I was scrolling through social media one day when I saw a press release from a shelter that’s located in a nearby county:
AnimalSave, in partnership with the Center for Animal Protection and Education (CAPE) and Sammie’s Friends, is working to expand the number of low-cost spay and neuter appointments available to the Nevada County (CA) community. As a result, AnimalSave will be offering additional spay and neuter appointments through July, August, and September 2024, or until the current funding is exhausted.
My immediate response was jealousy, or perhaps it was envy. Three organizations—a lower-cost spay/neuter clinic (AnimalSave), a rescue and sanctuary group (CAPE), and the public shelter whose social media I follow (Sammie’s Friends), put together some funding to hire the additional staff required to increase the number of lower-cost spay/neuter surgeries that the clinic could perform on dogs and cats, and to offer lower-income owners vouchers that would reduce their cost of those surgeries (whether from AnimalSave or the owners’ regular veterinarians). I have to hand it to the folks responsible for this group effort to reduce the population of unwanted dogs and cats in their community. Why isn’t my local shelter doing something like that?
I often hear complaints from dog owners in my area that 1), It’s hard to get an appointment for spay/neuter at any of our local veterinary hospitals, waiting times are long, and 2), that these surgeries are prohibitively expensive—so much so, that many owners give up on the idea of birth control for their pets (and the inevitable unintended pregnancies and birth of unwanted litters occur).
Some communities are lucky to have lower-cost spay/neuter clinics available. Forty years ago, my sister married a veterinarian who specialized in opening clinics that provided only those services (and vaccinations). They referred sick animals to other practitioners and provided only high-quality, high-volume, spay/neuter services—and they were profitable, and the vets had reliable work schedules. (Veterinary school students, take note!) But my former brother-in-law retired ages ago and none of the practices he founded, or others like them, are anywhere near me.
Communities that have been successful in reducing the population of unwanted pets usually have employed various creative ways to increase the rate of spay/neuter of owned dogs and cats, as well as trapped/neutered/released feral cats. But in every community, this takes MONEY—for the establishment of facilities to do surgery and reliable staffing (or the regular engagement of mobile spay/neuter practices), and outreach to the community to let them know these services are available. Voucher programs that bring lower-cost services down even further, or to make these services free of cost altogether, might be needed to reach the very lowest-income population.
So why doesn’t my local shelter form partnerships that result in the reduction of unwanted puppies and kittens in our area? What it tends to come down to is a lack of personnel, paid or volunteer, to look for opportunities to apply for partnerships or grants. There are a number of organizations that offer grants to shelters or rescues that provide spay/neuter services— but my local shelter’s budget is too tight to employ someone to look for opportunities to reduce the need for sheltering and animal control services! It’s a Catch-22 that keeps the shelter full.
What is being done in your community to reduce shelter populations? Please share if you are involved in helping to reduce the overpopulation of dogs and cats.