The Daviess County Animal Shelter euthanized 54 percent of all dogs and 88 percent of all cats in 2008. The shelter added a spay/neuter clinic in 2022, and last year the euthanasia rates dropped to just 7 percent of dogs and 20 percent of cats.
The 1,900-square-foot clinic is located at 2620 KY 81 and contains space for two surgery tables, preparation tables, two holding rooms for cats and dogs lined with kennels, and a separate room for feral cats.
Dr. Julie Gray serves as the county veterinarian and has led the clinic since it opened in July 2022. Performing approximately 13-18 surgeries daily when they first opened, it took just 7 months to complete 5,000 surgeries.
“It’s definitely a group effort, I certainly can’t take all the credit,” Gray said. “Having a spay/neuter clinic here for our animals allows us to move them more quickly through the shelter and towards adoption, which opens up more kennels.”
More kennels open means overcrowding becomes less frequent, though it still happens. Gray said three pets could be adopted and then three more could brought in all in one day. Every animal left at the shelter is spayed/neutered before it can be adopted.
While Gray is proud the euthanasia rate for dogs has dropped from 54% to 7%, she said that still equals 114 dogs being put down. While overcrowding is a factor in euthanizing an animal, several others play a part in the decision.
“Some of them definitely have behavioral issues that we couldn’t do anything about, and that’s what we mostly run into. But sometimes a dog may only bite when it’s scared or in certain instances,” Gray said.
Gray also noted that the shelter staff does everything they can to help the animals, yet a foreign environment can still cause them stress. Added stress can make an animal lash out, she said, which could mark the animal for euthanization.
With less crowding, Gray said, the staff can spend more time trying to lower the animals’ anxiety.
“Some dogs can do just fine when they’re not here stressed at the shelter. The stress factor makes them a different animal than they would be if they were with their people, safe and stress-free,” Gray said.
Going forward, Gray hopes to strengthen the Catch, Trap, Neuter, and Return program for their cats. She said that research shows if cats don’t return to their area, more end up coming to the shelter. Conversely, returning them to where they were found keeps resources and other things under control in that area.
Another program the clinic runs utilizes the agricultural community, specifically for less desirable cats. Through the program, rather than taking in a cat as a formal inside pet, someone can welcome it to their area as an outdoor pet — one that may keep mice and other pest populations down.
“We do have the ferals that come in, and we try to get those fixed, then maybe put them into a barn home where they could live out their lives. But that can be hard to find sometimes,” Gray said.
Gray still hopes to lower euthanasia rates even further and encourages the community to do their part to help the numbers.
“It could be stopped by spaying and neutering your pet,” Gray said. “That’s the biggest thing”
