Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Great questions! I would also love information and guidance on creating a voucher program. Currently our little rescue is working on a S/N program but can really only fund 1-2 surgeries per month. We are definitely having some trouble getting it off the ground. 

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi - we started our voucher program in 2020 during the pandemic and it's been going strong ever since.  It is for low-income or unemployed pet-owning residents of our county.

We at first tried partnering with the local shelter to hand out vouchers, but we gave them 5 to start with and they lost 4 of them so we quickly determined this was not going to work for accountability reasons.  We are sticklers for an audit trail in the work we do.

We set up a form on our website for people to request assistance.  Info is here: https://www.shelterpetsafetynet.org/spay-neuter/

The form is in both English and Spanish, and can be printed off if needed. 

After consulting with another charity that provides low-cost S/N in Austin, we decided not to demand a lot of "proof". We ask about income, number of people in household, occupation, and they can tell us more in a comments section.  It is very rare that we turn anyone down.  We know there are a few people with higher incomes taking advantage of the program, but for the most part the benefits are going to people who need them.

The process is: Applicant applies online, we tell them where they can make an appointment for the surgery.  They have to send us back the place/time for the appointment, then we approve them.  We let the service provider know we are paying for it.  There is no physical voucher; the applicant has the email from us and the service providers keep records that we are the payer for the surgery.  This avoids the issue of paper being lost/passed on to someone else.

We partner with a local charity, Save An Angel, which does low-cost spay/neuter surgeries in our county. They give us a discount and they directly bill us for the surgery cost. If the animal does not have a rabies vaccination we pay for that too, and for dogs we also cover distemper vaccinations.  They also refer people to us when they call to make appointments and say they cannot afford the cost.

In addition to Save An Angel, we work with an Austin charity (Emancipet) that does low cost  S/N, and a couple of local veterinary practices that are more reasonable than some in the area.  The local vet connection is important because the low-cost charity S/N organizations do not have a lot of capacity for larger dogs (of which there are MANY in our rural area) and they also turn away animals that have additional medical problems - heart issues and so on - as they don't have the resources to deal with that.  Other local vets will take these cases for extra cost.  Our philosophy is -- it may cost more but these animals need the help.  We don't need another large litter of Great Pyrenees or Mastiff mix puppies running around.  We have good relationships with the surgery providers and all of them will bill us directly.

Our biggest challenge is the capacity of the surgery providers.  There can be a wait of months for larger animals.

Second biggest challenge is getting people to follow through with the appointments.   Quite a few of them we never hear back from after they apply.  We don't have manpower to follow up with them quickly, though they do get at least one reminder.   Eventually we take them off our list if they haven't done anything in a year.

Hope this helps!

Jenni

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hello -

Our charity was approved in January of this year.  The way we are working is that people apply online to have their pet spay/neutered.  We set up the appointment with the local vet.  They perform the procedure and bill us.  We pay them.   QUESTION FOR THOSE DOING THIS A WHILE - Are we required to send a 1099 to the vet for the monies we pay them for this service?  One accountant said yes and another accountant said no since it would be considered a benevolent organization activity.  What are you all doing?  We are just starting out and want to make sure we do things correctly.  We've already spayed/neutered 6 pets and are so very excited.

Hi - we started our voucher program in 2020 during the pandemic and it's been going strong ever since.  It is for low-income or unemployed pet-owning residents of our county.

We at first tried partnering with the local shelter to hand out vouchers, but we gave them 5 to start with and they lost 4 of them so we quickly determined this was not going to work for accountability reasons.  We are sticklers for an audit trail in the work we do.

We set up a form on our website for people to request assistance.  Info is here: https://www.shelterpetsafetynet.org/spay-neuter/

The form is in both English and Spanish, and can be printed off if needed. 

After consulting with another charity that provides low-cost S/N in Austin, we decided not to demand a lot of "proof". We ask about income, number of people in household, occupation, and they can tell us more in a comments section.  It is very rare that we turn anyone down.  We know there are a few people with higher incomes taking advantage of the program, but for the most part the benefits are going to people who need them.

The process is: Applicant applies online, we tell them where they can make an appointment for the surgery.  They have to send us back the place/time for the appointment, then we approve them.  We let the service provider know we are paying for it.  There is no physical voucher; the applicant has the email from us and the service providers keep records that we are the payer for the surgery.  This avoids the issue of paper being lost/passed on to someone else.

