We’re sorry but this event was cancelled.

We were just informed that the venue is no longer able to host the event this Saturday, December 3rd. All people who have purchased advance tickets will be contacted individually. Thank you.

 

Spay Neuter Network Presents: Altered WORKS!

SILENT ART AUCTION + DRAW-A-THON + EXHIBITION EVENT TO BENEFIT SPAY NEUTER NETWORK

DECEMBER 3RD, 6PM TO 9PM , AT GRAY MATTERS ART GALLERY

113 N Haskell Ave, Dallas, TX 75226

PURCHASE TICKETS: https://alteredworks.org/tickets/

 

Altered Works is an exciting, one-night, fundraising event to benefit Spay Neuter Network.  Drawings, paintings, sculpture and photography by a dynamic group of recognized artists, will be on exhibit at Gray Matters Gallery. Each work in this curated show will be auctioned off via silent auction. There is no “theme” to this exhibition. Just a fantastic group of work – varying in subject matter and medium – that will be sold to help cats and dogs get the surgeries they need.

In addition to the silent auction, this art-fueled fundraiser includes a live, fast-paced “draw-a-thon” by local talent, as well as a special project exhibition by East.  Enjoy beverages and caviar while you enjoy a great show, bid on a wonderful piece that you would like in your collection (or give as a gift!) and watch local talent draw a portrait of your cat or dog (bring a photo or cell pic!) that you can take home with you.

100% of the proceeds from this fundraiser, including tickets to the event, art purchases from the silent auction, and commissioned, on-site-drawings,  will fund spay and neuter surgeries for cats and dogs in need.

This month we are starting a new collaboration with Dallas Animal Services “CARE Team”. The CARE Team is a group of Animal Control Officers who walk the streets of Dallas in different targeted areas. Those areas are decided by the number of intake calls to the 311 calling center.

This month the CARE Team is targeting the Pleasant Grove area.

Every Thursday, starting November 10th, the CARE Team will be providing SNN a list of residents interested in getting sterilizations for their pets. Surgeries will be scheduled for the following Tuesday, starting November 15th.

The CARE Team has the capacity to transport up to 9 animals at the time. If this number is exceeded, SNN will provide transportation from the designated targeted area to the Crandall clinic.

Who will be scheduling surgeries?
CARE Team and SNN will be walking the 75227 and 75217 zip codes offering spay and neuter services only to those who qualify for free services under Big Fix. While walking, we’ll gather information and signed up information of people and animals for SNN to schedule an appointment. The list will be submitted by me to you or a designated SNN Staff to be enter in our system and schedule the appointment for the following Monday.

Who is paying for the surgeries?
CARE Team and SNN will NOT promote this program to people who don’t live in the Big Fix zip codes. We will instruct people to call the office to schedule in case we find someone out of the targeted area.

What if there are more than 9 pets? How do we get them to the clinic?
Either the CARE team Jay or the new Community Outreach Coordinator will be transporting in cases were more than 9 animals are scheduled for surgery.

C.A.R.E.
Companion Animal Resource Effort

Spay Neuter Network was formed to eliminate pet overpopulation through subsidized spay/neuter services, while empowering communities to care responsibly for dogs and cats. Our mission is prevention so there are no more unwanted litters and shelters can be cleared for good. Donations on North Texas Giving Day will help fund our Mobile Surgery Clinics and Outreach efforts in poor urban and rural areas in 13 North Texas Counties including Dallas and Tarrant.

Giving Day is such a great opportunity to further those efforts. These underserved areas have the most problems with animal overpopulation because many residents cannot afford to sterilize their pets or they don’t understand when or why they should spay or neuter.

In Dallas alone, nearly 800,000 dogs and cats are living within the City limits; almost 200,000 of these dogs and cats live in areas below the poverty level. Studies show only 10% of the animals living in these areas are sterilized. That means we have nearly 170,000 dogs and cats that need our help and attention. 70% of these unaltered pets must be sterilized to greatly reduce the pet overpopulation problem we are facing.

We put people on the ground to educate on the importance of sterilization. Our outreach coordinator works with City Officials and volunteers to reach the public so they understand the need and that it can be done affordably. We work on the principle that people will do the right thing if we work together to

1. make it affordable,
2. make it accessible and
3. educate owners of the tragic results of pet overpopulation, but also the life-saving health benefits of spaying and neutering their pets.

