The City of Nacogdoches and the Humane Society of Nacogdoches County have come together to fund a low cost spay and neuter clinic, officially opened to the public on January 13, 2011. We neutered our first shelter cats on March 11, 2010, and spent the next 6 months training volunteers to help with all aspects of patient care except actually doing the surgery: pre-anesthetic evaluation; anesthetic induction, monitoring and recovery; patient care including walking, feeding, watering and administering medications; and counseling owners when they take their pets home on proper post-operative care. Many of our clinic volunteers also happen to volunteer for O'Malley Alley Cats, a group dedicated to caring for homeless cats in the area. Click Here for more information on our volunteer program.

We began spaying and neutering animals living at or adopted from the shelter on August 23, 2010, and continued to do so nearly every Thursday through the end of the year, when we were ready to open to the public. During this training period, we spayed and neutered 154 cats and dogs.

St. Francis Rescue of Nacogdoches joined forces with us in January of 2011. It has been estimated that approximately 25% of the dogs that find themselves at our shelter are pit bull type dogs. However, the percentage of puit bulls adopted out is signifcantly less than 25%. The only real way to reduce the number of homeless pit bulls is to prevent the production of the massive oversupply of these very popular pets, and this can be accomplished only by spaying and neutering enough pit bulls to prevent the oversupply which results in euthanasia of around 1,000 pit bulls in Nacogdoches County every year. St. Francis Rescue of Nacogdoches specializes in coming to the aid of pit bulls, and has generously offered to cover 80% of medical costs of any pit bull adopted from Nacogdoches Animal Services. This means that out of pocket cost for the owner is usually less than $10.

In February of 2011, an anonymous benefactor agreed to pay the medical costs for dogs and cats that leave the shelter and go to a rescue organization which agrees to find a forever home for that pet. To date, more than 50 animals have been sponsored by this Rescue Fund.

The Nacogdoches Chamber of Commerce hosted our official Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening on June 30, 2011.

Our goal is to spay and neuter 1000 dogs and cats each year. We will keep you posted ;-). Similar projects in Cities around the nation, including Knoxville Tennessee and Indianapolis, Indiana, indicate that we could see reduction in shelter intake and euthanasia numbers in as soon as 1-2 years, and certainly within 5-7 years, if these surgery numbers are sustained.

At this time, we are accepting donations for the many items yet needed and ongoing supplies. Click Here to peruse our Wish List.

To make a donation, you can:

• Bring your donation to the Animal Shelter, on the West Nacogdoches Loop (address on the right of this page), or mail to the Shelter PO Box listed on the right side of this page. Make these checks payable to "Nacogdoches Animal Shelter." Please specify that your donation be used for the spay-neuter clinic if that is what you wish. This fund is overseen by Shelter Director Jamie Shelton.
• Mail your donation to the Humane Society at the PO Box listed on the right side of this page. Make these checks payable to "Humane Society of Nacogdoches County." Please specify that your donation be used for the spay-neuter clinic if that is what you wish. This fund is overseen by the Humane Society of Nacogdoches County.
• If you want to help pit bulls, mail your donation to St. Francis Rescue of Nacogdoches at the PO Box listed on the right side of this page. Make these checks payable to "St. Francis Rescue." Please specify that your donation be used for the spay-neuter clinic if that is what you wish. This fund is overseen by St. Francis Rescue of Nacogdoches.
• Clinic veterinarian Dr. Blount has a fund to pay for items and services needed by clinic patients which are not covered by City or Humane Society budgets. Additional medical and surgical services paid for by this fund may be performed at local clinics and have included mammary gland tumor removal, dental care, treatment for concurrent problems unrelated to surgery, spays and neuters for those who somehow do not qualify for our program, presurgical tests for high risk patients such as x-rays and ultrasound, etc. To date, Eastex Veterinary Clinic and Southside Animal Clinic have particiapted in this program. As well, this fund has paid for clinic equipment or supply needs not covered by current budgets, such as dental instruments for removing retained baby teeth while the pet is under anesthesia, printer for EKG so results can be put in the record, labeling machine to organize clinic supplies, lunch for volunteers, milk replacer for feeding orphan kittens and puppies and and many other items. Please mail donations made out to "Wendy Blount" for this fund to Dr. Wendy Blount, 7417 N US Hwy 59, Nacogdoches TX 75965.