HSSC Spay/Neuter Clinic
We can’t adopt our way out of animal overpopulation. But we can fix it.
The Humane Society of Sonoma County Spay/Neuter Clinic is a donor- and grant-funded program providing low-cost spay and neuter services to Sonoma County residents who cannot afford area veterinary services. By giving today, you will prevent unwanted litters, decrease the number of homeless animals in Sonoma County, relieve shelter overcrowding, prevent devastating illness, and put an end to unnecessary euthanasia. You will save even more lives.
The Need
Our spay/neuter clinic is currently on target for our biggest year yet (over 3500 spay/neuter surgeries for cats and dogs). But even at our best, the demand for our services is double what we are able to provide, leading to wait times up to three months and leaving over 700 animals in need of care on any given day. The wait is stressful for families and puts animals at risk. This delay in care leads to accidental litters and missed opportunities to prevent life threatening infections and other complications. This delay also impacts the dozens of partner shelters and local veterinary practices that rely on us for spay/neuter support, especially for complex, high risk cases. Most importantly, every day that a pet goes unaltered is a missed opportunity to break the cycle of overpopulation. While we’ve fine-tuned our operations to maximize the number of animals we see, demand continues to outpace us. The situation is critical and we know together we can do more to fix it. Thank you so much for your support.
Looking Forward
In the very near future, we expect to double our spay/neuter surgeries from over 3500 to at least 7000 annually. More than half of these additional surgeries will serve rescue groups and shelters that lack access to high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter services, helping reduce overcrowding and euthanasia rates across Sonoma County and beyond. We expect the expanded clinic to be financially sustainable at full capacity within 12 months. As we scale, we’ll share our proven clinic model with other organizations, mentor new veterinary professionals, and build a stronger regional network for spay/neuter and animal welfare in general. This investment doesn’t just reduce suffering — it changes the future. For animals. For shelters. For communities.
SUPPORT
The easiest and most direct way to support our clinic is to DONATE ONLINE!
Or you can mail a check to HSSC at 5345 Hi. 12 W, Santa Rosa, CA 95407!
SCHEDULE A MONTHLY GIFT
A significant gift can also be accomplished by making smaller gifts on a monthly basis.
For more information, please call (707) 577-1903, or email give@humanesocietysoco.org
“Our expansion plans mean more families supported, more animals cared for, and fewer ending up in crisis. We’re talking about preventing suffering before it starts—unwanted litters, treatable illness, overwhelmed shelters, stressed emergency room visits, heartbreaking decisions. With the time we’re saving – we’re saving lives. And we’re making our community a healthier, kinder, happier place for pets and their people.“
– Ada Norris, DVM
Chief of Surgery and Community Medicine
The Truth Behind Spaying & Neutering
Learn the Facts
Answer: During a spay or neuter surgery, dogs and cats are fully anesthetized, so they feel no pain. Afterwards, most animals seem to experience some discomfort, but signs of discomfort disappear within a few days, and with pain medication, pain may not be experienced at all.
Answer: Spay or neuter surgery generally costs less than most major surgeries, especially if the dog or cat is young and healthy. We offer low-cost spaying and neutering because we believe it is best for your pet’s health, and we want to do our part in helping to reduce the serious problem of pet overpopulation.
Answer: To the contrary, a dog or cat has the best chance of good health if spayed before her first heat. Early spaying reduces the risk of mammary tumors and prevents life-threatening uterine infections.
Answer: Many dogs and cats are spayed while pregnant to prevent the birth of puppies or kittens. A veterinarian must consider the health of the pregnant animal as well as the stage of pregnancy, before deciding whether she can be safely spayed.
Answer: In some dogs and cats, metabolism does decrease following spaying or neutering. Nevertheless, if fed only the appropriate amount of food and if adequately exercised, spayed or neutered dogs and cats are unlikely to become overweight.
Answer: The only changes in dog and cat behavior after spaying or neutering are positive changes. Male cats tend to reduce territorial spraying, depending on their age at neutering. Neutered dogs and cats fight less, resulting in fewer bite and scratch wounds and lessening the spread of contagious diseases. Male dogs and cats tend to stay home more after neutering because they no longer wander in search of a mate.
Health Benefits of Spaying and Neutering
Female Dogs and Cats
Spaying removes the ovaries and uterus from female animals and eliminates the possibility of ovarian and uterine infection or cancer. Bacterial infection of the uterus (pyometra) commonly afflicts older unspayed dogs and cats. As pyometra advances, bacterial poisons enter the bloodstream, causing general illness and often kidney failure. If the uterus ruptures, the dog or cat will almost certainly die. Pyometra requires emergency spaying, which may fail to save an animal already severely weakened. The best preventative is to spay dogs and cats while they are young and healthy.
Spaying can also prevent mammary gland tumors, the most common tumor in unspayed females dogs and the third most common in female cats. A high percentage of mammary tumors are malignant: in dogs, nearly 50 percent; in cats, nearly 90 percent. An unspayed dog is approximately 4 times more likely to develop mammary tumors than a dog spayed after only two heats, and 12 times more likely than a dog spayed before her first year. An unspayed cat is seven times more likely than a spayed cat to develop mammary tumors.
Spayed dogs and cats avoid the dangers of giving birth. A birth canal that is overly narrow—due to injury (such as a broken pelvis) or, as in bulldogs, to a breed trait of narrow hips—make giving birth perilous. So does inadequate body size, which can leave a Chihuahua, toy poodle, Yorkshire terrier, or other small dog too weak to deliver puppies naturally. Such disabilities often necessitate Caesarian section to save the dog or cat’s life. When a small dog begins to nurse her puppies, she is also vulnerable to eclampsia, in which blood calcium plummets. Initial symptoms include panting, high fever, and trembling. Unless given an emergency intravenous injection of calcium, the dog may suffer seizures and die.
Male Cats
An urge to breed increases the chances that a male cat will slip out of the house in search of a mate and suffer fight wounds and other injuries. Most serious cat fights occur between unneutered males. The resulting wounds frequently develop into abscesses that must be surgically drained and treated with antibiotics. Worse, even a single bite can transmit deadly diseases— Feline Immuno¬deficiency Virus (FIV) or Feline Leukemia (FeLV)—from one cat to another.
Male Dogs
Neutering removes the testicles and so prevents testicular tumors in male dogs. A dog who develops a testicular tumor must be treated before the tumor spreads by the only effective means—neutering. Especially prevalent especially when neutered at an early age.
THANK YOU FROM OUR SPAY/NEUTER TEAM!