Funds from events such as North Texas Giving Day help to subsidize the cost of surgeries, fund outreach efforts and keep our state-of-the-art Mobile Animal Surgical Hospital on the road in North Texas. Spay Neuter Network performed more than 17,000 spay/neuter surgeries last year and we look to increase to 25,000 by next year. Prevention is the only way to reduce shelter intake and stop animal overpopulation.

-By Jacob Carty, Spay Neuter Network Marketing and Communications Director

In seven years, North Texas Giving Day has pumped more than $119 million into the North Texas community. In 2015, $33 million was raised through more than 118,000 gifts benefiting over 2,000 nonprofits.

On Thursday, September 22, support Spay Neuter Network by linking here and spreading the word. #NTxGivingDay

Sue Porter, pictured here with Taterbug and Sally Mae, gave us a generous generous donation that allowed us to purchase a new refrigerator for our vaccines. Donations like these allow us to put more money toward our mission, not overhead expenses.

A note from Ms Porter:

I had just lost my little Morkie and was heart broken. I have always spayed/neutered my pets as soon as I get them or when they are old enough. I hate to see animals put down or mistreated. Our animals are like part of our family. We just adopted 2 Yorkies who are 5 and 7 years old. I decided on 2 so if I lose one, I am not so crushed. The problem is, it is very expensive to adopt a dog (I paid $325 per dog) and a lot of people can not afford to pay even the shelter fees which includes spay/neutering. I have a friend who posted your need for a refrigerator and felt like it was something that I could do so that you could continue your work. Your fees are more reasonable so that most people can afford them. Now if I could just find someone who house breaks dogs for a cheap fee. My 2 are from breeders and are just now figuring out how to be loved dogs.

 

Donate Today!

 

The Real Cost of Fixing the Pet Overpopulation Problem in Dallas
By Deanna Sauceda: Spay Neuter Network Executive Director

After the tragic dog mauling death of 52 year old Antoinette Brown in south Dallas, there has been a firestorm of criticism about how the city of Dallas handled the situation. There is also a call for firings of city officials, animal sweeps in these neighborhoods plagued by loose dogs, more citations, and aggressive spay neuter efforts. There are steps being taken to learn from the tragic incident, but the solution is not simple and it is not just sweeps, citations or just spay/neuter. Also, Dallas is not the only city struggling with pet overpopulation. I get calls every single day from neighborhoods, cities and towns wanting our team to help spay and neuter in their locale.

As executive director of Spay Neuter Network, I want to offer some history and real data around the problem that has existed in the Dallas area for decades. This applies in any area facing the problem. My organization has been boots on the street working on solutions for five years. There are success stories and the needle has moved in Dallas, but solving the problems associated with rampant pet overpopulation is complicated and multi-faceted. Most importantly, we cannot solve the problem by pointing fingers and burning down what has been accomplished. Instead, intense collaboration with smart systematic data driven programs are the only ways to see historic and lasting change. This is a quality of life issue that all residents, those with pets and those without, play a role.

SPAY NEUTER as a solution

No doubt spay/neuter is the most effective solution in the long run. Consider that one female dog and her offspring can result in 65,000 dogs in five years according to ASPCA. Recently a DMN news article quoted a formula indicating it only takes five to 10 spay/neuters per 1000 residents to result in zero animal population growth. The formula used by animal welfare experts and funders like PetSmart Charities and Best Friends tells a different story.

Dallas’ population is 1.3 million with nearly 800,000 dogs and cats living within the City limits; almost 200,000 of these dogs and cats live in areas below the poverty level. Studies have shown that only about 10% of the animals living in these areas are sterilized. That means we have nearly 170,000 dogs and cats that need our help and attention. 70% of these unaltered pets must be sterilized to greatly reduce the pet overpopulation problem we are facing. The cost to spay/neuter a dog or cat with a low-cost organization, like Spay Neuter Network, is $65-$100 which covers just the cost of surgery. Assigning a cost of $75/animal…that is nearly $12 million. A million dollars will help, but will not come close to paying for the number of surgeries to bring about impactful change; however more is missing from this formula and that’s reaching people.

