A staggering 67,000 puppies can be born from a female dog and her offspring in seven years, and 420,000 kittens can be produced by a female cat and her offspring in just six years. These statistics are driving our primary goal of addressing pet overpopulation, by helping to prevent the cascade of unwanted animals that can stem from a single unaltered pet.
The financial burden to the taxpayer of sheltering, feeding, treating, housing, and even killing so many unwanted animals every year far outweighs the alternative approach—implementing targeted, publicly funded spay/neuter programs. These address the cause of our pet overpopulation problem at its source. Spay/neuter is a highly efficient way to allocate resources, because every dollar spent has an exponential effect. Every animal we fix today saves tens, then hundreds, and ultimately thousands of animals from our shelter system of tomorrow. Together, we have the power to create a consensus that rejects euthanasia as a method of achieving results.
To address this pet population crisis directly, we have launched the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation Namaste Spay & Neuter Initiative. Through this program, we are partnering with qualifying 501(c)(3) groups to fully fund the cost of spay and neuter surgeries, including associated pain medication and any necessary vaccinations.
On Namaste Days, pet owners bring their cat or dog to pre-approved host clinics for free surgery. Through the Heigl Foundation’s benevolence, pet owners will save financially; but ,more importantly, the shelter system will be saved from the burden of countless unwanted pets.
Did you know?
Spaying and neutering also has added benefits for the health of our companion pets—reducing the risk of certain cancers, the desire to spray or mark territory and the desire to roam.
Pet owners wanting to take advantage of the Namaste Spay and Neuter Initiative should tell their local rescue or spay and neuter clinic about the program. Organizations wanting to host a Namaste Day clinic can find out more information and complete an application form here.
If you do not have a pet, you still can support our efforts to bring about this change in mindset. As a society, if we can adjust our thinking from focusing solely on the rescue and support of orphaned pets to the prevention of unwanted pregnancies, we will have made significant strides in addressing pet overpopulation and the problems our shelters face.
Training & Education
We also provide training and education programs to support our spay and neuter initiatives. These courses inform the public about local no-cost or low-cost spay/neuter services, laws applicable to pet ownership, the availability of low-cost veterinary care and the grim reality of relinquishing a pet to a municipal shelter. Additionally, topics such as integrating a pet into the family, positive reinforcement training, house breaking and proper dog socialization also are explained.