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Fundraiser for HAARTS to be held at Cymplify on Nov. 6

Former UF veterinary student Meredith Montgomery, left, a 2015 graduate of the college, poses with a volunteer near a rack full of sports jerseys that were among the items auctioned off last year at Cymplify to benefit UF’s HAARTS program. The event was co-sponsored by the college’s Shelter Medicine Club.

A silent-auction fundraiser to support a program through which University of Florida veterinary medical students provide life-saving medical care to homeless animals will be held in Gainesville at Cymplify at 7 p.m. on Nov. 6.

For the second year in a row, the event will be co-hosted by Cymplify, located at 5402 NW 8th Ave., and the UF shelter medicine club.

Among the items available for bidding in the silent auction are a furniture-style crate donated by PetSmart and several automated water fountain bowls donated by Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Signed sports memorabilia donated by Katie’s Locker will be for sale and many more items are still being procured, according to Maxie Bowen, a representative of the club.

“There will also be some games and activities at the event for kids and dogs and their owners, such as our Rubber Ducky Draw, where dogs can pick the rubber duck of their choice to win a corresponding prize donated by DermaZoo,” Bowen said. “We also will have a Make Your Own Cat/Dog Toy booth as well as a few more activities.”

Food trucks will be on hand at Cymplify so there will be “plenty of food for everyone to choose from,” Bowen said, adding that entertainment will also be provided.

The program, Helping Alachua’s Animals Requiring Treatment and Surgery, is better known as HAARTS and is managed through the UF College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Community Outreach Program. The HAARTS fund covers the costs of certain procedures that are deemed medically necessary and without which shelter animals, which come to UF’s VCOP through local rescue groups, would be euthanized. More than 2,000 animals have received treatment through the HAARTS program since it was formed in 2009.

Students performing their VCOP rotation perform most of the HAARTS procedures, which typically include eye enucleations, cherry eye repairs, cystotomies and amputations. Other more complicated cases, such as fracture repair, are served through the UF Small Animal Hospital, which increases the caseload for UF’s surgical residents, according to Dr. Natalie Isaza, chief of the VCOP service.