Low-cost Spay Neuter Services offered in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Recently, there was a post on one of the local Facebook groups asking about low-cost spay/neuter services in the area. We weren’t surprised when a lot of the comments referred to the spay/neuter clinic in Evington, but we were surprised to find that so many folks didn’t know that the clinic is part of the Lynchburg Humane Society!
In 2011, the Lynchburg Humane Society acquired the “South Central Spay/Neuter Clinic” in Evington – now referred to as the Lynchburg Humane Society Spay/Neuter Clinic. Since then, we have spayed/neutered about 80,000 pets at the clinic. We also offer wellness exams. We spay/neuter owned pets, pets at other animal welfare organizations, pets adopted from the Lynchburg Humane Society, and community cats.
Spay/Neuter surgeries for community cats
Our surgery fee for community cats (cats that must be trapped, are not able to be handled and live outdoors) is $25 – this is below our cost of the surgery, so basically these surgeries cost us more in supplies and staff time than what we charge. We do this because we think it is very important to do whatever we can to control the outdoor cat population.
How to book an appointment at the Spay Neuter Clinic in Evington
We do typically stay booked out for a couple months, but this past year was particularly hard on our schedule. Both of our veterinarians were out on maternity leave at the same time. What are the chances, right?!?
On a typical day our small, talented team performs 35-40 surgeries. It is truly amazing what this staff does each day.
All of our services and pricing can be found on our website. You can make an appointment online on our website too. Please spay/neuter your pets and urge your friends and family and heck, even strangers to spay/neuter their pets as well! And remember, we don’t care where you get your pet’s spay/neuter surgeries done – at our clinic or somewhere else, just get them done!
If you follow the Lynchburg Humane Society, you probably know that we are a no-kill organization. But what does that mean?
A 90% save rate is the industry-wide benchmark for no-kill designation. The reason that this percentage isn’t 100% is because national data shows that about 10% of the pets that enter an animal shelter suffer from medical or behavior issues that may require humane euthanasia due to low quality of life.
Some no-kill organizations will occasionally dip below 90% for various reasons but still be no-kill. As a matter of fact, the Lynchburg Humane Society has had a save rate for cats in the summer months that is below 90%. This is because we take in a high number of neonate kittens not just from Lynchburg, but from Amherst, Bedford, Campbell and Appomattox counties, as well as from many other areas. Those newborn kittens are very fragile and susceptible to diseases, illnesses and many fail to thrive. We also take in many hospice, special needs, and injured pets from other shelters that do not have the resources to treat and save these pets. We also help keep pets in their homes, so we often will take in a pet for life threatening illnesses or injuries, treat them and get them back in their loving home where they belong. So, because we take in a higher number of sick, injured, or difficult-to-treat animals, we sometimes have a month or two that we do not hit a 90% save rate, but we are still a no-kill organization.
Life-saving Programs
One of the important elements of no-kill is implementing lifesaving programs. These include, foster, targeted spay/neuter, and community cat programs, as well as removing adoption barriers. All communities are different and have varying needs for lifesaving programs – but all need to have an open mind and be willing to try new things. Basing lifesaving programs and decisions on data is imperative in creating and maintaining a no-kill organization.
LHS No-Kill FAQs
Some of the most frequent comments and questions we receive about being a no-kill shelter:
Since you are a no-kill shelter, that means you never euthanize, right?No, we do euthanize – if a pet is suffering or too dangerous to be adopted, we will euthanize to alleviate suffering and for public safety.
No-kill shelters hoard pets in unhealthy conditions.No, a true no-kill shelter in my opinion, responsibly manages their population and cleanliness. Do your research concerning any organization you want to support – be confident things like this aren’t happening.
Some shelters misrepresent their numbers to appear no-kill.The great thing about Virginia is that all shelters must report their data to the state (you can see any Virginia shelter’s statistics here – https://arr.vdacs.virginia.gov/Reports06 ). We also report our statistics on our website: https://lynchburghumane.org/about-us/statistical-information/. Thanks to this reporting, you can do your own research on the organizations you support!
How the Lynchburg Humane Society helps other shelters work towards No-Kill
Mother Hubbard who was transferred in from Appomattox with her 10 nursing puppies.
There are many shelters that are under-resourced and need help to meet the pets’ needs and become no-kill. That is where the Lynchburg Humane Society and other progressive shelters can help – we provide mentorship opportunities to those under-resourced shelters to help them create lifesaving programs and to find every possible resource in order to save all of the healthy and treatable pets. We also transfer pets to our Center from shelters with at-risk pets.
Essentially, being no-kill is using every resource you have available to save pets and not euthanizing healthy or treatable pets and never euthanizing for space or time.
For more information on this topic and to help you understand more about shelters that you are supporting, Best Friends Animal Society has a great article with wonderful information, read it here: https://bestfriends.org/no-kill-2025/what-does-no-kill-mean
Medical Team member Kaylyn performing a dental cleaning on adoptable dog, Choppa.
From Immunizations to Complex Surgeries, every pet that enters LHS requires medical care.
Every pet that comes into our care requires medical care. It may be very simple care, like vaccines or dewormer or more serious like treatment for skin issues, broken bones, or treatment for a complicated or critical illness. But all the pets that come into our care get and need medical care.
