Impact of a bilingual mobile spay/neuter clinic in a U.S./Mexico border city

Abstract

There are between 4 and 10 million dogs and cats killed annually in the United States. Although there are no accurate national estimates of the number of companion animals who are sterilized surgically. Approximately 26,000 companion animals are euthanized annually in El Paso County, Texas, located on the U.S./Mexico border. In an effort to determine if a readily available spay/neuter program would be cost effective and eventually help to lower the county's euthanasia rate, a mobile spay/neuter clinic began operation for a 5-month period in 2004, using a volunteer veterinarian and paid staff. Sterilizations performed totaled 1,108: 959 dogs (372 males and 587 females) and 149 cats (50 males and 99 females). The per companion animal sterilization cost of 15.13 dollars (27.83 dollars had the veterinarian been paid) was considerably cheaper than the rate of 57 dollars per companion animal achieved by a local voucher program contracting with private veterinarians to perform reduced-cost sterilizations.