In the last five years, Spay Neuter Network has serviced 11-thousand Dallas residents and each had an average of 2.5 pets. SNN provided 23-thousand surgeries and of those 94% were subsidized or provided for free thanks to caring national and local foundations and donors. More than $3,000,000 has been spent towards our efforts in Dallas.

In 2011, SNN initiated our first targeted low income program in Dallas thanks to funding from several sources. PetSmart Charities granted $173,000, but only 60% of that went towards surgeries; 40% went towards education and community outreach. The challenge with targeting our poorest neighborhoods is building trust, and building a philosophy of good pet ownership. SNN initiated “Takin’ it to the Streets”- program where today we go into specific zip codes and literally walk door to door, distribute flyers, speak to and educate residents, leadership at businesses, churches, schools and community organizations to join the effort. SNN offers free vaccinations that give us entrée to discuss spay/neuter. We have come to learn it takes an average of four visits with a pet owner to convince them to spay or neuter one animal.

 

Here’s the real story and how it works. A generous grant from the Petco Foundation is allowing us to strategically reach out to residents in south Dallas. On June 4th, our team held a free vaccination clinic at the Church of the Living God in south Dallas. We had been walking the streets for two weeks getting out the word and telling people about the event. We are following up with a free spay day on June 17th and we worked to sign up for a free spay/neuter at the vaccination clinic. Nearly 100 people started lining up an hour before we were scheduled to begin. While neighbors waited with their 163 pets, our team talked to them about wellness, spay/neuter and keeping pets from running the streets. Most had more than one pet and one family had a wire crate with several small Chihuahua mixes and a few full grown cats all together; all seemed quite satisfied with the accommodations! I spoke with an elderly woman who carried an envelope in her purse with what appeared to be the sum of her social security or disability check. She wanted to pay for every service available for her best friend. Who knows if she would bypass a meal to make sure her pup was healthy. Of the 163 animals, only 23 were signed up for spay/neuter. We have 140 more to work on, or 420 more touches.

Helping to increase spay/neuter in Dallas or any community takes more than money for surgeries, it requires funds for education, outreach, transport and people to do these things. It also requires an army of community volunteers helping to spread the word about the services available to reach those who need it most. Spay Neuter Network has been in the trenches working to solve this problem in Dallas and there has been progress, but we must understand this is a people problem and not a pet problem. That means communication and outreach is vital to bring about systemic change. That means people talking to people, neighbors talking to neighbors and all of us collaborating because we care about our city.

You can help save lives by….

– Sponsoring surgeries – $100 per animal

– Sponsoring a MASH spay day – $3500 for 35-45 surgeries

– Sponsoring a day of walking the streets and educating the public – $400

– Volunteering! You can find volunteer information at spayneuternet.org/volunteer/ 

– Following and sharing volunteer needs on the Spay Squad Facebook Group

– Texting SPAY TO 41444 or clicking here to donate.

See the people and pets behind Spay Neuter Network.

Fruitcake, snow globes, bread dough – who knew these holiday staples could harm pets?

From meds to goodies to plants – plus the big 5 holiday dangers – this simple list of holiday No No No may help save pets’ lives!

Lock These Meds Away

Pseudoephedrine

Dextromethorphan

NSAIDs

Ibuprofen

Antibiotics

Cough drops

Eye drops

Goodies That Are Baddies

Wrapped gifts containing food

Snow globes

Holiday food such as chocolate, uncooked poultry, bread dough, fruitcake & alcohol
Salt in ice melt, homemade play dough and salt-dough ornaments

Pretty But Unpalatable

Poinsettia

Christmas cactus

Holly

The Big 5 Holiday Dangers

In order of call volume reported by the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center:

Chocolate

Tree preservatives

Poinsettias

Medications

Alcohol

 

Source: ASPCA

There is just no data to support that we should be denying the adoption of a dog or cat to a person who wants to gift a pet to a loved one. Dr. Emily Weiss is back again this season to bust that old myth.

So, last week on the ASPCApro Facebook page, there was a passionate dialogue about adopted pets as gifts. There were those in support, and several who used words like “bad idea,” “foolish,” etc. And then there were a few folks who stated that their shelters received tons of calls after the holidays from those looking to get rid of the pet they received as a gift.

