Organization picks up every Wednesday, costs half of what vet charges
Sooner or later almost everyone will be hit up from time to time by someone with a litter to offload: you know, the lady at work who’s always got kittens she’s seeking a home for because she won’t spend money to fix her cats; or the man down the way who frequently has a box of puppies that he tries to push off on everyone at the Walmart parking lot because he just can’t afford to spay his dog even though he always seems to have enough cash for anything else he wants. They’re irresponsible. They’re annoying. And they’re contributing to the pet overpopulation problem in Ellis County where strays end up suffering and starving out in the countryside or dead along the roads.
You don’t want to be that kind of person.
And with the volunteers and staff at the Crandall-based Spay and Neuter Network bending over backwards to make getting your pet fixed as cheap and easy as possible, you won’t ever have to be that kind of person.
The non-profit has been offering spaying, neutering, microchipping and vaccination services at a reduced charge for more than a decade, picking up animals in a transport vehicle each Wednesday morning in Waxahachie, taking them to the vet’s office in Crandall and shuttling them back to town for pick up by the afternoon.
Animal welfare advocate Bonnie Hill started SNN in Kaufman County to try to get a hold on the animal overpopulation problem that riddled the county back in 2004. First, she wanted to start an animal shelter but later decided she’d have to get at the root of the problem if she wanted to alleviate the suffering she saw on the roads and back alleys near her, so she started the low-cost spaying and neutering service.
The work took off in Kaufman County and quickly spread to Ellis County where local animal advocates were begging the organization to come help with our pet overpopulation.
“It was just that several the shelters needed our help and then the communities there did too. And so we just we started a transport system that could actually shuttle animals to our clinic, have surgery done and return same day. And we’ve worked Ellis county for many years and it’s actually been one of our most successful transports,” says Jacob Carty, marketing and communications director for the organization.
Carty says dogs can have two litters per year and cats can have three. The organization fixes about 25 dogs and cats each week in Waxahachie alone, amounting to nearly 1,200 fixed pets who won’t be populating town with more than 18,000 strays — every year.
And considering that every local municipal shelter is still putting healthy dogs and cats to death for lack of a home that will take them in, that 18,000 fewer pets being conceived means we could one day live in a town where no healthy animal is euthanized simply because there’s no room. But, we’re still not there, and so SNN presses on with its mission “to eliminate pet overpopulation through spay, neuter, while empowering communities to care responsibly for dogs and cats,” Carty says.
As for costs, each $120 surgery is subsidized through grants and donations, so the average SNN client winds up paying only around $60 — sometimes less — it depends on the gender and weight of the pet.
Anyone wanting to take advantage of the low-cost service just needs to register online and schedule a date.
Then in the morning on the day of your appointment, show up at the Atwood’s Farm and Ranch parking lot to sign a little paperwork and hand off their dog or cat.
If you live in Ennis or Red Oak, there’s a drop-off and pick-up location there too.
As for North Texas as a whole, Spay Neuter Network performs more than 30,000 surgeries annually and provides wellness and preventative services for an additional 50,000 pets each year at little to no cost to pet owners in North Texas, Carty says.
“Spay-neuter helps reduce shelter intake tremendously and is the most humane solution to pet overpopulation at this point. The positive response to our programs in Ellis county, from pet owners to businesses and municipalities, has been nothing short of amazing,” Carty says.
The organization is always in need of volunteers and donations, which Carty says can be arranged through the SNN website as well.