Preventing Unwanted Litters

Pet Haven, in collaboration with Minnesota Spay Neuter Project, had a one day spay neuter of 25 cats at Westgate Pet Clinic in Minneapolis MN on March 22, 2010. This one-day event is part of Pet Haven’s Spay Neuter Initiative where one aspect of the program is to help provide spay/neuter services to low-income families. To learn more about Pet Haven’s SNI program click here.

All 25 cats were owner-owned cats and went through Pet Haven’s SNI application process. Owners met the subsidy economic criteria for household income and size. Many thanks to Westgate Pet Clinic who provided substantial discounts and only charged the SNI program $65/spay and $51/neuter for a total of $1443. Many thanks also to the veterinarians who volunteered their time!

In addition to staff at Westgate we had volunteers on hand to help with paperwork, check-in and check-out of clients and patients, cleaning carriers and making calls to clients to inform them that their cat was ready to be picked up. Having volunteers focus on these tasks enable Westgate staff to focus on veterinary services for the cats.
Spay/Neuter efforts are an essential and critical component to the pet overpopulation crisis we are currently faced with – we need to stop the flow at its source – by preventing unwanted litters. We need to support and provide assistance to those who want to spay/neuter their pets, but are unable to afford the cost of sterilization.

Pet Haven is committed to increasing efforts in 2010 to spay/neuter. If you would like to be a part of this effort please email volunteer@pethavenmn.org.