A couple of years ago we published asmall survey study exploring the impact on retention and perceived attachment when obtaining a pet as a gift. There was already a fair amount of peer-reviewed research pointing to pets obtained as gifts being no more likely to be relinquished – or in some cases, less likely to be relinquished than pets obtained other ways. But as most shelters were still not allowing pets to be adopted as gifts for others, we wanted to further explore the relationship.

We found that the majority of people who obtained a pet as a gift thought receiving the pet as a gift increased their level of attachment, and only 3% said it decreased it. The percentage of pets obtained as gifts still in the home is the same as, or lower than, the percentage reported for general pet retention.

There really is just no data to support that we should be denying the adoption of a dog or cat to person one who wants to gift a pet to a loved one. The earlier data could even be loosely interpreted that the better adoption option would be to adopt pets as gifts more readily than to adopt pets for an individual! In fact, this points to an important point in how we interpret risk. Look – most dogs and cats stay in their homes. Studies repeatedly tend to find a retention rate for keeping a pet for life somewhere around 85% ish.

So this means that for every 100 adoptions you do, you should count on about 15 of those animals being re-homed in the course of their lives. Yep. Now that should not stop us from doing adoptions. Instead, we should celebrate it – most dogs and cats stay home. And the better news is we are actively working on ways to increase that retention for those who want to keep their pets.

Now, going back to the couple of folks who commented on that Facebook post that they received lots of calls after the holidays… We suspect that the holiday season is a time in which there is a higher than average acquisition of new pets, be they obtained as a gift or for oneself. If that is true, one would expect that shelter may receive more calls after the holidays – not because pets given as gifts are more at risk, but because there are more new pets in general! I have to mention there were also those on that Facebook post who reported things such as, “I can only speak for my own experience. At our large open admission shelter, which I’ve been at for more than a dozen years, we have never, ever seen this to be a problem. So the answer from here is – yes, I know how many Christmas present pets are turned in to shelters after New Year’s – none here.”

I had the honor a couple of weeks ago to give the keynote at the Carolinas Unite conference and shared some of the data on pets as gifts. There were several organizations in the room that had embraced the idea and were among the shelters who were conducting pet deliveries on Christmas day. It was really great to see what happens when an old myth is busted and the lives that have been saved as a result. I collapse in tears as I watch this YouTube video of the human animal as he/she obtains a new pet as a gift. Let’s continue down this path and get more animals home where they belong.

Courtesy of ASPCA: http://www.aspcapro.org/blog/2015/11/18/pets-gifts-just-do-math

Many people use peanut butter as a snack or pill concealer for dogs. This is usually OK but some companies are using sugar substitutes in their products. Make sure you read your labels!

Xylitol is a sweetener that’s gaining in popularity because of its dental benefits for people as well as its suitability as a sugar substitute for people with diabetes. Because of its ability to help prevent cavities and tooth decay and its low glycemic index, xylitol is proving to have some good dental and other health benefits for people. Unfortunately, while xylitol appears to be perfectly safe for people, it is extremely dangerous for dogs — even in small quantities.

Ingestion of as little as 0.1 gram (g) of xylitol per kilogram (kg) of body weight (0.1 g/kg) can cause a rapid and dangerous drop in a dog’s blood sugar (a condition called “hypoglycemia”). Hypoglycemia can show as staggering, appearing disoriented, collapse, weakness, and seizures.

Just slightly more than that, approx. 0.5 g/kg xylitol ingestion, can lead to debilitating, and sadly often deadly, destruction of a dog’s liver cells.

These quantities, or toxic doses, are based on the data that the animal-specific poison control hotlines have collected from reported cases*. To highlight that these are reported cases is important, because not every case of toxicity makes it to the vet, and not everyone that does go to the vet is called into the animal poison control hotlines. So the actual toxic doses could be even lower, and dogs with certain pre-existing medical conditions (such as diabetes, hepatitis, and others) are likely to be even more sensitive to the toxic effects of xylitol.

*Sources: New Findings On The Effects Of Xylitol Ingestion In Dogs from ASPCA-APCC 2006; Acute Hepatic Failure And Coagulopathy Associated With Xylitol Ingestion In Eight Dogs from ASPCA-APCC 2006, published in JAVMA (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2006; 229:1113-1117)