AniMeals Program --
Helping senior shut-ins and their companion animals.

     The SPCA of Wake County and the nonprofit group Resources for Seniors have joined forces to bring a new service to home-bound senior and disabled adults living in Wake County who may be having to choose between feeding their pets and heating their homes, paying their bills or taking their medications.
     This needs-based program helps keep people and their pets together by removing logistical and financial obstacles to ensure that the owners will be able to provide nutritious meals for their beloved pets. For many home-bound adults, a dog or cat is more than a pet; it provides friendship, joy and a reason to live. Studies have shown that pets lower illness levels and mortality rates.
     The SPCA’s Pet Food Pantry program will provide a month’s supply of pet food to participants of the new AniMeals program. The food will be delivered the third Saturday of each month by both SPCA and Resources for Seniors volunteers.
     To be eligible for the AniMeals program participants must be clients of Resources for Seniors and facing financial strain, physical limitations or a temporary crisis in their lives, in which they are unable to leave home.

Pet Food Panty --
Keeping pets in homes and out of shelters

     The current economy is impacting even the four-legged members of the family. During the past 8 months, the SPCA has seen an increase in people giving up their pets; many of the surrenders are due to cost.
     We are seeing people come to us who have lost their jobs and their homes and they simply cannot afford the cost of keeping their pet. It’s heartbreaking for the family and for the pet.
     In order to keep families together and pets out of animal shelters, the SPCA's Pet Food Pantry provides temporary assistance to pet owning families in need by providing a month’s supply of pet food.
     For many families, a month’s supply of pet food can mean the difference between keeping their pet or having to leave their pet at an animal shelter. And for many pets, staying in their home and out of an animal shelter can mean the difference between life and death.
     The Pantry is providing an important outreach to promote the life-saving services of the Saving Lives Spay/Neuter Clinic. All partipants in the Pet Food Pantry are asked to have their pet's fixed, bring proof of pet's sterilization, or be willing to work with the SPCA staff in scheduling an apointment for their pet.

Low-Cost Clinic --
Helping people fix their pets by providing low-cost options

     In the first 31 days of operation, 751 animals have been fixed at the Saving Lives Spay/Neuter Animal Clinic. The goal of this clinic is to reduce the number of unwanted animals killed each year by spaying and neutering -- or “fixing” -- thousands of pets at a low cost (between $30-$45) to the public.
     In both national and local surveys, the cost of spay/neuter surgery is consistently listed as the main reason why people choose not to alter their pets.
     The uncontrolled breeding of owned pets and stray and abandoned animals creates an enormous number of unwanted animals that are killed by the thousands each year in North Carolina animal shelters.
     By providing spay/neuter surgeries at a low cost, this veterinary clinic will help pet owners who are unable to afford the spay/neuter surgery, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
     The clinic building and equipment are funded 100% through private donations.
     This clinic will save tens of thousands of animal lives, as well as the hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars which are currently used each year to round up, shelter and kill homeless animals.