Thank you for posting this! We have had to add a day each week to our spay/neuter clinic. We have been very lucky in our ability to find vets, although it was not easy. As well as finding vet techs (we have several vols with a medical background that help in our clinic). Part of the reason we had to add another day to our schedule was to meet the demand from our community, but an even bigger reason is that we are transferring in pets from overcrowding shelters more than we ever have before. The problem that we are starting to face is the lag in adoptions and finding fosters willing to take in young adult dogs.
On the foster side, we've decided to poll our volunteers and fosters and figure out what the real barriers are to fostering a young adult dog. From there, we're hoping to overcome those barriers and help make it easier to folks to help us in the foster world.
As for adoptions, we've tried holding a huge adoption event, with fees waived, multiple marketing campaigns, etc. We've never had an issue with adopting our pets, in fact our length of stay last year on average was 6.2 days and I'm thinking that's going to look a lot different this year if adoptions don't start to pick up. Even puppies and kittens are hanging around longer than normal.
I'm curious if other shelters are also up against these same problems and if you've found any creative ways to combat those issues.
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Erin Ellis
Community Engagement Director
Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe
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Foster Program & Volunteer Management Specialist
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-13-2022 10:00 AM
From: Julie Levy
Subject: Decrease in spay-neuter surgeries during pandemic isn't over yet
The COVID-19 pandemic started with a surge in pet adoptions, but it has had another dramatic – and unfortunate – effect on the country's pets: a huge chunk of missing neutering surgeries. New research finds that there are almost 3 million missing neuter/spay surgeries in the U.S. due to the pandemic, which, combined with veterinarian and staff shortages, is contributing to widespread overcrowding at pet shelters.
The findings come from a study of over 200 clinics from 2019 to 2021 by researchers at the University of Florida. Progress made over decades to control overpopulation of dogs and cats through high-volume spay-neuter surgeries is at risk thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a team of UF researchers conclude in a new study.
The impact - felt both at community shelters and veterinary clinics - includes sharp declines in spay-neuter surgeries after the initial pandemic-triggered lockdowns, followed by staffing shortages in clinics and shelters, overcrowding and lagging pet adoption rates. All of these problems are compounded by a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, which has been felt even more acutely in shelters and spay-neuter clinics, the researchers say in a study published Sept. 13, 2022 in Frontiers in Veterinary Science. Click here to read the full-length paper.
How is your community holding up in regards to spay-neuter capacity?
#AccesstoCare
#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)
#CommunityCatManagement
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization
#PetSupportServices*
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Julie Levy
Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida
Maddie's Million Pet Challenge
https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/
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