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INUVIK
A single nondescript sign taped to the plywood door advertises the clinic held inside.

Angel is a 17-kilogram dog and is the first patient of the day on Tuesday.

Sedated, she's picked up and placed on the table in one of the old Samuel Hearne Secondary School classrooms.

The location is different than the last Arctic Paws clinic, which was held at the Midnight Sun Complex in the spring. This clinic started on Sept. 7.

Angela McInnes, a volunteer with Arctic Paws, says this location seems to be working out better for the patients.

There's a check-in station with a scale, a waiting area, a surgical room and a calm recovery centre.

"We had the animals in the locker rooms at the complex as the lights wouldn't stay on," says McInnes.

"It was stressful for the animals. This location has been working a lot better."

Angel is now fast asleep and has been intubated.

Veterinary technician Tanya Sooley says the intubation will make it easier for Angel to breath while she's asleep. Sooley and Charlene Ross, a volunteer at the clinic, shave matted fur off their sedated patient. Soon, Dr. Audrey Remedios will be by to examine a lump the owner is concerned about.

It's all in a busy day's work at the biannual subsidized vet clinic.

McInnes is quick to point out they're not running it as a form of competition with local veterinarian Dr. Peter Krizan.

"There are people who can't afford to go to him so this is a different option," says McInnes.

The clinic runs until Sept. 17, but McInnes says this time around, they're making sure to take time off.

"We only work three days at a time, then take one off. It's too exhausting if we don't."

The doctors, technicians and volunteers start at 8:30 a.m. and continue until 6 p.m.

"We're lucky there are a lot of nurses volunteering," says McInnes.

"They come in and prep the surgery bundles needed, making sure everything is sterilized for the next day."

Meanwhile, Sooley and Remedios drain the lump found on Angel. It turned out to be a sebaceous cyst and after a quick discussion with McInnes, they decide to remove it. This will reduce the chances it will come back.

With minimal advertising, news of the clinic's return spread mainly through word of mouth, says McInnes.

"It's just crazy, people are already asking us if they can sign up for the next one but we can't keep holding them or else we would be competition," says McInnes.

The next steps for Arctic Paws involve trying to get funding from the Aviva Foundation, with the hopes of one day running a fully-mobile clinic that could make it to remote and outlying communities.

As for Angel, she was stitched up after her surgery and was taken care of in the recovery room, where volunteers made sure she was comfortable.

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