Purdue’s mobile spay and neuter clinic receives grant to support education, services

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine’s mobile surgery unit, Priority 4 Paws (P4P) is getting a significant funding boost in the form of a $150,000 grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

P4P is a shelter medicine program that combines community service with education to provide learning experiences for fourth-year veterinary students.  The funding will enhance the mobile surgery unit’s service-learning initiatives in partnership with Marion County, Indiana, animal shelters.

The unit is led by Dr. Emily Curry, visiting assistant professor of mobile surgery and shelter medicine, and Dr. Natalie Bullard, clinical assistant professor of shelter medicine.

P4P was founded in 2012 and has logged over 100,000 miles traveling across the state to help shelters by spaying and neutering shelter animals while also giving Purdue veterinary students opportunities to gain hands-on surgical experience. 

In 2019, the unit served about 2,000 animals, bringing the total served since the unit’s inception to about 16,000.  Veterinary students who choose to do a three-week elective shelter medicine and surgery rotation during their fourth year work on the unit, performing spay and neuter surgeries both on the road and when the unit is stationed at Purdue’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.   

A full news release can be found here.

Media contact: Abbey Nickel, 765-496-1325, nickela@purdue.edu