Vet Finds ‘Fulfillment’ in Helping Cobb's Homeless Critters

Cats in small carriers and dogs in caged metal crates wait relatively patiently for Amy Belew and her four-person staff to evaluate their health and perform either spaying or neutering medical procedures Wednesday morning.

As domestic animal populations increase, summer is particularly busy for Belew, a  grad and the county’s first full-time, on-staff veterinarian.

The prolonged struggles of the country’s economy have further increased the number of felines and canines that have been dropped off or recovered by Cobb County Animal Control. Recently, the shelter housed a record 601 pets in its 450 cages.

“There’s always been a problem with overpopulation, but we’re having more of a problem because of the economy,” said Belew, who owns three cats, two dogs and a horse. “More people are turning in their animals because they can’t take care of them or have abandoned them, or they can’t move with them or are evicted.”

The county’s animal shelter housed 562 animals on Wednesday:

• 204 dogs
• 137 cats
• 72 puppies
• 149 kittens

Despite the shelter’s current influx of homeless pets, Belew remains calm and friendly as she performs surgeries on the cats and dogs.

“I’m supposed to be here till 5, but I’m often here till 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m.,” she said. “This is not a job where you can say, ‘It’s 5 o’clock and I’m done.’”

Belew, 38, said she interacts with 20 to 30 animals during her workday and performs roughly 15 surgeries on weekdays.

“I love this job,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed everywhere I’ve worked, but I think I’ve found where I’m supposed to be. I have a great sense of fulfillment in this job.”

Belew’s position and annual salary of $79,800 was approved by the Cobb County Board of Commissioners in February, and she was officially hired in March. Because she was contractually obligated to give three months notice to her previous employer, Holcomb Bridge Animal Hospital in Roswell, Belew’s first day was May 31.

Belew's Position Rare in Georgia

Don Bruce, operations manager for Cobb County Animal Control, said Belew’s position is believed to be rare in the state. He said that Cobb and Hall counties are the only city- or county-run animal control units in Georgia that boast a full-time, on-staff veterinarian.

“It gives us a spay and neuter program and a better quality animal because we have vet care,” said Bruce, who has worked at animal control for 10 years. “She can better evaluate animals for aggression. Some animals who we didn’t know why they were aggressive, she can determine if it’s medical.”

But beyond Belew’s medical expertise—which includes her 1999 veterinary degree from the University of Georgia—Bruce said he’s been impressed by her personality.

“She’s easy to work with,” he said. “Her outgoing personality has made this division, and her caring for the animals is just amazing. It’s also her ability to instruct our staff. It’s amazing how she takes her time to do that.”

Belew's Caring Ways Remembered at McEachern

Although she graduated from McEachern High School in 1990, Belew’s favorite teacher, Sophia Kimble, remembers her former student's caring ways when she was in French class for four years.

“I liked her as a student and a person,” said Kimble, who started working at McEachern in 1985. “I’m very proud of her, but I’m not surprised by her success. One of the most important things foreign language teachers do for kids is to think globally and to get out of their immediate environment. Being brave enough to go to vet school and achieve shows insight and courage.”

Belew sometimes is forced to muster courage when she encounters animals brought to animal control who have been victims of car accidents, dog fights, cruelty or neglect.

“Some come in pretty bad,” she said. “The worst injured animals are hit by a car, and we’ve had some dogs in fights. Then we’ve got some cruelty or neglect. Emotionally they can be worse because in cruelty someone intentionally harmed an animal, and neglect they either didn’t know better or care.”

Belew said pit bulls are the most common dog breed she encounters because they are the “mostly likely not to be spayed or neutered, so there’s going to be more of them.”

But surprisingly, Belew said she also frequently sees other purebred dogs such as Rottweilers, huskies, bulldogs and bull terriers.

“It’s possible to get a really, really nice dog here,” she said.

It costs $110 to adopt either a dog or a cat from Cobb County Animal Control, which covers the animal’s spaying or neutering, receiving a tattoo to indicate the reproductive surgery, current vaccines and testing for common animal illnesses.

As a result of Belew’s hiring, all of the animals housed at the county’s animal shelter are spayed or neutered.

Belew also cautions those wanting to adopt that they will still need to regularly take their newly adopted pet to a veterinarian.

“I can’t catch every health issue and everything," she said, "so they still need to get checked out with a full exam.” 

Spaying and Neutering Improves Health of Animal

Because cats can be nursing a litter and get pregnant again, and the fact that dogs and cats have only a 63-day gestation period, Belew noted the importance of spaying or neutering pets.

“Their health is better and they’re less likely to get run over,” she said. “In females and males, it reduces some types of cancer and infection.”

Cobb County Animal Control takes in an average of 51 animals daily, with about half of those being turned in by the public, Bruce said. As many as 87 animals have arrived in one day.

Because space is such a premium, Bruce said euthanizing occurs but not always because of space.

“It depends on the animal and the situation,” he said. “We can reconfigure (our space) based on the situation. We doubled our capacity during the ’09 floods. We kept 100 extra animals. We don’t have a true max, but a shelter can’t run long periods of time above its capacity because it will increase disease.”

Bruce added that Cobb County’s animal shelter doesn’t have a set time for keeping an animal.

“I’ve had dogs that have been here two years,” he said. “One day we may not euthanize a single animal, but other days we may have to do five. The animal’s adoptability does play a role. Is the animal aggressive or healthy?”

To spur more adoptions in in grant money, Cobb County Animal Control will have its second from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 10 at its 1060 Al Bishop Drive location in Marietta off County Services Parkway. Its third Adopt-A-Thon is Oct. 8. Belew will be attending both events.

For more information about the county’s Adopt-a-Thon events, call 770-590-5614 or visit animal control's website.

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