Shelter celebrates ‘International Spay Day’

PALMER — Just before lunchtime, Sara Ringgenberg brings a small dog wrapped in towels into a crowded room of veterinary professionals.

“You’re cute, but you’re a nasty little thing,” she says good-naturedly as the sedation medication is readied.

Veterinarian Jayne Michelini laughs, saying sometimes little dogs get a pass because they’re cute, and an ornery Chihuahua isn’t as much of a handful as an ornery Labrador retriever.

“People let them get away with it,” she said.

The medication ready, she turns to the towel-wrapped dog.

“Is there a butt in there somewhere?”

The dog is soon asleep and ready for her operation. She was one of many dogs and cats — more than 30 total — that the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Shelter spayed or neutered Tuesday on International Spay Day.

In a room off of the main lobby, a larger, fluffy dog was in the middle of a spay surgery and in another room a third dog was being strapped down for neutering. Across the hall, cats in boxes are waking up, some more disoriented than others. Down the hall, dogs wearing the colloquially known “cones of shame” recuperate.

Shelter volunteer coordinator Susan Fujimoto said mass spaying and neutering events happen a few times a year. She said veterinarians and vet techs all donate their time. They came from Far Country Animal Hospital in Palmer, VCA Alpine Animal Hospital, College Village Animal Clinic and Hillside Pet Clinic in Anchorage, from Talkeetna and from Mat-Su College.

“That’s what’s so cool is that you have vets coming from all over to give their time,” Fujimoto said.

That doesn’t mean such events don’t cost the shelter anything because while the labor is free, the medical supplies are not.

Fujimoto said that the operations were limited only to income-eligible residents. In addition to the operation, each animal received a microchip, a license and a rabies vaccination.

Eventually, she said, the shelter wants to take the show on the road.

“Our goal is to get this summer our Neuter Scooter going,” she said, referring to a mobile spay and neuter van the shelter has, but which it needs funding to staff.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.