Organizations are making a difference in their communities on behalf of companion animals.
The last Tuesday of each February is designated as Spay Day, a time when event organizers around the nation successfully promote the message of spay/neuter to their communities. It is estimated that 1,387,000 animals have been fixed in the event’s first 13 years. A shelter’s average cost to handle an animal is $176. Add in the numerous births prevented due to the sterilization surgeries and this equates to both millions of dollars saved and the prevention of millions of homeless animals through the years.*
While Spay Day itself is only 24 hours, there are many organizations around the country that make it a primary focus all year long. These committed groups know that the only way to work toward the day when there is no longer an animal surplus is through aggressive free or low-cost spay/neuter services. In honor of Spay Day, and February being Spay/Neuter month, several successful and innovative clinics are highlighted from around the country.
Foundation Against Companion-Animal Euthanasia (FACE) of Indiana
The Foundation Against Companion-Animal Euthanasia (FACE) was established in March 1999, a time when the shelters were euthanizing the highest number of animals in Indianapolis history. The good news is that since FACE opened, that number has steadily decreased over the years and is now down by one third. That drop is largely attributed to the approximate 10,000 spays and neuters the clinic performs per year. That is 55-60 sterilizations per day, and at this rate, the clinic anticipates performing their 100,000th surgery later this year.
In addition to spays and neuters, their clinic offers wellness services to the general public for a limited period of time each day. During the exams, the staff is empowered to offer free surgeries to active breeding animals and pit bulls, thanks to specifically donated funds. In an effort to continue to provide affordable sterilizations services, despite rising costs, Ellen Robinson, Executive Director for FACE says, “We’ve never raised our surgery prices since we opened. We don’t want to, until we see a significant drop in euthanasias.”
FACE prides itself on the customer service provided to both its human and animal clients. “We spend a lot of time focusing on patient care,” notes Robinson. “Every patient is a patient, no matter what.” An on-call employee carries a pager at all times to address any post-op customer concerns. “We try to help our clients because ultimately that helps the cats and dogs they live with.”
They have never advertised and rely entirely on word of mouth promotion, yet they are obviously doing something right, because their schedule is booked out for 30 days and their clinic helped provide the framework for two additional spay/neuter clinics in the area;
Pets ALIVE Spay/Neuter Clinic and
Hamilton County Low Cost Spay Neuter Clinic.
For now FACE continues to grow. Thanks to a kind individual, the clinic was granted a piece of land across the street. This will allow them to expand their services, by providing much needed additional parking. However, funds are needed to reconstruct and pave the property. In addition, the clinic would like to set up a pick up and drop off service for seniors, who have difficultly leaving their houses.
For more information:
Foundation Against Companion-Animal Euthanasia (FACE)1505 Massachusetts Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46201
Phone: 317-638-3223
Atlanta Humane Society Clinic of Georgia
Thanks to various grants, the Atlanta Humane Society converted a shelter conference room into a spay/neuter surgical suite in the summer of 2007. For the first calendar year, the five vets on staff are on track to perform around 7,000 sterilization surgeries. While the Atlanta Humane Society makes sure all of their own animals are fixed prior to adoption, they also offer the clinic’s services to the public and other shelters and rescues.
“Our goal is to reach out to pet owners and animal welfare agencies and help where needed,” states Cathy Sleva, the Director of Development for the Atlanta Humane Society. “By teaming up for a common cause, Atlanta’s animal welfare organizations will make a significant difference and help bring awareness to the importance of spaying and neutering.”
There are approximately 200 animal welfare organizations in the Atlanta metro area and since last fall the clinic has been able to offer free and discounted spays and neuters to them. The first 25 surgeries have been performed at no cost and thereafter groups are charged a maximum $40 for each additional spay or neuter. Also, thanks to a $39,577 PetSmart grant, free sterilization surgeries are also being offered to the community. Funding is expected to last through the end of the month when the Atlanta Humane Society hopes to renew the grant.
In addition to spay and neuter services, the shelter veterinary clinic also offers pet wellness exams, vaccinations, emergency care, dental cleanings, microchipping, and heartworm treatment to the general public.
For more information:
Atlanta Humane Society Clinic981 Howell Mill Road NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30318
Phone: 404-875-6420
Sacramento SPCA of California
The Sacramento SPCA, as part of the
Sacramento Area Animal Coalition (SAAC), has big plans for this Sunday, February 24. SAAC has hosted an event for Spay Day for the past nine years and according to Alexis Raymond, the SAAC Spay Day Publicity Coordinator, “Ours has been the largest one-day spay/neuter event in the United States for eight years running. To date, we have altered more than 4,000 cats and dogs, literally preventing millions of unwanted puppies and kittens from being born.”
This year, 19 veterinary and animal welfare organizations are participating and approximately 300 people are expected to volunteer at the contributing clinics. 766 spay and neuter surgeries are to be performed for individuals making less than $35,000 annually who live in Sacramento, Yolo or Placer Counties. For only $15 per cat and $20 per dog, individuals will receive vaccinations, a microchip with lifetime registration, and flea preventative, in addition to the sterilization surgery. Raymond notes, “Spay Day Sacramento is now a model of community cooperation that Sacramento's animal welfare community looks forward to every year.”
Dr. Laurie Siperstein-Cook, DVM of the Sacramento SPCA anticipates that the shelter’s clinic will spay and neuter over 60 animals on Sunday, in addition to the pre-Spay Day appointments taken in the past month for female cats that could not wait until the official clinic date.
