Sterilizing (spaying/neutering) animals is the most humane and effective way to address animal overpopulation and mitigate related suffering.
WHY SHOULD I STERILIZE MY PET?
There are many benefits when choosing to spay or neuter your pet. It's the best humane way to address overpopulation, which can cause animals to suffer from starvation and disease.
Sterilized pets typically lose their urge to roam away from the home, which prevents injuries from fights, getting hit by a car, or being exposed to diseases.
Spaying & neutering your pet decreases its risk of getting different types of cancer, such as CTVT.
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Prolong your pet's life and get it spayed or neutered! Join our cause and bring your pet (or sponsor one!) to one of our upcoming sterilization clinics!
HOW DO OUR CLINICS WORK?
Twice each month, we hire a team of reputable veterinarians (Aprovet Nicaragua) to come to SOS Clinic Veterinara to help us perform an average of 25 sterilization surgeries.
The cost for SOS Animales is $25 per animal, which we pay for with donations from our generous sponsors. We charge pet owners 250 cordobas ($8) for these surgeries because many people cannot afford to pay the $25 and our goal is to make animal healthcare accessible to all.
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If you would like to pay for a local animal at an upcoming clinic, please visit our Donation page.
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If you would like to volunteer for an upcoming clinic, please contact us on our Volunteer page.
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Thank you for supporting our cause!
PUPPIES & PERRAS PROGRAM
Though we try our best to prevent unwanted pregnancies, there continues to be dozens of unwanted litters born every month. In most cases, the owners of these accidentally bred puppies just gift the puppies away to friends or neighbors, often when they are only a couple weeks old and always without sterilizing them first. We have created a program of intervention to help these puppies get a strong start to life, and also to help break the cycle by ensuring they are sterilized.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Sometimes pregnant or nursing mothers of poor families are reported to us by the family themselves or by neighbors; other times our community team finds these dogs when they are doing community work. If the family agrees to our program, then we supply food for the mama dog while she is pregnant and nursing. The family must keep the puppies for a minimum of 6 weeks; after this point, they are brought to our clinic where they remain until they are adopted into a responsible family. The mama dog is then sterilized for free. While the puppies are in our care they receive all of their vaccinations and any other medical attention they may need.
This program is very expensive. Each individual puppy costs us about $80 in food and medications. We hope that this program will make a difference in the lives of dogs here over time, but we need your help to keep it going!
FERAL CAT TRAPPING & STERILIZATION
San Juan del Sur, and similar communities, have a problem with out of control feral cat populations. One female cat can birth more than 180 kittens in her lifetime. Many of these unwanted kittens end up being poisoned, drowned, or thrown away in a plastic bag. We find a litter of kittens in the garbage almost every week. The most effective and humane way to control the cat population in any area is through sterilization. Every week, we trap, sterilize, and re-release healthy feral cats.
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If you have noticed an abundance of feral cats in your neighborhood, you can message us and we can make that spot a focus area for sterilization. After operating, we hold cats for at least 24 hours to make sure they are stable and fully awake before releasing them. Kittens that are young enough to be domesticated are kept in our clinic and put up for adoption. Get in touch with us if you would like help sterilizing the cats in your neighborhood.
