Humane Ohio has a good reason for its endless headaches.
The nonprofit low-cost spay/neuter clinic in West Toledo has grown so much since it opened in its Tremainsville Road location in 2009, that it is searching for a new home.
“We’ve probably actually outgrown this building the last two and a half years, but we’ve been making it work,” said Aimee St. Arnaud, founder and board director.
The first dedicated clinic on Secor Road opened in 2006, and the group performed 4,200 surgeries that year. In 2009 at Tremainsville Road, the number rose to 11,505. Last year had 13,521 surgeries, and more than 12,700 have been completed so far this year.
“We can’t increase our capacity here,” Julie Lyle, clinic director, said. “We’re going to hit 15,000 [surgeries] this year, and that’s really butting up against how many we can accommodate in this building. It all comes back to space, basic square footage.”
The organization has been looking for a new building for about two years. The group has submitted offers on a few, but nothing has panned out even as demand for its various services continues to grow.
“We have the staffing, the ability to do more, and the demand is definitely there,” Ms. St. Arnaud said. “Our building is the limiting factor.”
Its 5,000-square-foot space on two floors is not enough. Dozens of pet owners cram into the small lobby in the morning to drop off animals for surgery, and the clinic accepts an average of 30 walk-ins daily for trapped free-roaming cats. Every available space to house animals fills fast.
“There’s been a lot of growth in individuals who are caring for stray cats in their neighborhoods,” Ms. St. Arnaud said.
Space for large dogs is particularly problematic. Those calling now to schedule a spay or neuter for a large dog face a booking into January and February, leaving lots of time for accidental litters to be born while waiting for an opening.
“We would like to have it where we’re not scheduling anybody more than two weeks out,” Ms. Lyle said.
But the surgical clinic is not the only area that has expanded. Humane Ohio began a pet-food bank in 2009. It was used five times that year with 125 pounds of food given out. In 2015, more than 86,600 pounds of food was given to people who visited 3,886 times.
The pet-food bank is on the second floor, which is not a good setup.
“We can only house so much food in here without worrying about the floor caving in,” Ms. Lyle said. “And then having people climb up and down the stairs with food is not good, and some of the folks we serve are not really mobile.”
The group’s transport program that helps get animals to the clinic for spay/neuter now serves 11 counties.
“We’re seeing an increased demand in our surrounding areas,” Ms. St. Arnaud said. “And we’re working with a bunch of shelters and rescues too.”
Ms. Lyle said Humane Ohio has a number of programs it would like to start but doesn’t have the room to do so.
“We’ve got tons of ideas and things we’d like to do, but until we can accommodate the people that are wanting our services now, we can’t focus too much on those things,” she said.
Ms. St. Arnaud said the ideal setup would be about 8,500 square feet on one level, with a large parking lot and a drive-in garage to securely unload animals from transport vans. The clinic wants to be centrally located in Lucas County and Toledo and on a bus route and near a highway.
“The goal is that it will be our final building,” Ms. St. Arnaud said. “We’re very hopeful this will be our last and final stop.”
Contact Alexandra Mester: amester@theblade.com, 419-724-6066, or on Twitter @AlexMesterBlade.
First Published October 27, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
