Oliver - photo courtesy of PAWS and More

PAWS and More in Washington had its highest intake of animals ever in 2019 with 895 animals. That’s up by about 70 animals from the previous year. At a recent presentation, PAWS Director Amber Talbot explained the shelter offers low-cost spay and neuter days each month to help control the pet population, “We do 30 to 40 public surgeries every month for the community. So a lot of people are really focusing on trap, neuter, release which is really the best way to invest in preventing intake into our facility. But the clinic is doubling in size this year. They’ve been partially open all winter to gear up for the spring. And we’re hoping to be able to add a whole extra surgery every month to offer that low-cost resource to people that are trying to spay and neuter these pets everywhere that are showing up or even the dogs that need help, helping people not have those accidental litters. So that’s pretty exciting.”

Talbot said the shelter has also recently partnered with the Kalona Vet Clinic. She said PAWS has also worked to grow its network of foster homes while seeing adoption rates increase. Talbot says dogs stay at the shelter on average less than a month before finding their forever homes.