The Humane Society of Polk County

SNIP Spay/Neuter Inoculation Program
Every year in Polk County, thousands of homeless dogs and cats end up in shelters. The sad fact is that only about twenty percent of these animals will find a new home. The rest will be destroyed. The only way to stop this needless destruction is to prevent homeless puppies and kittens from ever being born–through spaying and neutering.
Most dogs and cats that end up in shelters come from poor neighborhoods in Polk County. Many families cannot afford or access veterinary care. This makes it difficult at best to utilize existing facilities.

The Program: SNIP
Community Outreach
The Humane Society of Polk County Inc., through its SNIP's Community Coordinator, will distribute information about spaying and neutering and SNIP services throughout Polk County. In partnership with local organizations, city recreation programs, schools and other programs established for the care of animals, particularly animals of children who cannot afford to have their animals inoculated and sterilized. The Humane Society has developed guidelines to make the SNIP Program available to qualified participants.

Solutions:
Clinic on Wheels
The Spay/Neuter Inoculation Program (SNIP) is a non profit community service provided by the Nadine Cox Trust through the Humane Society of Polk County.

SNIP is a completely equipped "spay and neuter clinic on wheels" that goes directly into targeted neighborhoods to perform free and safe surgical sterilization for dogs and cats of underprivileged children. SNIP also provides free vaccinations and rabies shot to sterilized animals of qualifying families.
The SNIP mobile clinic is the very first of its kind in Polk County. Every dog and cat spayed or neutered by the mobile clinic will immediately impact the number of animals who end up in area shelters by preventing unwanted births. Two cats with their offspring generate 420,000 cats in just six short years and two dogs with their offspring can produce 67,000 dogs in seven years!

SNIP EDUCATION
Clients will be taught the benefits of sterilization and inoculation so they, too, can become community educators. All clients will receive verbal and written postoperative instructions for their dogs and cats. We will educate our clients of the pet surplus problem, animal care, animal cruelty/neglect, animal safety, laws regarding pets, spaying and neutering and promote adoptions from local shelters. We will provide demonstrations of how to care for pets with our shelter mascot "Rusty" including brushing, bathing, cleaning ears, teeth, trimming nails, basic obedience, etc. By educating the pet owner to the fact that in addition to the health & behavioral benefits, sterilization for their pet is much like a vaccination for unwanted pregnancies that contribute to over production and unintended deaths by euthanasia. Spay/Neuter saves lives by eliminating killing.

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