Story and photos by Sharon Bishop-Baldwin
Hardly anyone was surprised when Bissell Pet Foundation founder Cathy Bissell wrote that the nation’s overburdened animal shelters are in a crisis of “perfect storm” proportions, but local animal rescue advocates say there are ways to help part the clouds.
Bissell wrote in a June blog post that a “perfect storm” — created by a housing crisis, veterinary shortages and economic strain — has resulted in fewer adoptions, shelters increasingly beyond capacity and more unsterilized animals roaming the streets.
Unsurprisingly, the worst of these conditions tends to be in the South, where poverty is harshest, pet regulations are weakest, the breeding season is the longest and resources are the scarcest.
In the first half of 2025, approximately 2.8 million cats and dogs entered animal shelters and rescues across the United States, according to Shelter Animals Count, a national database. Of those, some 1.9 million were adopted into homes. Simple math shows a difference of about 900,000 cats, dogs, kittens and puppies. That’s the number that the nation’s 4,000-plus municipal shelters and 9,000-plus nongovernmental rescues have been desperately working to place in loving homes.
Sand Springs Animal Welfare Coordinator Tracy Arvidson is one of those shelters’ employees, but even as she begs people to adopt the pets in her kennels, she knows that adoption can’t be the only solution.
Spaying and neutering “is the only way to get things to slow down,” she says. “We are being reactive (in focusing only on adoption). … If we can get ahead of it and be proactive and stop the babies that are unwanted, then that’s where we can get somewhere.
“It’s just like eradicating a disease. What do we do? We vaccinate. What is that? It’s a preventative. We figure out how to stop that disease. We don’t just figure out how to treat it afterwards.”
It would be easy for Kelly Hines to be despondent.
“What I look at weekly are the TAS (Tulsa Animal Services) euthanasia numbers, and then we also have a good feel for how things are going because we’re there every day, and we see firsthand the need in our city,” says Hines, the clinic manager at Spay Oklahoma, a Tulsa-based nonprofit whose sole mission is to reduce the numbers of unwanted cats and dogs through sterilization.
“Some days it’s overwhelming, honestly. We can do 10,000 surgeries a year between our main veterinarian and our relief vets and still feel like we are just making a dent,” Hines says. “We could easily do two to three times more surgeries a year with unlimited resources. The backlog never goes away.”
But while Arvidson sees her share of people who are still resistant to sterilizing their animals, Hines says she encounters far less apathy and ignorance than in the past.
“I just see the need firsthand and the desire firsthand,” she says. “I think awareness is really high for spay and neuter. I think people understand that it’s important, and they want to get it done, but in this economy, there are challenges across the board.”
Certainly, financial obstacles are an issue.
“Oftentimes, people are upset about the cost, but what we charge is actually less than what we pay,” she says, adding that Spay Oklahoma recently had to raise its rates a small amount in order to cover more of its costs. “We’re a nonprofit. That’s a tough decision for anyone,” she says. “But we have to close the gap.”
Another major hurdle is the lack of available appointments, an obstacle tied to a shortage of veterinarians.
“We stay booked three weeks out year-round, and that’s as far out as we open the calendar,” Hines says, likening the experience to “trying to buy concert tickets.”
Other barriers can be more complicated: A person doesn’t have transportation to get a pet to or from surgery. The owner can’t take off work during the hours the pet needs to arrive or be picked up. Perhaps the pet needs other medical care before it can be sterilized.
Even those challenges can be overcome, says Hines, who also administers a Facebook page created to connect people in need of assistance — such as funding or transportation — with those who have the means or time to help.
The page, Oklahoma Spay and Neuter Assistance, has expanded into a clearinghouse for information about where to obtain spay and neuter surgeries and what organizations offer low-cost services or reduced-price vouchers.
Another ray of hope for Hines is that animal assistance organizations are joining forces in ways they haven’t previously.
“I like seeing some collaboration between groups to get some more surgeries done,” she says. “This is just going to require a lot of different entities working on it.”
Arvidson says municipalities can help by rethinking often-punitive pet policies. In her city of Sand Springs, when dogs are picked up and found to be unsterilized, instead of fining owners an exorbitant amount, authorities give them the opportunity to “readopt” their pets for the standard adoption fee, which includes spaying or neutering.
The city of Tulsa recently announced a program wherein owners of unaltered animals can have citations waived with proof of sterilization, and owners are offered a low-cost voucher for the surgery.
“You’ve kind of got to look at what’s going to get you somewhere,” Arvidson says. “I know it’s very frustrating, and it’s very easy to just write people tickets. But that doesn’t accomplish anything … and you’re going to be the enemy.
“We try to be the person you call when you need something. If you can’t get your animal fixed, then you call us. We will help you figure it out.”
Hines says that’s exactly what people need — help.
“I think most people would want to have their animal fixed in a perfect world. Everyone coming through the door is trying to do the right thing by their animal.”
Sidebar
What Can I Do?
- Ensure that your own pets are spayed or neutered, and if they aren’t, keep them indoors except for supervised bathroom breaks until you can do so.
- Cover the cost of having stray, feral or community cats in your neighborhood sterilized.
- Donate to organizations that provide TNR — or trap, neuter, return — services for stray or feral cats in your community.
- Support, financially or otherwise, shelters, rescues or other organizations that provide low-cost sterilization.
- Donate to organizations that provide voucher programs for low-cost spaying and neutering.
- Volunteer to help a friend, neighbor or even a stranger pay for their pet’s sterilization or help with transportation on the day of surgery.
- Adopt additional pets if your lifestyle and budget allow for it, and make sure they’re spayed or neutered. Most shelters and rescues won’t adopt unaltered animals.
- Become a foster home for a shelter or rescue organization. Besides freeing up space at the shelter or rescue, keeping animals in foster homes instead of cages ultimately makes them better pets.
- Volunteer your time for an animal assistance organization that is close to your home or your heart. The needs — and opportunities — are endless.
- Advocate for animals and the people helping them. Lend your voice to efforts to improve their lives.
