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Animal Lover Action: Establishing Spay/Neuter Clinics

July 16th, 2010

This will be the first in a series of what ordinary animal lovers can do to help the animal rescue movement.

When I read about a local low cost spay/neuter clinic in my area, it seemed appropriate to start with organizing low cost spay/neuter clinics. Approximately 70,000 puppies and kittens are born in the U.S. every single day. Between 8-10 million of them a year are killed in shelters.

The only way to help curb these stats is to get to the root of the problem and keep spreading the word about spay/neuter.

Anyone can organize a temporary low cost spay/neuter clinic by soliciting the help of local veterinarian(s) to reduce their fees. If you are already a non-profit rescue organization, you could hold fundraisers to subsidize the cost of the reduction by providing vouchers to people. However, some vets who are aware of the pet overpopulation problem might agree to absorb the fees temporarily.

Michelle Dormady, president of Spay & Neuter Kansas City, formed the organization in 2002. Michelle worked in a shelter for 4 years and part of her job was euthanizing the animals that weren’t claimed or adopted. “I realized that wasn’t the answer to the problem,” says Michelle.

Her organization uses a 3-pronged approach, which has reduced the number of municipal shelter intakes by 35 percent and the number of animal control calls by 30 percent:

• First, she secured grants, some of which came from funds that were going to be directed toward a new shelter in the city. “To do a long-term spay/neuter clinic right, you have to have grant funding,” says Michelle. Although most of their grants dried up during the recession due to budget cuts, the clinic is surviving now on donations fund raising and offering low cost veterinary services.
• Next, Spay & Neuter Kansas City targets the highest at risk population, which is determined by the number of animal control complaints. “Only 3 percent of the population contributes to 80 percent of the pet overpopulation problem,” says Michelle. The areas they target tend to be lower income areas where dogs are chained or allowed to run loose in the neighborhoods. They do not leave fliers, but go door to door talking to residents and pet owners, educating them of the benefits of altering their pets. “If we would leave fliers, it wouldn’t work,” says Michelle. “And if we targeted people who would alter their pets anyway, it wouldn’t help the problem.”
• Finally, they use incentives to further convince the pet owner. “If we see a dog outside without adequate shelter, we tell them we’ll give them a dog house, but the only thing we ask is that they get the dog altered,” says Michelle. “And then we tell them we’ll throw in a bag of food and also take the animal and bring it home. It’s a whole package deal.”

Rural areas are a bit different in that people are farther apart and veterinarians tend to be older and less educated on the pet overpopulation problem (thus less willing to help).

Mobile clinics, such as Arkansans for Animals (the one coming to my small town), are a viable way for anyone to set up a low cost spay/neuter clinic and many areas and states have them.

Jake Hillard, executive director with Arkansans for Animals, says they travel all over the state at the request of rescue organizations, shelters or even just a couple of volunteers who want to organize and publicize the clinic in their area. The mobile clinic operates on grants and donations and has a veterinarian, a technician and an assistant.

Most people pay, but there is grant funding for those who simply cannot. People managing feral cat populations don’t pay, she says. As well, Jake says 90 percent of the animals they alter have never seen a vet and they will also offer low cost vaccination services if the pet is being altered.

The organization also offers vouchers in some areas with vets who are willing to participate. Vets agree to charge less for their services and Jake says it’s best, if you are going to offer such a program in your area, that you talk to all the vets. “They can agree to participate or not, but at least they can’t say you are referring work to other vets and they weren’t given the chance,” says Jake.

One way to convince vets to go for such programs, says Michelle, is to tell them they can establish a whole new base of clients.

Have you ever helped established a local low cost spay/neuter clinic or program? Do you have other ideas or suggestions?

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Tags: Animal Lover Action: Establishing Spay/Neuter Clinics, establishing low cost spay/neuter clinics, pet overpopulation
Posted in K9 Rescue | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Animal Lover Action: Establishing Spay/Neuter Clinics”

1. Kathleen Winn says:

   July 16, 2010 at 11:34 am

   This is great info, Kerri! My sister has been working for almost five years to get a feral cat population in her horse barn, under control. She and I have spent our own money to spay and neuter many cats. However, there is a limit to how much we can financially take on, by ourselves. I will soon be moving to a rural area not far from my sister’s barn, so had already planned to look into ways to get funding for low cost spaying and neutering. The info in this article will be very helpful!
2. Kerri Rescue Me says:

   July 16, 2010 at 1:02 pm

   Glad it could help, Kathleen! Not sure if Missouri has the mobile vet clinic, but Arkansans for Animals used to travel there. Also, look into Spay & Neuter KC, they might be able to help with a feral cat population.