PAW FUND has hosted 3 Free Pet Vaccine Clinics already this year and at those clinics we have signed up 75 animals to be spayed or neutered. But we cannot get enough appointments for low cost spay and neuter surgeries to meet the need. If you have signed up to have your dog or cat fixed, please be patient. We are working as hard as we can to bring more vets into partnership with us to provide real low cost surgeries. Because we know, as you do – people want to fix their pets, but cost is the biggest issue. Followed by how accessible the vet clinics are and whether there is flexibility in scheduling. People are struggling economically, many people are working more than one job, some don’t have working vehicles to get to and from the vet.
And the truth is that for many families, this just isn’t a priority. That’s ok. When we work in the animal rescue or animal welfare ‘business’ we need to be honest enough to recognize that the mantra of spay/neuter is OUR agenda, not necessarily the most important thing to members of our community. We see the big picture, we see the flood of animals pouring into shelters, we are concerned with euthanasia rates, and disease, we know the problems many pets experience through not being spayed or neutered. But we can’t go around with a judgemental attitude as if we know better and everyone else is either an idiot or a bad person.
When we acknowledge that spay/neuter is what we want – possibly more than many pet owners – then we can begin to offer services, and offer them at low or even no cost and welcome the community when they take us up on our offer. PAW FUND and our partner organisation PALS (People & Animals Living Safely) are of one mind. We do not turn people away when they need vaccines for their pets, or their litter of pups and do not want to fix them. We give the services, we invite them to come back next month to continue to get the puppy vaccines and de-wormers because what is the outcome we want? We want healthy vaccinated pups who turn into healthy dogs. We want people who are not afraid to ask for services. We want the new owners of those pups to come back to us and ask us to fix their pup. What we find is that after talking to our volunteers, our vets and vet techs many owners come back a few months later and ask for help with getting their animals fixed. We find that when they talk to others in their communities who have seen the benefits to their pets, they will come back and ask to have their pet fixed. We leave the door open.
Collaboration, partnership, education and information – means healthier pets, fewer owner surrenders to shelters and an educated and informed community. If you like what we do, please go to our donate page and make a contribution today!! Thank you.