Low-cost Charlotte-area vet clinic is expanding — and it’s keeping the disco ball

It’s dental day at the Stand For Animals’ Lake Norman veterinary clinic. The dogs are recovering from their surgeries in crates with soft blankets — some pups still groggy or slack-jawed from the anesthetics; others excited and barking.

Stand For Animals, which provides pet owners with low-cost services and surgeries at its clinics, has made a significant impact on the Charlotte area stray and unwanted animal population. With an emphasis on spaying and neutering, the clinic estimates that it’s prevented over 1.7 million unwanted litters over the past 10 years, contributing to a dramatic drop in euthanasia rates at local animal shelters.

And the nonprofit is still growing. Soon, its Mooresville office will be moving to Stand For Animals’ biggest location yet: a 13,000-square-foot, soon-to-be refurbished roller skating rink that clinic leaders hope will help more animals than ever.

Fighting a crisis

In 2011, Stand For Animals – or Spay/Neuter Charlotte, as it was then called – started with a single goal: to reduce the number of unwanted pets in the area. The clinic came as part of an ongoing effort to lower the number of dogs and cats being killed in North Carolina pounds, said Cary Bernstein, the nonprofit’s founder and executive director.

In 2003, about 70% of all dogs and cats in Charlotte’s public animal shelter were euthanized, the Observer reported in the series Death at the Pound. By 2019, that number had plummeted to just 20%, according to the N.C. Department of Agriculture. Thanks to a pandemic-driven surge in adoptions in 2020, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Animal Care & Control said it saved 90% of all animals it housed.

Stand For Animals entered the scene a decade ago with a small clinic on North Davidson Street offering spaying and neutering services at relatively affordable rates. It’s since moved that clinic to a larger office on North Tryon Street and opened new locations in Pineville and Mooresville. Since 2011, the nonprofit’s veterenarians have performed roughly 102,000 surgeries – preventing an estimated 1,763,000 unwanted litters, according to the group’s website.

Although Stand For Animals still emphasizes fixing pets, its services have expanded to include a variety of low-cost veterinary treatments.

“Dogs love you like nobody loves you, and everybody should have the opportunity to have that experience in their life,” Bernstein said.

Some services come at a fraction of what nearby private practices charge.

For example,it costs between $75 and $105 to neuter a dog at Stand For Animals, depending on the animal’s weight, according to its website. Representatives at three commercial practices in the Charlotte area told the Observer the cost for neutering at their clinics ranges from $250 to $400.

Stand For Animals also offers payment plans at no additional cost and frequently offers financial assistance to those who need it. Its current aid fund balance stands at roughly $57,000, Bernstein said.

Random acts of kindness help, too

Stand For Animals’ financial aid program relies on community donations. Before the pandemic, the nonprofit hosted two fundraising events each year: Bone Appetite, a dinner for top fundraisers, and So You Think You Can Bark, a talent show featuring dogs and their owners, Bernstein said. The talent show alone raised $75,000 in early 2020.

Although Stand For Animals hasn’t held any in-person fundraisers because of the pandemic, Bernstein said she has been stunned by the generosity shown by many visitors.

Many clients have paid an extra $25 or $30 as a “thank you,” Bernstein said. Others have simply provided random acts of kindness, she said.

On one occasion, Bernstein said, a woman at the front desk said she didn’t have enough money for the next installment on her payment plan – a situation that Stand For Animals tries to avoid. The person behind her in line heard what was happening and caught the receptionist’s attention.

“I’ll pay the bill,” the person mouthed, according to Bernstein.

The receptionist then told the client, “You know what, we’ve got this,” Bernstein said.

The woman objected, saying she’d come back in three weeks with the next payment, but the receptionist said, “No, no, we’ve got it. It’s OK,” Bernstein said. The person behind them then paid the difference.

A new location

The popularity of Stand For Animals will soon allow the nonprofit to move its Lake Norman-area office into its biggest location yet: a 13,000 square-foot space along Charlotte Highway, a three-minute walk from the Mooresville Animal Hospital.

The building doesn’t look like much of a clinic right now. In fact, it looks suspiciously like a roller-skating rink: a giant disco ball hangs over the enormous central room, where the clinic’s floorplan is outlined in tape on the waxed floorboards. Until recently, the site was home to Skate Express roller rink.

Bernstein aims to relocate the Mooresville office in early 2022. While that office currently divides the week between days for specific operations – like dental day – and days for spaying and neutering, the new location will handle numerous procedures at the same time.

Bernstein hopes this expansion will make Stand For Animals even more accessible, especially as the clinic braces for a bump in visits as “pandemic pets” start to require more care.

“People want to do the right thing for each other and their pet,” she said.

The disco ball is staying, though. Bernstein likes it.

This story was originally published July 5, 2021 at 6:30 AM.