Kitten season is right around the corner, but the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association is taking strides to curtail pet overpopulation with an in-house spay/neuter program.
Kittens are born at an accelerated rate during the late-spring and summer months, resulting in the overcrowding of animal shelters. This year, the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association is prepared to handle the fluffy, but problematic, issue with their newly established in-house spay/neuter program and on-site veterinarian.
The in-house spay-neuter program is an initiative financed by the "Dog Fund," money collected from dog taxes in Kanawha County, usually set at $3 per dog.
Chelsea Staley, executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association, said the shelter received $40,000 from this fund, $10,000 of which was used to build the facility with the remainder going towards the necessary equipment to run the clinic.
Previously, animals were sent to local veterinarians to be treated, but Staley said that hiring an in-house vet will reduce the time it takes for an animal to receive treatment, thus reducing the amount of pain an animal has to experience. Staley said that building their own facilities and hiring an in-house veterinarian will save the association $30,000 to $40,000 a year.
The in-house veterinarian, Dr. Jamie Totten, largely will be providing spay and neuter services, but will treat skin infections, ear infections, neglected teeth and other common ailments of shelter animals as well. Totten, who started at the shelter a few weeks ago, has a very personal reason for working at the humane association.
"I have always had an affinity for shelter animals," she said. "In fact, my inspiration to pursue veterinary medicine as a career was a dog I adopted from here."
The humane association's board of directors welcomed Totten at their meeting Tuesday night. She is a former member of the board and served in 2012. Totten came to the shelter from Cross Lanes Veterinary Hospital with 10 years of experience in private practice.
"I've been waiting for this since I started vet school," Totten told the board. "I appreciate the people here who made this a possibility."
The primary objective of an in-house vet is to provide efficient care for shelter animals, she said in an earlier interview.
As of right now, the humane association has no plans to open their in-house program to the public, but the shelter could have you covered if you're looking to spay or neuter your own pet. The humane association offers low cost coupons to eligible individuals, with current rates for cats at $40 for females and $30 for males and dogs at $50 for females and $40 for males.
In the past, the coupon program was based on income, but Staley said that it simply did not reach all of the demographics in need of low cost spay/neuter services.
"We were missing this whole gap in the spay neuter population that would have gotten their animals spayed or neutered had they had the chance," she said.
Closing the gap and issuing circumstantially considerate coupons worked, Staley said, because last year the humane association shared 2,500 coupons with the public. She said the program can offer students, single parents, feral cat caretakers and others access to high-quality, low-cost procedures from supporting local veterinarians.
"If you're a single mom, although you might not meet government assistance guidelines, it doesn't mean you're not strapped for cash," Staley said.
If you're looking for other ways to help out with kitten season, Staley said that the shelter is always accepting donations, which fund 80 percent of their operations. Donations can be monetary, but the shelter also has an Amazon Wish List on their website requesting dog food, animal collars, powdered milk and other common items. Additionally, Totten said that medical supplies such as nebulizers and injectable medications are welcome donations at the shelter.
"When we serve 5,500 animals a year, we are dependent on donations," Staley said.
Most importantly, Staley said that, while animal shelters can be a safety net for unclaimed animals, spaying and neutering is the ultimate preventative to animal overpopulation.
Staff writer Jennifer Gardner contributed to this report.
Reach Jared Casto at jared.casto@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4832 or follow @JaredCasto on Twitter.