Mobile County Health Department to host low-cost rabies clinics in June

The Mobile County Health Department is offering low-cost, one-year rabies vaccinations for dogs, cats and ferrets during drive-through clinics scheduled throughout June.

Here is the list of June rabies clinics in Mobile County:

June 5 (Saturday), 1 to 3 p.m. — City of Mobile Animal Shelter, 855 Owens Street, Mobile

June 11 (Friday), 10 a.m. to noon — Mobile County Animal Shelter, 7665 Howells Ferry Road, Mobile

June 12 (Saturday), 10 a.m. to noon — Pet Supplies Plus, 803 Hillcrest Road, Mobile

June 19 (Saturday), 10 a.m. to noon — Glamour Paws, 10005 Dauphin Island Parkway near Fowl River

To follow social-distancing guidance, the events will be run as drive-through clinics. Owners and their pets can stay in their vehicles while a team administers the vaccination, an arrangement designed to keep lines moving and limit close contact between households.

Cost and Payment

The vaccine costs $12 per pet, payable in cash only. Pet owners planning to attend should bring cash for each animal they are having vaccinated and should expect to secure dogs on leashes and cats and ferrets in carriers as they move through the drive-through line.

The clinics cover dogs, cats and ferrets — the three species Alabama law addresses for rabies vaccination — and each shot provides a one-year rabies vaccination.

How the Program Works

Each month, the MCHD Rabies Officer provides residents with low-cost vaccinations for their pets at a variety of locations. The June schedule rotates across the county, from the City of Mobile Animal Shelter on Owens Street to the Mobile County Animal Shelter on Howells Ferry Road, and from a retail partner on Hillcrest Road to a groomer on Dauphin Island Parkway near Fowl River, so that residents in different parts of the county have a nearby option.

Alabama law tasks local health departments with making affordable rabies shots available to pet owners. The Mobile County Health Department’s clinics are how that obligation is carried out locally, keeping the cost of a required vaccination within reach for households across the county.

The demand is steady. In May, the Rabies Officer vaccinated 197 household pets, and in 2020 the program vaccinated 1,599.

Those numbers reflect how the clinics are used across the county. Some owners bring a new puppy or kitten for its first required shot, while others use the monthly schedule to keep a household of pets current year after year. The four June locations were chosen to put a clinic within easy driving distance of every part of the county, from the shelter yards in the city to retail and grooming partners that already see pet owners as regulars, and the $12 cash price is kept at a level where no owner has to choose between the law’s requirement and the household budget.

Why Rabies Vaccination Matters

Rabies is a virus that attacks the central nervous system and is transmitted from infected mammals to humans. It is fatal once symptoms appear, so health officials stress the importance of keeping pets vaccinated.

The virus circulates in wildlife across Alabama, including raccoons, bats, foxes and skunks, and encounters between household pets and wild animals are common in a county that blends dense suburban neighborhoods with rural stretches and waterfront property. A vaccinated pet acts as a buffer between the wild reservoir of the virus and the people in a household, which is why vaccination is not just a recommendation but a legal requirement for dogs, cats and ferrets in the state.

When an unvaccinated pet is exposed to a rabid or suspect animal, the consequences can include lengthy quarantine requirements and, in some cases, euthanasia recommendations, along with the medical costs and anxiety of post-exposure treatment for family members. A $12 vaccination is the low-cost alternative to every one of those outcomes.

Drive-Through Format

The drive-through setup used at all four June locations reflects public health guidance on social distancing. Rather than walking pets into a waiting room, owners pull through a lane, staff verify payment and pet details, and the vaccination is administered at the vehicle.

The format also suits the animals: many pets are calmer in their own space than in a clinic waiting room, and the quick stop reduces stress for skittish dogs and cats. Owners of multiple pets can have several animals vaccinated in a single stop, paying the $12 fee per animal in cash.

