NCHU launched its first special medical room for stray dogs and cats in Taiwan

The first animal clinic for stray dogs and cats in Taiwan has been officially launched! The opening ceremony of the “Stray LOHAS: stray animals reduction and fulfillment of welfare” clinic at the National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) was held on May 23, 2019. The clinic is located at the quarantine station of the NCHU Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. The clinic is staffed by Associate Professor Shiun-Long Lin（林荀龍）of Veterinary Department, NCHU and his team of eight veterinarians to provide public shelters and medical treatments for animals from government authorized private animal protection groups that NCHU has signed MOU with. The clinic is yet to be opened to all other private and individual needs. The clinic was established mainly to support and alleviate problem of meeting medical needs of the stray dogs and cats due to insufficient funding.

The NCHU clinic is funded by the Higher Education, Ministry of Education’s " Social Responsibility Practice Plan ". It has been set up for nearly half a year and covers an area of 42 square feet, including inpatient wards, inspection and treatment areas and operation rooms.

The team led by Shiun-Long Lin（林荀龍） is the only veterinary medical team in Taiwan that devotes in stray dogs and cats sterilization. Its team members include veterinary surgeons, postgraduates, senior students and alumni. The team has been practicing the birth control of stray dogs and cats for 11 years, and hence in turn helped to reduce nearly population of 10,000 stray dogs and cats. The experience at the front line for many years has provided Shiun-Long Lin（林荀龍） a deep understanding of the difficulty in the medical management at the animal shelters, and that prompted him to invest in the necessary infrastructure to meet this challenge. The establishment of the clinic is expected to help improve the medical quality of the animal shelters, reduce medical expenses, and improve the medical care of stray dogs and cats, and veterinarian training. The long term goal is for this clinic to eventually expand into a medical institution for all public animal shelters in Taiwan.

NCHU Stray LOHAS clinic is a medical center specifically for stray dogs and cats. They are brought in by either shelters or animal groups and after completing medical treatment sessions, they are then moved back to where they came from for other relocation and adoption. This clinic is a non-profit organization. In addition to providing medical services in line with the teaching hospital level of professionalism, the treatment fees is about half the price of the NCHU Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. In the early stage of its launch, the dogs and cats in the Taichung public shelters will be treated first, nevertheless, it is hoped that there will more donations and support from the community as medical equipment and supplies are costly. In the long run, it is in the interest of Taiwan to provide good quality medical care for the stray dog and cats and lower fee charges and widely promote such medical services to all areas in Taiwan.