Free pet services offered to keep animals out of shelters thanks to 'Nuevo Chip Chicks' in IE

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- A group of animal lovers in Riverside County are making sure your furry friends receive their microchips and vaccines - and it's all for free.

"My five friends and I got together and we created the Chip Chicks and we are trying to inspire others to do something similar," Katie Jane Troudt said, the group's founder.

"Nuevo Chip Chicks" provides accessible pet care to residents in the Inland Empire with the goal of keeping animals out of the shelter.

After working in the shelter system for years, she saw a need for pet microchipping due to the high volume of pet intakes.

"Our goal started with the amount of strays that we were seeing in the streets," Troudt said. "A lot of us have microchip readers and we were checking these animals and we were seeing that there was no microchip, there was no name tag and these dogs were going straight to the shelters."

Then, when they started a chip clinic, they saw another need.

"We started seeing how many dogs were not vaccinated. So with the help of our donors, we were able to start giving free vaccinations as well and this is our first free vaccine clinic, as well as microchip clinic," Troudt said.

The partnership is held with Riverside County and Riverside County Animal Services to host monthly pet clinics that offer free services.

"This community here, Nuevo has done a great job rallying together and working with us on the county level to be sure we're able to provide these services, and it's for free," said Jaclyn Schart of Riverside County Animal Services.

While the organization is happy to provide free services, Chip Chicks also advocates to prevent pet dumping by offering residents to contact them.

"I want to thank Nuevo Chip Chicks for their leadership in not just being about the problem, but being a part of the solution as well," said Riverside County Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez.

"Nuevo Chip Chicks" posts their events to their Instagram and Facebook pages, announcing their services on a first come, first serve basis.

"Anybody can do this in their own town. We have to help animal control keep these animals out of the shelters. It starts with us. It starts with spaying and neutering, but it also starts with keeping a good identification on our pets," Troudt said.