spays, vets performed 29 neuters and doled out hundreds of vaccines.
The statewide veterinary outreach program only goes to villages where they are invited, Clampitt said. And they don't go to regions that already have village vet services in place.
In the last year, through word of mouth and small advertising campaigns, interest in the service has grown and the reception in the villages has been fantastic.
"I think it's very important, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it," said Clampitt, who is the former executive director of the Alaska Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Offering low- or no-cost, humane options for population and disease control "enhances the overall health of the villages."
Neutering male dogs is especially important for preventing aggression and reducing attacks on humans.
Dog bites in Alaska happen at a rate three times the national average, Clampitt said, adding that the dogs they worked on over the past year were friendly and for the most part in good health.
While the veterinary outreach program is not an animal rescue group, they did manage to place several unwanted village dogs into new homes. They also spoke with young community members about the career prospects in the field of animal care. But the mission at hand was spays, neuters, vaccinations and exams, and Clampitt said the group is aiming for "five good, robust clinics" in 2014.
Click here for more information on the Alaska Rural Veterinary Outreach program. For North Slope residents interested in learning more about rural vet care call the borough office at 852-0277.
This article originally appeared in The Arctic Sounder and is republished here by permission.