A $384,000 grant will help launch a veterinary training program in the Rio Grande Valley aimed at expanding access to spay and neuter services for pet owners.

The program is being developed by Be. Spay/Neuter Consulting, an organization focused on addressing the stray animal problem by increasing the number of trained veterinarians who can provide spay and neuter procedures.

"The Rio Grande Valley is a remote area that is difficult to get to, which means a lot of people who are going to vet school may not go down there," Be. Spay/Neuter Consulting Founder and CEO Elsa Kohlbus said.

Kohlbus says the training program will eventually lead to more spay and neuter services becoming available across the Valley.

"The more access folks have, the fewer accidental litters that we will have," Kohlbus said. "The fewer health emergencies we will have because animals are left intact, so that can mean everything from cancer to urinary tract infections."

Harlingen resident Mirna Perez knows the struggle of finding veterinary care firsthand. She currently has four dogs and eight cats, all rescued from the streets.

"For rescuing them, seeing how they were all by themselves in the streets, that's how I started rescuing animals," Perez said.

Perez says scheduling veterinary appointments for all her pets has been a challenge. She's waited up to a month to see a vet at The Country Vet clinic in Harlingen.

"We would wait in a long line, or we would wait for a long time for an appointment to be looked at," Perez said.

Veterinarian Dr. John Montalbano says keeping up with the demand from pet owners is difficult, even with two doctors on staff.

"Despite two doctors being here, we also do surgeries and walk-ins," Montalbano said. "We see patients with appointments. Is it difficult to keep up with? We do what we have to do."

The new training program is designed to bring more veterinarians to the Valley and ease the strain on existing clinics.

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