APET SPCA

Program: Low Cost Spay and Neuter

Program Description:

APET SPCA provides low cost spay and neuter for cats and dogs in rural East Texas.  Our target group is econimically challenged pet owners who cannot afford the traditional cost to spay or neuter their family pets.  In addition we seek to control the cat and dog overpopulation by providing a means to fund  the cost to spay and neuter feral and stray cats as well as stray and abandoned dogs for owners who wish to convert them to companion animals or animals that they will continue to maintain with food, vaccinations, and/or shelter.  Many in our geographic area are econimically challenged as well as retired, senior and elderly.

Program Long-Term Success:

Our longterm goal is to eliminate the number of unwanted cats and dogs that are homeless or die due to starvation, disease, pestilence, predators or shooting by farmers and ranchers in rural areas of East Texas.

Program Short-Term Success:

By providing an affordable option to spay and neuter cats and dogs to owners who would not otherwise be able to afford to spay and neuter their animals are streaming in to us to take advantage of the program..  By doing this it will greatly reduce the number of unwanted litters of kittens and puppies who would otherwise grow up to be stray, abandoned and homeless.  Before this program started you could not drive 5 to 10 miles in any direction in our area without coming across multiple numbers of dead dogs and cats, starving dogs and cats, injured and roaming groups of animals.  This has improved.

Program Success Monitored by:

First we will closely monitor the success of our program by reviewing the city and county statistics for the number of animals surrendered and euthanized.  We expect to see a downward trend.  Secondly we have a new program to conduct surveys and followup contact with residents who have reported stray and abandoned animals.  Most of the calls we receive indicate that there is a recurring incidence of stray and abandoned animals to the same areas.  We continue to identify areas that are targeted for drop off and abandoned animals and we expect to see the number of animals abandoned in these areas to decline.  Thirdly we stay in steady contact with local veterinarians to get their statistics and input.  Are the number of animals that they see more often spayed or neutered rather than intact.  We attend all city and county council meetings yearly to seek feedback and to provide a network for information about the animal situation.  Lastly when we spay or neuter an animal we ask if that owner knows of a friend, family or neighbor who has a cat or dog that they cannot afford to have altered.  We get many referrals in this fashion.

Program Success Examples:

Of most immediate importance is the number of inheat or pregnant dogs and cats that are spayed and neutered.  For example, in 2008 we can show that there were 30% of the female cats and dogs were already inheat or pregnant when they were spayed.  There would have been an estimated 1770 additional newborns within a matter of days.  If the entire female group would have produced a litter there could have been up to 4,815 new cats or dogs introduced into our community.  This number does not take into account that cats can breed up to 3 times a year and dogs 2 times a year.  Secondly, APET is very much sought after for its program.  We are invited to speak or present our program at local community events and clubs.  Our community is mostly rural and somewhat small.  Whenever we go out with our APET t shirts on we are always asked questions about how our program works.  We get referrals from friends and neighbors who know of someone who has a dog that they cannot afford to have fixed.

Program: Low Cost Vaccination Program

Program Description:

Program Long-Term Success:

Program Short-Term Success:

Program Success Monitored by:

Program Success Examples: