“Dogs and cats are born five to ten at a time and are adopted out one at a time. Those that are not adopted, and that’s most of them, either suffer in homelessness or are destroyed in shelters. Do the math and you’ll see, spay/neuter programs are a matter of common sense and compassion.” -Judy Kishner, Board President of Spay Oklahoma
Welcome to Spay First!
We hear about the tragedy of homeless pets on the news every day. However, many people don’t realize that there is an everyday “fix” that can prevent suffering and save money…spay/neuter. Preventing tomorrow’s tragedies can start right now!
Spay FIRST! is here to:
The reality…
Millions of dogs and cats are euthanized in shelters each year all across our nation. In fact, few people realize that euthanasia due to being homeless is the single leading cause of death of dogs and cats in the US.
While in some urban areas adoption rates are high and intakes of adoptable pets are low in comparison to other areas, this is not the case in much of the nation. Even if your pets’ puppies or kittens find homes, others go homeless because there are simply not enough homes for even a fraction of them all. This tragedy affects animals and the communities they live in as well.
Pet overpopulation affects every person who cares about animals and every taxpayer as well.
Why is pet overpopulation a taxpayer issue?
The current cost of sheltering and animal control in the US exceeds two billion dollars a year. That figure would have to be increased by 11 times in order to rely on long term sheltering instead of euthanasia. Spaying a single dog or cat costs a fraction of sheltering that pet’s unwanted litter and reduces the demand for more shelter space.
Spaying or neutering a dog or cat is the only way to make sure that he or she won’t have unplanned puppies or kittens. Did you know that cats and dogs can get pregnant as young as four months old?
Call your veterinarian or local spay/neuter clinic today to schedule an appointment. Learn more about what this means for your pet and your community [Read more here...]
If your own dog or cat is already altered, there are many ways to support this nationwide movement. Education, advocacy and program development can bring this common sense solution to more and more animals.
Spay FIRST! founder, Ruth Steinberger, has coordinated rural pet sterilization programs since 1993, launching her first program in the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia. She works closely with non-profit organizations and dedicated volunteers to start new spay/neuter programs in low-income regions from the Great Plains to the Midwest. She has been featured as a speaker at national conferences including all Spay USA Southern Regional Leadership conferences from 2003 through 2009, the 2011 Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Conference in Las Vegas, 2007 HSUS Expo and the 2011 Spay/Neuter Leadership retreat at Pendle Hill. Ruth remains deeply involved in developing sustainable spay/neuter programs in areas of chronic poverty nationwide.
If you’re an animal advocate and you want to initiate an educational program or start, improve, or assist a spay/neuter surgical program in a sparsely populated area, Spay FIRST! brings you proven information and how-tos, so you can get the most from your scarce resources. These approaches are working in communities like yours.
In rural poverty and in the absence of animal shelters, the ability to prevent litters is the only humane way to halt suffering for large numbers of dogs and cats. Rural areas have some of the biggest problems. Unfortunately, they usually have the fewest resources with which to address them.
That’s why remote spay/neuter programs have the potential to help so many animals and people. They aren’t the same as the big clinics in urban areas that you read so much about. They require different approaches in clinic operations and in outreach to make them work.
Learn more by reading our Start-a-Program Page. Even if you’re already up and running, you’ll find critical information on effective ways to run spay/neuter programs. Then, check out the other resources on this site that are designed to support you in your important work.
Please check out our site often. New information will be added; new links will help you find more resources for making your community a better place for animals, and the “sharing space” will provide a way to share tips, ideas, news of your events and photos with others.
Together we can end the tragedies that homeless dogs and cats face each day.
Ruth Steinberger
Founder
Spay FIRST! is a 501-C3 organization and donations are tax deductable to the extent allowed by law.
This website opens with our warmest thanks to the people, organizations and foundations that have supported the development of high quality spay neuter programs. We extend our deepest appreciation to Marian's Dream, the PETCO Foundation, Spay USA, Summerlee Foundation, Two Mauds Foundation and the Oklahoma efforts of the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation. We also extend our thank you's to others, both large and small, that are too numerous to name or who choose to be anonymous, who have made this movement into the vision of compassion that it is today.
These businesses donate a portion of their profits to spay neuter efforts. What a great way to give a gift.
