Helping Animals by Helping People

A new study by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, was released recently that contains some interesting (yet not surprising) information about access to veterinary care, pet acquisition and spay and neuter of pets. The report states the sample of more than 5,000 people in both English and Spanish “was largely representative of the US adult population in terms of age, race/ethnicity, household income, household size, percentage of households with children, marital status, urbanicity, and housing type.” My key takeaways from the study are as follows:

Younger households/respondents:

• Barriers to veterinary care were prevalent with inability to get preventive care, sick or injury care or urgent care for their pets.
• Were less likely to have an established veterinarian.
• Were more likely to seek training, behavior advice, and pet-friendly spaces like dog parks and pet friendly venues.
• Were more likely to have more than one pet.
• Were more likely to have a dog not spayed/neutered living with them.

Older households/respondents:

• Were more likely to have an established veterinarian.
• Were less likely to seek training, behavior advice, and pet-friendly spaces.
• Were more likely to take in a stray cat than younger respondents.
• Were more likely to adopt from a shelter or rescue group than younger respondents.
• Were less likely to have more than one pet.

• Were least likely to have a dog not spayed/neutered living with them.

Low-income households/respondents:

• Barriers to veterinary care were prevalent with inability to get preventive care, sick or injury care or urgent care for their pets.
• Were less likely to get a dog or cat from a shelter or rescue group.
• Dogs living in households with lower incomes were less likely to be spayed or neutered.
• Those with lower household incomes were less likely to have pets that were current on their vaccinations and to have a microchip.

Reasons for pets not being spayed or neutered.

• The most cited reason for not having the pet spayed or neutered was the high cost of the procedure.
• Cost was the leading reason given for cats not being spayed or neutered but the prevalent reason given for dogs not being spayed or neutered was the desire to breed the pet.
• A personal belief against spaying or neutering a pet was cited more frequently than cost by families with a dog that has not been spayed or neutered.
• Dogs living in the South were less likely to be spayed or neutered compared to dogs living in other regions.

Other important data:

• Nearly one in three dogs were reported to be purchased from a pet store or breeder, compared to only 8% of cats.
• Families who experienced a barrier to care in the past two years were more likely to share a negative outcome, such as surrendering a pet to an animal shelter or pet euthanasia, compared to families who did not experience a barrier to care.
• The consequences of barriers to care extend beyond pets, affecting family well-being, financial stability, and mental health.

• Pet families are eager to get additional information on how to better care for their pets, highlighting an opportunity to expand educational resources and outreach.

Why the No Kill Equation Remains the Go-To Solution

The study authors recommend what are called “community-based interventions like affordable veterinary clinics, mobile services and local resource guides.”  In my world, this means doubling down on the No Kill Equation not only related to access to veterinary care, but to help people so we can help animals.
 
Access to high volume/low-cost spay neuter remains crucial to keeping pet populations in check. As we have always known, those least apt to have pets spayed and neutered are those who can least afford it. Municipalities that invest in programs to help low-income households have pets sterilized reap the rewards of that investment over time as shelter intake decreases. It’s a “pay me now v. pay me later” situation in which a nominal investment to prevent pet births reduces the costs in terms of both resources and spending to impound, house and then seek positive outcomes for those animals in progressive communities or destroy those animals in regressive communities.
 
I am fully aware there are veterinary deserts in our country where implementation of this program of the No Kill Equation is a challenge. Rather than throw our hands in the air and say there is nothing to be done, I believe it is worth the effort to find solutions for those areas to either bring spay/neuter services to the public or provide a mechanism to transport animals to areas where spay/neuter services are available. The Alabama Spay/Neuter Clinic in Irondale, Alabama, transports animals to the clinic from 12 locations using a monthly schedule. The cost is $10 per pet. The spay/neuter costs are higher than at the North Alabama Spay and Neuter Clinic in Huntsville, but are still much lower than the fees charge by many veterinarians. The Bissell Pet Foundation has a program called Fix the Future that was “created to address the lack of access to veterinary care for both shelters and pet owners. . .[in which the foundation] pays contracted veterinarians directly and connects them with approved host organizations in regions where spay/neuter is needed.”  I would like to see other national nonprofits like the ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society provide similar services, perhaps by employing contract veterinarians who operate mobile veterinary clinics to take spay/neuter services to the people where they live and work.