The same drive-through model has allowed the Rabies Officer’s monthly program to continue serving high volumes without interruption, an efficiency reflected in the hundreds of pets vaccinated each month and the four-figure annual totals the program records.

Where and When to Go

The June series opens Saturday, June 5, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the City of Mobile Animal Shelter, 855 Owens Street. The following week brings two consecutive chances: Friday, June 11, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Mobile County Animal Shelter, 7665 Howells Ferry Road, and Saturday, June 12, from 10 a.m. to noon at Pet Supplies Plus, 803 Hillcrest Road.

The final clinic of the month is Saturday, June 19, from 10 a.m. to noon at Glamour Paws, 10005 Dauphin Island Parkway near Fowl River, serving pet owners along the southern stretches of the city and the peninsula communities.

With four locations across five scheduled hours, the June calendar offers weekday and weekend options in different quadrants of Mobile, and any of the four stops provides the same $12, one-year vaccination for dogs, cats and ferrets, cash payment only.

Owners who miss a June date will have further chances through the year, since the Rabies Officer’s program runs on a monthly schedule that rotates locations across the county. But the June series is the broadest slate of the current rotation, and health officials’ standing advice applies at every stop: keep the vaccination current, secure the pet for the drive-through, and treat the low-cost clinic as the easiest line of defense against a disease that is fatal once symptoms appear.

The Law Behind the Clinics

Alabama law places the responsibility for rabies control squarely on local health departments, directing them to make affordable rabies vaccinations available to pet owners. The reasoning is public health: rabies is almost universally fatal once symptoms appear, and the state’s strategy for protecting people runs through the animals that live closest to them.

Vaccination of dogs, cats and ferrets is required under state law, and the Mobile County Health Department’s monthly clinics exist to make compliance easy and inexpensive. The $12 fee covers the one-year vaccination and is deliberately kept below the cost of a standard veterinary office visit so that cost is not the reason a pet goes unvaccinated.

For owners whose pets are due for a longer-duration vaccine or who prefer a full veterinary relationship, the clinics remain an option for keeping a required vaccination current, and many households use the June series as an annual reminder to bring every pet in the house up to date.

The Public Health Context

Each vaccinated pet is counted in the program’s totals, and those totals have real weight: 1,599 pets vaccinated in 2020 and 197 in May alone represent hundreds of households with a protective barrier against a fatal disease. The Rabies Officer’s work does not stop at the clinics, either — the same program handles the follow-up that keeps Mobile County’s rabies response functioning, from exposure investigations to coordination with animal control.

The county’s setting makes that work continuous. Mobile County sits where suburban neighborhoods, rural land, waterways and wildlife habitat meet, so encounters between pets and the wild animals that can carry the virus are a year-round possibility rather than a rare event. Every drive-through clinic that moves hundreds of pets through a vaccination line reduces the chance that a backyard encounter becomes a household tragedy or a public health investigation.

Health officials’ message around the clinics is consistent: rabies is fatal once symptoms appear, there is no cure after that point, and vaccination is the single effective prevention. Keeping pets current protects the pet first, but it also protects everyone in the household and everyone the pet encounters.

Residents with questions about rabies control, exposure or the vaccination program can contact the Mobile County Health Department’s Rabies Control program through the department’s Disease Control services.

A Practical June Reminder

For pet owners across Mobile County, the June clinics are a straightforward errand: pick the nearest date and location, bring the pet secured in a carrier or on a leash, bring $12 in cash per animal, and drive through. Dogs, cats and ferrets are all covered, and the vaccination issued is a one-year rabies vaccination recognized under Alabama law.

The four dates — June 5 at the City of Mobile Animal Shelter, June 11 at the Mobile County Animal Shelter, June 12 at Pet Supplies Plus and June 19 at Glamour Paws — give the county broad geographic coverage for the month, and the drive-through format keeps the stops quick for owners and animals alike.

With the program vaccinating hundreds of pets monthly, the June series is expected to add substantially to this year’s totals, one $12 shot at a time.