In January 2022, the Dumb Friends League Veterinary Hospital at CSU Spur opened to help expand access to veterinary care in Denver. The hospital, which operates in partnership with Colorado State University, provides low-cost services to the Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea neighborhoods and beyond.

Rocky Mountain PBS recently visited the new location and spoke with Dr. Apryl Steele, President and CEO of the Dumb Friends League. (Full story here.)

The Veterinary Hospital at CSU Spur is modeled after the Dumb Friends League Veterinary Hospital at Yuma, which has been in operation for three years and exists to prevent and alleviate suffering in pets whose caretakers would otherwise be unable to provide this care. Both locations provide a donor-subsidized safety net that helps eliminate a major barrier to veterinary care and keeps pets and families together. The Veterinary Hospitals at Yuma and CSU Spur are the only subsidized veterinary hospitals in the state of Colorado.

Bruce Biggs is one Coloradan who has benefited from such services. Biggs told PBS that he has cared for a local Denver cat colony for 12 years, watching over them and feeding them daily. The care that Biggs provides out of the kindness of his heart includes skillfully trapping them and having them spayed and neutered, and finding foster homes for kittens.

One of those kittens was Muddy Buddy, whom Biggs fostered himself. At just 5 months old, Muddy Buddy had two separate emergency visits to the veterinarian for an obstruction after eating things he wasn’t supposed to eat. Biggs found himself faced with the reality that saving the kitten could easily cost upwards of $10,000.

Much to his relief, Biggs was referred to the Dumb Friends League where he found affordable veterinary care for the feral kitten who had won his heart. Muddy Buddy was given a second chance.

“[It] was the last opportunity I was going to have to keep one of the ferals that I’ve been taking care of for the last 12 years … and that’s why I wasn’t going to let him go,” Biggs told Rocky Mountain PBS. 

Read the full story here, and learn how the hospital at CSU Spur hopes to extend access to care for pet owners like Bruce Biggs.