Hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, veterinarian Dr. Peter Denooij has spent much of his career devoted to animal welfare - including the Edmonton Humane Society and the Alberta SPCA boards of directors – all leading up to the 2015 launch of his company, CaClCa Inc. where he is hopeful his vision to end much unnecessary global animal suffering due to overpopulation will become a reality.
Denooij has started a company that supplies veterinarians around the world with a Calcium Chloride solution that, when combined with ethanol alcohol, can be used as a non-surgical alternative to neutering stray dogs and cats for less than $1 U.S. per animal. InfoStream caught up with Denooij to get an update on where his work is at and what lies ahead.
InfoStream (IS): What is the purpose of CaClCa Inc?
Peter Denooij (PD): As a veterinarian I have always been passionate about animal welfare. After I stopped practicing I decided to get more actively involved at the governing level and I was on the Board Of Directors for the Edmonton Humane Society from 2003-2010 and for the Alberta SPCA from 2011-2015. When I was made aware of this new procedure in September 2014, I saw an opportunity to get involved in animal welfare as an entrepreneur.
It’s one of those things that came about at the right time in my career. Really, my goal is that this will become another tool in the veterinarian’s arsenal…I’m aiming to try and solve the worldwide problem of stray dogs and cats, which we have plenty of in North America, but many, many more in third world countries.
That tool comes in the form of a small quantity of the medical-grade Calcium Chloride solution (4 grams in a sterile bottle) that is bottled in China and shipped directly to the door of the ordering veterinarian.
This medical grade solution is then mixed with 20 ml of 95% pharmaceutical grade ethanol solution (inexpensive to purchase but a ‘headache’ to ship; this would be purchased separately by the vets) and injected into the animal.
This method is effective for not only sterilization, but also reducing aggressive behaviour in male dogs. It would have a cumulative effect of alleviating pressures on the limited medical resources in third world countries, as the result would be less dog attacks on humans - most of the world’s rabies cases are due to dog bites.
CaClCa research shows the dogs feel little or no pain during the procedure; although not commonly known, there are no pain sensors inside the testes, only pressure sensors. Triggering the testicular pressures sensors can be avoided if the injection is given slowly and properly.
IS: Where are you currently at with your vision?
PD: I am currently putting together a database of veterinarians around the world – right now it includes 2,700 vets (and animal welfare personnel) in 110 countries – and I’m asking them to share this information with their colleagues.
Vets are interested in what we are doing, universities are looking into it…right now it’s about creating awareness among veterinary professionals and then creating acceptance.
I recently attended and spoke at the 50th Annual Veterinary Conference of the Kenya Veterinary Association in Meru, Kenya - breaking ground as the first presenter to bring veterinarians to the table to discuss the CaCl castration procedure and the idea to implement this into third world nations’ veterinary practices, in order to assist them in controlling their unwanted animal populations.
Following an aggressive marketing campaign this summer, I’m hopeful there will be many more conferences in the near future.
I am convinced that this method will become one of the preferred methods to castrate dogs and cats and that next year we will be providing veterinarians in many countries of the world with our product.
IS: What are your greatest obstacles at this point?
PD: The procedure is not known around the world. The veterinary and animal welfare communities have not been informed and are not aware on a large scale.
There is not enough field data are available to convince the skeptics that this method meets the principal requirements for application to a population of stray canines: a single, bilateral intratesticular injection for stray dogs is effective in achieving long-term infertility, inhibits sexual behavior, does not cause chronic stress to the animal, causes few inflammatory reactions, lacks other undesirable side effects, is easily performed, and is economical.
Providing calcium chloride to veterinarians in many countries is hampered by government regulations.
Pharmaceutical companies are not interested as there are no patents possible.
Third world countries are lacking the funds (and maybe the desire) to attack the dog/cat overpopulation.
