When pet owners face tough financial times, their animals struggle too. Floss Blackburn, who has worked in animal care and rescue for over 20 years, is continuing her mission of providing accessible treatments with a new community veterinary clinic in Durango.
A resident of Southwest Colorado, Blackburn opened Denkai Animal Sanctuary – a nonprofit rescue and community veterinary clinic – in Weld County in 2004. She moved to Montezuma County eight years ago, and this year, she was finally able to establish her clinic in Durango. Denkai also runs a 40-acre sanctuary in Hesperus for equines, farm animals and dogs.
The clinic has served over 30,000 animals since Blackburn first founded it.
Denkai, located at 1401 Main Ave. next to Walk in Chiropractic in Durango, provides comprehensive veterinary services such as spaying and neutering, vaccines, urinalysis, blood work, routine checkups, surgical procedures, diagnostic imaging such as X-rays, and dental care three days a week, she said.
Some of the available vaccines include rabies, temper combo vaccines for canines also known as DHPP or DAPP – which protect against distemper, adenovirus, parainfluenza and parvovirus – and FVRCP vaccines for felines, which protect against feline viral rhinotracheitis, feline calicivirus and feline panleukopenia, according to PetMD.
Some vaccines are offered for free, depending on available grant funding, while others are offered for about half the market price found at other clinics. Blackburn said the base cost for pet vaccines is usually about $50, but Denkai offers rabies vaccines and heartworm tests for about $15.
Denkai aims not to undercut other veterinary clinics in Durango, she said. Rather, it seeks to provide affordable services to those most in need.
“We’re really trying to (help) the individuals who could not otherwise afford services and really need them,” she said.
She said various programs offer the sanctuary and veterinary clinic discounted prices on supplies, and individual donors often contribute towels, cleaning supplies and other operational goods.
On the sanctuary side, Denkai has collaborated with the Denver-based nonprofit Humane Colorado, whose mission is to reduce pet homelessness and animal suffering. She said Denkai has helped transport pets from Montezuma County to Alamosa and Denver, and Denkai has received animals from rescue services across the United States.
She said it helps animal rescue efforts on tribal reservations and accepts pets from kill shelters where the animals would be euthanized or otherwise be unable to receive the care they need.
“The goal is to help rescue, rehabilitate and re-home domestic animals in need,” she said. “(We) also provide our veterinary services at affordable costs so that people can receive those services so pets don’t go without and we can reduce the amount of unnecessary disease in our pet population.”
The sanctuary in Hesperus typically houses about 20 animals at a time but has cared for as many as 100 animals simultaneously, Blackburn said. The sanctuary includes litters of puppies, adult dogs awaiting rehoming, and farm animals such as horses and pigs.
Denkai still maintains veterinary operations in Montezuma County, holding clinics in Cortez once a month where it sees an average of 45 clients per day. But she is still working to spread the word about Denkai in Durango.
She said she is looking for veterinarians who can donate their time and skills to Denkai.
“We rely on public contributions, fundraisers, grants, corporate support in order to operate,” she said. “So any kind of support is very much appreciated. Volunteer help is very much appreciated. We’ve kind of run on a skeleton crew. … It’s small, but everybody here cares and they work hard.”
Blackburn’s crew mainly consists of herself, a primary veterinarian and volunteers, she said. Denkai also has a dedicated transport van and driver, according to a news release.
cburney@durangoherald.com