We partner with a local charity, Save An Angel, which does low-cost spay/neuter surgeries in our county. They give us a discount and they directly bill us for the surgery cost. If the animal does not have a rabies vaccination we pay for that too, and for dogs we also cover distemper vaccinations.  They also refer people to us when they call to make appointments and say they cannot afford the cost.

In addition to Save An Angel, we work with an Austin charity (Emancipet) that does low cost  S/N, and a couple of local veterinary practices that are more reasonable than some in the area.  The local vet connection is important because the low-cost charity S/N organizations do not have a lot of capacity for larger dogs (of which there are MANY in our rural area) and they also turn away animals that have additional medical problems - heart issues and so on - as they don't have the resources to deal with that.  Other local vets will take these cases for extra cost.  Our philosophy is -- it may cost more but these animals need the help.  We don't need another large litter of Great Pyrenees or Mastiff mix puppies running around.  We have good relationships with the surgery providers and all of them will bill us directly.

Our biggest challenge is the capacity of the surgery providers.  There can be a wait of months for larger animals.

Second biggest challenge is getting people to follow through with the appointments.   Quite a few of them we never hear back from after they apply.  We don't have manpower to follow up with them quickly, though they do get at least one reminder.   Eventually we take them off our list if they haven't done anything in a year.

Hope this helps!

Jenni

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi Rachel,

We don't have a voucher program, but I'll share my thoughts on the areas where we overlap.  Kotor Kitties provides free or heavily-subsidized spay-neuter surgeries for cats in a Balkan country called Montenegro.

1. Vet reimbursement:  we try to always prepay as much as we can for 2 reasons:  1) we don't ever want to be caught short of funds/unable to pay our vets (rescues abroad are notorious for non-payment of bills)  and 2) the cost of transferring funds oversees make large payments more cost-effective.
2. Yes!  we have a negotiated price of 50% off the official price established by the Veterinary Chamber (the minimum of what the public pays) in exchange for the high volume of surgery we send our 4 partner vets.
3. To get vets involved we met with them and asked that they help solve the overpopulation problem.  The first vet knew immediately what we wanted to do.  Once we built up some volume,  he helped us recruit 2 more that he felt were honest and hard-working.  Those are not qualities that are easy to find where we work.  One other vet, not recommended, but in an area where we desperately needed a vet, did not work out.  We canceled the contract at the end of the 30 days trial, based on feedback from caretakers (clients).
4. We pay per cat, not per voucher.  There are no-shows, and our vets have learned to book slightly over their capacity to compensate for this.

As far as backyard breeders--my personal attitude is that if it spays or neuters one of their animals, it's money well spent!  We focus on the overall goal, which is reducing the overpopulation of cats in the community.  Thus we reduce as many barriers as possible. 

Rather than have people lie to us, we have no location boundaries or income limits for cats receiving eartips.  Since we raise our own funds and aren't bound by government contracts, we're free to do this.  Our vets will accept payment of our set price from people who they don't want an ear tip.  Why?  Again, our overall goal is reducing overpopulation. 

Rather than put people through the indignity of documenting their income, we simply ask everyone to donate what they can, anonymously.  If they voluntarily say that they can't afford a donation, we ask them to help catch other cats in their neighborhood, or spread the word about spay-neuter. 

Word of mouth has been powerful advertising for spay-neuter!  We put all of our funds into the surgeries, not into marketing spay-neuter.  It is a country that basically knew nothing of spay-neuter when we started, and most people were reluctant to consider it for cats they knew or fed...   Within 2 years we were spay-neutering as fast as we could fundraise!  And we've been told by vets and rescuers that more people are adopting cats now, as long as they are sterilized!

Good luck with your new program!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!

Hi all! My group is helping to establish a spay/neuter voucher program in one of the cities we work with. They had one a few years ago that wasn't successful so there are a lot of eyes on it this time around. If your city has a program would you mind sharing how it operates? Some areas of interest include:

• How are vets reimbursed?
• Do you have a negotiated price with vets or is it the same as what the public pays?
• How did you get vets onboard with the program?
• How do you ensure people show up to appointments/ don't cancel?
  • If an appointment is missed, is the vet still paid? 
• How long are the vouchers good for? We don't want them to be indefinite but are cognizant of surgery backlogs.
• How do you track voucher use/success?
• How do you distribute the vouchers? We are concerned with backyard breeders gaining access to them
• Anything else a new voucher program should know.
• Anything we should avoid doing!

Thanks everyone!