Hickory / Morgantown area, any need for vet or kennel (Morganton: live, cost)

[enufsnow]

Is there a need in the area for a veterinarian or dog boarding facility? I am looking at a place and want to be sure there will actually be a need. I lived in Georgia for 25 years, moved back to Michigan for 6 years and have now had enough of snow. If there is an animal shelter in need of a spay/neuter vet, please let me know. Also, is there hay available for horses and what is the approximate cost per bale? It will be a year or more before I can make the move, but I thought I would start checking everything out.

[sll3454]

The fescue/orchard grass hay I bought today was $4/bale delivered; it would have been $3.50 if I had picked it up. It looks good so far. I've paid as little as $2 (mistake!) and as much as $5.50. High-end grass hay is available for $7. I don't know what alfalfa costs. A lot of growers don't care about weeds, poisonous or not, but I've found a couple that are good. Also, some only have round bales.

I don't know about the need for small animal vets, but our horse vet comes from pretty far away. (There certainly are plenty of dogs around that need to be neutered.)

[Raine Carraway]

I was going to say there are a lot of small animal vets & several small boarding/kennel facilities in the area, but I can see the need another large animal vet because of the numbers of horse [and cattle] owners nearby, especially in the areas around Dudley Shoals & Taylorsville, sort of north of Hickory.

There are several animal shelters, but I am not sure if they are in need of vets. There are a lot of animals that need to be spayed and neutered, but I think that may be more because of cost and irresponsibility on the owners' parts than because of a vet shortage.

[cny2cnc]

The shelters in NC don't spay & neuter their dogs & cats, they euthanize them (using a gas chamber).

[sll3454]

Originally Posted by cny2cnc

The shelters in NC don't spay & neuter their dogs & cats, they euthanize them (using a gas chamber).

There are some no-kill shelters. In Morganton there is Friends For Animals Humane Society of Burke County, and Catawba County has the Humane Society of Catawba County, which I think is in Hickory. Hickory also has another animal shelter, but it is one that euthanizes (can't confirm method used).