Free Pet Services Offered Through ‘Nuevo Chip Chicks’ in SoCal’s Riverside County

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) — A group of Riverside County animal lovers is making sure your four-legged friends get their microchips and vaccinations – and all for free.

“My five friends and I got together and started the Chip Chicks and we’re trying to inspire others to do something similar,” said Katie Jane Troudt, the group’s founder.

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

After working in the shelter system for years, she saw the need for microchipping pets due to the high volume of animals admitted.

“Our goal started with the number of stray animals we were seeing on the streets,” Troudt said. “A lot of us have microchip readers and we checked these animals and we found there was no microchip, there was no name tag and these dogs went straight to the shelters.”

Then, when they opened a flea clinic, they saw another need.

“We started to see 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 vaccination clinic, as well as a microchip clinic,” Troudt said.

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

“This community here, Nuevo, has done a great job of coming together and working with us at the county level to make sure that we are able to provide these services, and it’s free,” said Jaclyn Schart of Riverside County Animal Services.

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

“I want to thank Nuevo Chip Chicks for their leadership in not only taking care of the problem, but being part of the solution,” said Riverside County Supervisor Yxstian Gutierrez.

“Nuevo Chip Chicks” posts its events on its Instagram and Facebook pages, advertising its services on a first-come, first-served basis.

“Anyone can do this in their own city. We need to help animal control keep these animals out of shelters. It starts with us. It starts with spaying and neutering, but it also starts with proper identification of our pets,” says Troudt.