The Sacramento SPCA spay/neuter clinic opened about 20 years ago. While many of their surgeries performed are on the shelter’s animals, all open slots are made available to the general public. Only last May, the clinic expanded from one veterinarian with one surgical table sterilizing animals four days a week to two vets with four surgical tables performing surgeries five days a week. As a result, their spay and neuter numbers have jumped from about 18-20 to 40-50 per day. It is hoped that they can add a sixth day per week in the future.
“Right now, we are the only high quality, high volume spay/neuter clinic in the Sacramento region,” notes Dr. Siperstein-Cook. “We’re booking out so far in advance; people are having to go elsewhere.” The concern is that those people will find other local options too expensive and will not have their animal altered, for lack of funds. Fortunately, the SPCA is in negotiations with the
Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation, which has recently broken ground on a new shelter and spay/neuter clinic. Talks are underway for the SPCA to copy and expand their own model and run the clinic for the county.
Seeing a need for help to halt the flow of unwanted homeless cats, last spring the SPCA started a special low-cost program for ferals. In collaboration with the
Coalition for Community Cats, one Sunday per month, volunteers and one paid Veterinary Technician spend the day fixing unsocialized felines. The Coalition supplies volunteers and cats, while the SPCA provides the clinic location, medical supplies, vet tech, and volunteer veterinarian. In addition, since the University of California-Davis is located only about 30 minutes from the SPCA, veterinary school students rotate to help with these clinics, which gives them both experience in shelter medicine and helps develop their surgical skills.
No appointments are necessary and thanks to grants and thrift store contributions, caregivers are only charged $15 per cat for the surgery, ear tip, antibiotics, pain medication, vaccines, flea treatment, and ear mite treatment if needed. A second feral organization utilizes the SPCA clinic regularly, and between both dates, approximately 80 cats are fixed per month.
The clinic modeled a “We Pay to Spay Program” for pit bull and pit bull mixes after seeing the feral success. As Dr. Siperstein-Cook says, “It’s an underserved community.” In addition to slots allotted on three Tuesdays per month in their regular clinic, an all-volunteer team works one Saturday per month to fix pits at no charge to the guardian. Sacramento County and West Sacramento residents who are interested in this free program should call 916-383-7387, extension 9017, for an appointment.
For more information:
Sacramento SPCA Spay Neuter Clinic6201 Florin-Perkins Road
Sacramento, California 95828
Phone: 916-383-7387
Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic of North Carolina
Opened in 1994 by Bill McKelvey, the Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic has quickly become one of the most successful sterilization clinics in the nation, having fixed over 180,000 animals since its inception. They service 23 counties in Western North Carolina and spay or neuter over 22,000 animals annually, averaging about 120 surgeries per day.
The clinic offers services to the general public, though 82% of the animals they fix come from a coalition of 39 animal welfare organizations who they work with closely. Fortunately all local animal agencies agree that pets need to be sterilized prior to adoption, so these groups from around the area utilize a free transport service within a 100 mile radius of Humane Alliance, to send their animals for surgery. The animals are spayed and neutered, held overnight, and then returned the following day. This program has proven so successful, it is well worth the 60,000 miles they travel each year.
Quita Mazzina, Executive Director of the Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic, notes that “The volume of services actually covers the cost of operating the program.” In fact, the clinic is thriving to the point where they have overgrown their current facility. They have purchased and are now renovating a new 13,000 square foot building. With six surgical suites, the new clinic is expected to increase their capacity by an additional 30,000 animals per year, more than doubling their current surgeries performed.
“I think that our program is one of the most successful in the country and the source of the strength of our program is our staff,” comments Mazzina. The clinic is now employing 23 people, including five full-time veterinarians, all of whom are passionately committed to the clinic’s mission.
Working in collaboration with other Buncombe County shelters and rescues, Humane Alliance is supporting “Countdown to Zero.” “The goal is by 2012, we will not be euthanizing any healthy adoptable animal,” says Mazzina. “All of the animal welfare organizations, including our county and city animal controls, are participating on this.” In addition, both the city and county animal control offices now distribute Humane Alliance business cards to individuals in need. They have recently opened an account which helps subsidize the cost to spay and neuter the pets of people who are unable to afford the entire fee.
In an effort to save more animals’ lives, Humane Alliance has created the
National Spay/Neuter Response Team (NSNRT) to share their knowledge with other organizations that wish to set up a spay/neuter clinic in other areas of the country, following their own proven model. Sponsored by
PetSmart Charities and the
ASPCA, the program allows representatives from participating organizations to come to Humane Alliance for a week of learning and then sends a team back with them for two weeks. “We have trained 33 organizations across the country,” says Mazzina. “It has just been amazing the people who are opening these clinics. Their vision is so impassioned.”
“We have 27 applications in now from other organizations across the country to open spay/neuter clinics,” comments Mazzina. Thus far, the groups which Humane Alliance has mentored have spayed and neutered about 265,000 companion animals. The goal in the next five years is to help open enough clinics through NSNRT to fix over one million animals per year.
For more information:
Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic231 Haywood Street
Asheville, North Carolina 28801
Phone: 828-252-2079
Humane Alliance video
For more information about Spay Day and the importance of having companion animals fixed:•
Spay/Neuter Fever! Community•
Spay/Neuter Resources •
Spay Day USA 2008How to help:•
Find low-cost spay/neuter services in your area and be sure to have all your companion animals fixed.
• Volunteer to help at one of the many
Spay Day events around the nation. If one is not scheduled in your area, support a local clinic that offers free or low-cost spay/neuter options.
*Source:
Spay Day USA websitePhoto credits: 75,000th surgery photo courtesy of FACE Low-Cost Spay Neuter Clinic, surgical suite photo courtesy of the Atlanta Humane Society, and the remaining photographs courtesy of the Humane Alliance Spay/Neuter Clinic.