Pembina Valley Humane Society (PVHS) is once again partnering with the Morden/Winkler vet clinics to offer Spay Day on Wednesday, November 2nd, a subsidized program for low-income pet owners.
Alesha Unrau, Animal Care Coordinator at the humane society, says it's a popular program.
"We offer $100 off the regular price of a spay or neuter for a cat or dog on that day specifically. Applicants can inquire for an application. We get a little bit of information about them, a little bit of information about their pets, as well as some income information. Individuals would need to make $30,000 [annually] or less to qualify and households with more than one income would need to make $50,000 or less to qualify."
Unrau says this year especially, PVHS is seeing a huge rise of in-take requests from people who couldn't sell their puppies or their kittens.
"The pound is often overflowing with puppies and kittens as well. Spaying and neutering assures there isn't this overpopulation problem that we're seeing with not only cats as it more so usually is, but with dogs as well. It promotes the better well-being for them that they're not pumping out babies for the rest of their life, as that does shorten their lifespan."
Pet over-population is a big problem in the area explains Unrau.
"We get probably, I want to say, close to five calls a day of somebody finding puppies dumped somewhere or kittens were dumped on their farm, and they can't take care of them because it's not their responsibility. So, it's definitely an increasing problem and we're hoping that we can get out there and educate people a little bit more on precautions that they can take and the realistic current state of this issue."
Unrau adds that keeping the pet population down ensure that an animal's welfare and humane treatment continues for the rest of its life.
Unrau is confident all slots will be booked ahead of their Spay Day.
Should pet owners miss making an appointment on November 2nd, she says they can apply for one of twenty subsidized spots offered by the society year-round, with applications accepted in January.