Achieving Pet Control

The Spay Neuter Veterinary Clinic of the Sandhills (SNVC) underwrites the Companion Animal Clinic of the Sandhills Foundation (CAC).

As of May 16, the Spay Neuter Veterinary Clinic performed 692 surgeries for Moore County individuals and animal welfare groups. Of these surgeries, 441 were pets owned by individuals who could not afford a private veterinarian, and 251 were dogs and cats from the Moore County Animal Center and the newly established Feral Friends.

This is testament that if you provide affordable spay/neuter services, the public will "do the right thing" and spay or neuter their pets. Affordable spay/neuter is a "carrot" approach to encourage responsible pet ownership, a credit to the community that supports it, and an important component to securing fair pet ownership ordinances.

From its inception, the founders of CAC understood that it would take about three years for the SNVC to provide enough capacity to fund itself, based on 25 spay/neuter surgeries a day. The Spay Neuter Veterinary Clinic has performed over 1,500 surgeries from the nine-county service area since opening in December. There is a growing wait list.

The service fee is $45.00 for a canine spay/neuter and $35.00 for a feline neuter. In reality, each unit of surgery (total clinic costs in 15-minute increments) is about $60.00, and spay surgeries require at least two units of surgery ($120.00).

Companion Animal Clinic Foundation subsidizes the difference in the service fee and the real cost to perform spay/neuter operations.

We are very proud of what the Spay Neuter Veterinary Clinic has been able to accomplish in such a short time and look forward to continuing to address animal overpopulation.

Deborah Wilson, Foundation President, Companion Animal Clinic, Southern Pines