We perform preventative care the moment a pet comes through our doors to help keep that pet safe and also keep the other pets safe and healthy that are already in our care. Disease prevention is extremely important in a shelter environment. All pets get vaccines (and then boosters), a fecal test, and dewormer, most need spayed or neutered and a microchip. Just those simple things really add up when you are talking about thousands of pets each year.
Sunflower who was found in the City of Lynchburg as a lost pet with a large abdominal wound.
Of course, some pets come in needing much more intensive medical care. We get pets that have been hit by a car, dogs that have parvovirus, pets that are starving and we can see almost every bone in their body, dental problems, infections, heart conditions, have been attacked by something, skin issues, severe allergies, diabetes…we could go on and on. We do everything we can do to give these pets a second chance, but those treatments add up…fast.
How much does the Lynchburg Humane Society spend on medical care?
In a typical month, we spend about $20,000 on medical care and that doesn’t include spay/neuter surgeries or our medical staff’s payroll. It would be even more if we didn’t have wonderful partners like Peaks View Animal Hospital and Animal Emergency and Critical Care.
How you can help!
We are able to provide the help to these pets because of our giving community. Without you, we would not be able to save so many lives. We thank you for allowing us to do the right thing for the pets and give them a second chance! If you’re interested in joining us in our mission to help pets and people, please consider following the links below to get involved.
An update on strides in Animal Welfare in the past years:
Animal welfare is one of those fields where specific stories make the headlines, but the overall climate of animal welfare is usually not something that is talked about much. To fill you in a bit, our field has made leaps and bounds in lifesaving. In recent years, an increasing number of shelters and communities have made the same commitment the Lynchburg Humane Society made over a decade ago – not to euthanize healthy pets or treatable pets and to never euthanize because a pet has been in the shelter for a certain amount of time or because their shelter is out of space. Instead of euthanizing healthy pets, shelters are holding adoption specials, increasing foster programs, offering rehoming resources and resources to help people keep their pets in their homes. We are excited for this positive change for the pets.
Animal Welfare organizations had a difficult 2022
Angel, LHS
However, 2022 showed to be the most challenging year in lifesaving that has been seen in recent history. There are shelters across the country who have not had to euthanize for space or time in years, but in 2022 these shelters were forced to make some tough decisions because of the decrease in adoptions and increase in pets in need. We are still learning and gathering data as to why this is happening. Currently, it seems to be in line with the economic climate – people are having to make tough choices too, choosing between paying their bills or having a pet.
While the Lynchburg Humane Society didn’t have to make those difficult lifesaving decisions, we were greatly affected by the challenges of 2022. We had pets staying longer than they have in years past and we saw a decrease in adoptions. But the most notable challenge was the number of emails and pleas we received from other shelters to help them with their overflowing shelters and feeling helpless because we couldn’t help as much as we usually are able to. We were able to help over 700 at-risk pets from other shelters, but because we were at (or over) capacity ourselves, we couldn’t help as many as we wanted to.
How you can help lost and homeless pets across the country:
We are committed to help fight this battle and continue to help pets in need and help other shelters become “no-kill” to stop the euthanasia of healthy, treatable pets. As always, we need your help to do that. Please encourage everyone you know to adopt a pet instead of buying one, to spay/neuter, to seek resources when needed, to volunteer at their local shelter, to donate. All these things will help us help the pets in 2023.
“Did you know” is a new educational series on our blog!
We are starting a new educational series about the Lynchburg Humane Society and animal welfare in general. Each week we will be bringing you a new “Did You Know?” article in the hopes to answer a lot of those frequently asked questions we receive.
How is the Lynchburg Humane Society Funded?
To kick off this new series, we are answering one of our most asked questions…” How is the Lynchburg Humane Society funded?”.
First, it is important to know that we are a private non-profit and not affiliated with national organizations like the ASPCA or the Humane Society of the United States.
Over 50% of our funding to save pets comes from Donations and Grants
As you might have guessed, most of our funding to save the pets in our care comes from donations. These donations come from people like you that believe that pets deserve a second chance, or even a first chance when it comes to our neonate kittens and puppies that just came into the world and need extra care to survive. We also receive grants to help us with new programs and additional lifesaving. We are lucky enough to also receive bequests from kind people who left the Lynchburg Humane Society in their wills. All these examples, make up over 50% of our funding. So, you can see how important your donations are to our mission. The fees we charge for adoptions, spay/neuter surgeries, etc. make up about 34% of our funding.
Our relationship with the City of Lynchburg
We also receive funding from the City of Lynchburg to fulfill their state mandated public shelter requirements for Lynchburg. This accounts for about 16% of our funding. Pets from the City of Lynchburg account for a little more than 50% of our annual intake and include pets that are required to be held for health department quarantines, are awaiting court hearings, and of course stray pets and pets surrendered by their owners who live in Lynchburg. None of the City’s funding is used for no-kill programs like spay/neuter, medical care, foster program, etc.
Every penny that we raise, whether through donations, grants, fees, or City funding goes to help the pets.
Thank you for helping us save pets!
We think it is important that our community understands that when they donate to help the pets at LHS, they are the helping us fulfill our largest monetary way we save the pets, help pet owners keep their pets, and operate our no-kill programs! Thank you for supporting us to help pets in our community and beyond!