The study also highlights the need for pet retention programs to help keep pets in existing homes through personal counseling to help people keep dogs contained, address resource issues or address behavior issues. When shelters are seen as places that help instead of places that judge, people are more apt to seek that help instead of trying to surrender a pet. The only limit to programs like this is the imagination of the people providing the help. Maybe a household needs help with pet food, paying for nominal veterinary costs (through grant funding) or referral to a rescue group or trainer related to some behavior issue. Maybe an animal really cannot stay in the existing home for some reason in which case the counseling can relate to re-homing the pet with a family member, friend, neighbor, co-worker, social contact (like someone from church or a sports team) or with the help of a veterinarian. In cases where the pet remains in the existing home that counseling should always include help developing a pet care plan in the event of the caregiver’s death, hospitalization, incarceration or some other life crisis so the animal goes directly to another home based on a plan and does not end up at any animal shelter. It also helps when animal nonprofits in a community help keep pets in existing homes through wellness clinics like the one hosted by the Greater Huntsville Humane Society once a month and helping households with dogs who live outside keep those dogs contained and well cared for.
 
Comprehensive adoption programs are vital to placing animals in homes that otherwise would not consider acquiring an animal from a shelter. This includes family friendly hours in the evening and on weekends so people can get to the shelter outside of their work hours and even bring children with them as a family decision. Any shelter that is only open “banker’s hours” when most people are at work will always have lower adoption rates because those hours make it almost impossible for most people to get to the shelter unless they take vacation time from work (a luxury many working people don’t have). It also includes reduced adoption fees, fee waived adoptions or sponsored adoption fees as a marketing tool to make it easier for people to adopt. That does not mean there is no adoption screening. It does mean that focusing on the value of the animal’s life is more important than focusing on some arbitrary fee. All shelter animals are in competition for adoptive homes with other animals in the region. Waiving the fee or having some low fee can get the attention of potential adopters and make the difference to help a caregiver adopt and then be able to more easily afford pet basics like food, bowls, a bed, etc. 

Based on the number of people who get dogs from breeders and pet stores, the importance of Public Relations and Community Involvement cannot be overstated. People don't adopt animals they don't know about. Increasing adoptions, maximizing donations, recruiting volunteers and partnering with community agencies comes down to one thing: increasing a shelter’s public exposure. Public relations and marketing are the foundation of any shelter’s activities and their success. To do all these things well, the shelter must be in the public eye. There are a lot of people don’t give much thought to the municipal animal shelter in their community. Some know it exists but could not tell you where it is located. Some have an idea of what takes place there and perhaps don’t want to think about it. The first hurdle any shelter has to overcome is making itself visible in the community; making itself relevant. When a shelter is viewed more as a place of hope and of rescue, it goes a long way toward both keeping animals out of the shelter and getting them out of the shelter.

With regard to the animals themselves, this element is all about marketing shelter animals as a compassionate way to get a pet, the responsible thing to do to save a life, overcoming beliefs that shelter animals are somehow damaged and promoting animals based on their personalities to help adopters make informed choices. It is also about making it easy to adopt shelter animals by removing arbitrary barriers to adoption (the age of the adopter, how frequently the adopter travels, whether or not the adopter has a fully fenced yard, etc.).  When we market animals consistently and the animals are very visible in the community through off-site adoption events and use of the media, we seek the help of the public in placing animals and we help them understand that shelter animals are just as worthy, loving and loyal as animals from other sources.

It is a given in the animal sheltering industry that pet problems are people problems. If we want to reduce the number of animals entering shelters and move animals through the shelter system as fast as possible, we have to stop vilifying the public served, suspend the mantra about “the irresponsible public” and show people some support, compassion and grace.