When it comes to pet ownership, the most responsible thing you can do is make sure you have your pet spayed or neutered.

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The Amarillo community as a whole is not responsible, and it is showing.  Have you walked through the Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare on any given day?  Nearly all of their kennels for both cats and dogs are full.  FULL.

Last year AAMW took in almost 9000 animals at the shelter.  Many were adopted and many met the euthanasia fate.  The main reason is people are not spaying or neutering their pets.

Just in February alone, 536 animals have been through AAMW and other shelters.  February is the shortest month of the year.  That's 536 animals!  This is ridiculous.   Of those 536 animals 215 were euthanized.

In January, Amarillo took in more animals than Austin.  Austin has a population of 2.2 million people and Amarillo has a population of a little over 200,000.

How do we solve this problem?

Be a responsible pet owner, take your cat or your dog and have them spayed or neutered.

There are several affordable options in Amarillo to have your pets spay or neutered.

  • Amarillo SPCA sells discounted vouchers on spay or neuter
  • P.E.T.S is a non-profit pet clinic that offers low-cost spay or neuter Male cats for $35, female cats for $45, male dogs for $60, and female dogs for $60.  You can schedule an appointment online.
  • You can purchase, Critters without Litters vouchers at Critter Camp.

If this continues to be a bigger problem, it's possible that the City of Amarillo can pass new laws about owning pets, which include licenses and fines.   That's one thing most pet owners don't want to have to worry about.

So in the words of Bob Barker, "Help control the pet population, spay or neuter your pets."

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