PORT TOWNSEND — Friday mornings at the Humane Society of Jefferson County shelter, the volunteers are out walking the dogs, feeding the cats and, as always, doing laundry.
Out back, there’s a new $200,000 vehicle, funded by donations. It’s a state-of-the-art health clinic for the shelter animals, providing low-cost spaying and neutering at the height of kitten season.
Dr. Deanna Kraft, the staff veterinarian, remembers a time when there was a long winter break in the period when cats give birth. She worked with shelter animals in Tacoma for 16 years before moving to Port Townsend in 2018; these days, she said, the kittens start coming as early as February.
This year looks to be busier than ever with so many pets adopted during the pandemic.
So the new surgical unit, parked behind the facility at 112 Critter Lane off South Jacob Miller Road, is an utterly welcome addition to the Humane Society of Jefferson County (HSJC).
It arrived in late spring, months past its expected arrival due to slowdowns in the nation’s supply chain, said HSJC board president Paul Becker.
The trailer is in line with the organization’s intent to be more than a shelter, he said.
In addition to pet vaccination clinics, spaying and neutering, HSJC is expanding its services to provide dental surgeries and dental cleaning for the shelter animals.
Such care makes pets more adoptable, as do the foster homes where volunteers socialize kittens and puppies.
Walter the hound is among the adoptable animals at the Humane Society of Jefferson County in Port Townsend. (Diane Urbani de la Paz/Peninsula Daily News)
Each companion animal at the shelter is spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies and other diseases and microchipped, Becker noted. A microchip is the single best way to reunite a lost pet with its owners, he said.
Information about low-cost spay-neuter clinics, animal adoption and ways to support HSJC can be found at HSJCWA.org or by phoning 360-385-3292.
Other organizations offering pet adoption and spaying and neutering include Center Valley Animal Rescue in Quilcene, 360-765-0598, and the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society in Clallam County, 360-457-8206.
Peninsula Friends of Animals operates a shelter for cats at 257509 U.S. Highway 101 east of Port Angeles; the phone number is 360-452-0414.
Spay to Save, which has a mobile surgical unit that travels between Sequim and Port Angeles to provide low-cost spaying and neutering for cats and dogs, can be reached at 360-477-0574. The organization recently resumed its clinics after a pandemic-caused hiatus.
“We have three [clinics] planned in July; we try to do two or three a month,” said co-founder Sue Miles.
“Definitely, kitten season is hitting pretty hard. It happens so quickly that cat populations can get out of control,” she added.
Like HSJC, Spay to Save’s clinics provide services for lower-income pet owners: $10 to neuter a male cat, $20 to spay a female cat and $30 for all dogs.
Those eligible for these services are “a huge population, actually,” said Miles, estimating 70 percent of Clallam County residents are likely to qualify for low-cost spaying and neutering of their dogs and cats.
“We’ve made a big impact overall,” she said.
Since the first clinic in 2012, Spay to Save has performed about 7,000 surgeries.
Becker, for his part, emphasized that, like its counterparts across the Peninsula, HSJC is a no-kill shelter in that it does not euthanize animals for lack of space.
“We have not put down an adoptable animal, ever,” Becker said.
Working with shelter manager Jenny Haynes, the HSJC crew is in the midst of expansion plans: a larger cat adoption area and a separate space for incoming felines to quarantine.
As life gets busier at the facility, Becker, Kraft and veterinary technician Devon Carney are thankful for the new surgical unit.
“Being part of the solution for pet overpopulation” makes this work rewarding, Kraft said, adding “it definitely improves [animals’] quality of life” when they’re not having litter after litter.
These clinics are also a help to people who may have thought they couldn’t afford to have their pets spayed or neutered, Carney added.
The standard of care at HSJC is comparable to a private veterinary practice, Kraft said; the organization has the skilled workers and facilities to match.
As she prepared a pair of kittens for surgery on a recent Friday morning, Kraft expressed her hope they will be adopted soon.
“Two kittens are twice as much fun. Who needs TV?” she said.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
