A quicker fix: New Kensington clinic draws veterinarians interested in efficient treatment in shelter settings

Dr. Becky Morrow loves taking care of animals — and teaching others how to as well.

Not only is Morrow the founder, president and medical director of Frankie’s Friends, a non-profit veterinary clinic and medical rescue for cats in New Kensington, she is an assistant teaching professor at Penn State and an adjunct faculty member of the University of Florida’s online shelter medicine program.

“It’s a really cool world to be in and just being able to help animals in all these ways is my whole goal,” Morrow said.

With 26 years of experience and 17 years in shelter medicine, Morrow has begun teaching other veterinarians and veterinarian assistants through events held at the Frankie’s Friends clinic. On the weekend of Dec. 7, veterinarians from around the country gathered to attend a two-day training on how to spay and neuter cats.

“What we’re trying to do is provide an experience that allows them to have the ability to improve their skills,” Morrow said. “We’re taught how to spay and neuter in veterinary school, but we’re not taught in the most efficient ways.”

Morrow taught a procedure that is more catered to “shelter medicine” which detailed “high quality and high volume” spay and neuter procedures. When spaying a female cat, the procedure called for the operators to make a smaller incision which leads to the animal spending less time under the knife and the vet is able to help more cats in a session.

“It’s really just decreasing the incision size that saves a ton of time because you’re not closing that entire length of the incision,” Morrow said. “It’s a much smaller hole to close with one suture — or one knot called a cruciate — instead of having a whole line of sutures.”

Morrow also outlined an efficient way to spay female cats.

“It’s the same thing and you’re essentially tying it like you’re tying off a balloon,” Morrow said.

The procedure helps save time while remaining safe and effective for the animal, Morrow said, which can become crucial in a shelter setting where there aren’t many vets available and there’s a large number of cats that need treatment each day. She said she’s able to conduct a three-minute spay and a 20 second neuter.

“Shelter medicine is its own specialty, and we have various ways that will make you a better surgeon,” she said.

During the first day of the training, vets were given stuffed animals to practice tying knots and make small incisions. Morrow said she tries to make the sessions more relaxed and tries to become a cheerleader for those she’s teaching.

“I tend to be more like a cheerleader sometimes and just be there to validate them and build their confidence,” She said. “Because these are awesome people that know things already.”

Alison Osman, vet assistant at Frankie’s Friends, can attest to Morrow’s can-do attitude. Osman met Morrow while attending one of her sessions over a year ago. She was a groomer for 16 years and, like other people in the field, was able to attend the training to learn how to prep animals.

“I came to one of the classes and I just fell in love with it,” Osman said.

Osman said the shelter sees anywhere from 30 to 50 cats a day not including walk-in appointments offered on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each week. The shelter also helps dogs two to three days a week.

The class also offers vets and certified vet techs 12 credits toward their continued education. They’re required to earn 16 credits bi-annually. Vets from Virginia, Florida and Philadelphia were among those who traveled to attend the weekend’s session. The clinic hosts the sessions every other month and sometimes has students come for two-week-long externships while they’re still in veterinary school.

“My goal is to get more students plus have these great workshops as well,” Morrow said. “I want to get more students so they come out with that skill so they can build on it.”