Highland County Humane Society Receives Grant

The Highland County Humane Society has received a Spay/Neuter Grant from the Petco Foundation.  With this grant the Humane Society can offer free spay/neuter services for dogs and cats of Highland County residents.

Corena Huffman is the President of the Highland County Humane Society.

“It’s important to offer spay/neuter services here in Highland for several reasons,” says Huffman.  “Our organization feels that there’s a bit of a challenge to getting our pets to the vet, may it be distance, because the veterinary services or the spay/neuter vets are a bit of a drive from Highland.  There is no bricks and mortar veterinarian here in Highland anymore.  And so it’s a challenge for the working families to be able to get over to the valley to get their pets spayed and neutered, it usually takes a whole day until they’re ready to return.  Sometimes there’s not reliable transportation or other resource limitations that they can’t get their pet over to the valley for the surgery.  It’s expensive, so this grant allows us to offer funding to help that barrier and also free transportation to help that barrier.”   

If you are not a Highland resident, Huffman has other information on spay/neuter services that are available in areas surrounding Highland.

“We do first come, first serve and so it is important to call us or email us or send a Facebook message so we can get you on the list,” says Huffman.  “We work with several local veterinarians for spay/neuter and also the two spay/neuter clinics over in the valley.  Some family members choose to take their own pets to their vet or to one of the clinics in the valley, if they are over there for errands and such.   Otherwise, we do several trips in our spay/neuter van and take them over to the valley, which is also a free service.  We can let community members borrow crates, carriers, traps, that kind of thing.  The grant does also cover feral or untamed barn cats for spay/neuter as well.  It’s important to have the surgeries done for several reasons.  It’s healthier for your pets.  They are not having heat cycles, litters, it helps cut down on the roaming, and male behaviors that are sometimes unwanted in male cats and dogs.  It decreases some of the hormone based cancers in dogs and cats and also helps control the population here in Highland.”

For more information, call 540-908-9152, or email info@highlandcountyhumanesociety.org or visit Highland County Humane Society on Facebook.