Spokane County ‘SNIP’ event to provide free spay/neuter 100 dogs

The Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service will be hosting a free spay and neuter clinic for 100 household dogs on Sunday, Aug. 25.

The slots all filled up within six hours of opening.

“That’s the reality of the need of accessible spay-neuter in our community,” veterinarian Dr. Elizabeth O’Keeffe said.

The event, called Spokane County SNIP, was funded by a grant and the SCRAPS Hope Foundation. Completely volunteer run, the surgical teams will be performing operations from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“The only way to fix the massive pet overpopulation problem that we are seeing is spay and neuter your dogs and your cats,” O’Keeffe said.

O’Keeffe said that Spokane has had a significant increase in pregnant dogs and puppies ever since around the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We don’t know exactly what precipitates it – the world’s changed a lot in COVID and out of COVID, and the housing market and the housing crisis, all of that, too,” O’Keeffe said, adding that shelters and rescues are at or over capacity while adoption rates have gone down.

O’Keeffe said that cat and kitten populations in shelters has remained consistent.

This event is the first of its kind put on by Spokane County SNIP.

“The teams that are working together for this absolutely would love to continue to put these on,” O’Keeffe said. “But we need the financial support to be able to continue or to put more events on.”