Today some of our staff arrived at 6:00am to check-in low-income clients who had registered their pets for low-cost neutering surgery through our Spay Day USA program. To do our share of the national Spay Day USA program run by the Humane Society of the United States, the League offered spays and neuters for cats and dogs for only $25. We also offered a microchip and registration for free for these pets.
We are subsidizing the costs not covered by the $25 fee from our Hantke Memorial Spay-Neuter Fund. We use this fund to offer low-cost neutering all year round.
This morning people showed up with 15 cats and eight dogs for surgery. They signed permission forms, paid $25 for each pet, and loaded them into crates in our transport van. Two League staffers drove the pets to the National Capital Area Spay Neuter Center. The Washington Humane Society and their partners created the center to provide low-cost surgeries for cats and dogs in the metro area.
Another staffer will drive downtown to pick up the animals this evening. The owners will retrieve their pets from the League in Arlington tonight. We will give them post-operative instructions for the care of their pets along with pain medication needed for three days.
On Friday we will repeat the entire process for 25 more pets of low-to-moderate-income people. This effort means that almost 50 cats and dogs in our community will NOT contribute to the pet overpopulation problem. They will NOT create litters upon litters that may end up homeless. They WILL be more likely to remain in their homes because they will not have the behavior or medical problems that can occur with unneutered pets.
We think Spay Day is a win-win situation for our community: the pets and the people.
2 comments:
I think that is is wonderful that you are offering this service to those who need it most! BRAVO!
And don't forget the rabbits (they DO breed like rabbits). The Arlington shelter took a mother and her litter of seven, the result of someone not spaying and neutering, along with several other adult rabbits from the shelter for spay/neuter surgery on Spay Day as well. Spay/neuter is very important for rabbits, not only to prevent adding to the population of homeless animals, but for health and behavior to make them much better companions.
Post a Comment