A four-year-old free program that has spayed, neutered and treated more than 1,200 pets belonging to Gainesville’s homeless and the poor is in jeopardy of closing — at least temporarily — as it seeks a new home.

The St. Francis House Pet Care Clinic, which operates on Tuesdays at the St. Francis House homeless shelter, will open for the last time Tuesday because the shelter needs the space in which the clinic operates.

“They have been absolutely wonderful to us, but they need the space and we really need to get a bigger space,” said clinic Vice President Chris Machen. “We are scrambling around. This is a whole new era.”

The clinic was opened about four years ago by Gainesville veterinarian Dale Kaplan-Stein, veterinarian Natalie Isaza, who is director of the shelter medicine program at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, and Machen, who is the wife of UF president Bernie Machen.

Veterinary students work at the clinic in a rotation, and many come back to join other volunteers when the rotation is over.

The weekly clinic fills a courtyard at St. Francis House with dogs and cats, which get exams, medicine, vaccinations, flea and heartworm prevention and other care. Spaying and neutering is done at the UF veterinary college.

Grants and donations of medicine, food and other items help offset the costs of running the clinic. UF employees can also donate to the program through the Campaign for Charities program.

The program’s main goals, in addition to veterinary care, are to teach responsible pet ownership and to encourage people to spay or neuter their pets.

Pet owners said they hope the clinic can find a new location, adding they would not be able to afford the kind of care for their pets that they get at the clinic.

“If they weren’t here, I wouldn’t be able to pay for a veterinarian,” said Frankie Withey, who was at the clinic with his Staffordshire terrier, Shay. “She’s like a daughter to me, like family. I don’t even look at her as a pet. She’s pretty healthy. She’s been spayed and got her rabies shots.”

Withey, who is homeless, lives in the Southwest 20th Avenue area. He outfitted a bike with an enclosed trailer to transport Shay. Strapped on top of the trailer was a pet carrier for Tank — the dachshund/chihuahua of Withey’s friend, Christopher Strong.

“They seem to be optimistic about finding a place. That’s all we can hope for, anyway,” Strong said.

Kaplan-Stein said the clinic has a potential site near St. Francis House on South Main Street.

The clinic had been offered the Big Fix Rig, a veterinary facility in a trailer, by No More Homeless Pets of Alachua County. But Kaplan-Stein said city would not allow the rig to be parked at the potential South Main Street site.

Kaplan-Stein added that if an agreement for space at the site is reached, it will still take time to get the facility approved by the city and by a veterinary licensing board.

“Once we get a building or a space, then I have to modify it so the board of veterinary medicine will allow us to practice there. It becomes so entangled,” Kaplan-Stein said. “This is needed in the community. We are making the community healthier by vaccinating for rabies.”

Kaplan-Stein said a similar service is offered for the pets of homeless and poor in a handful of other cities. Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, said he is not aware of any others.