The Brownwood City Council on Tuesday, April 12, voted to approve a program for low-cost spay and neuter vouchers to be used by Brownwood residents and managed by the Corrine T. Smith Animal Shelter.

The Council has been in discussions with the Animal Shelter and residents for a few years about the overpopulation of dogs and cats in the city.  One solution is increasing the number of pets that are spayed/neutered.  The Council approved $50,000 in this year’s budget for a low cost spay and neuter program to be used by Brownwood residents.  The animal shelter and Lt. Carroll (who oversees Animal Control and is on the Animal Shelter Board) have created a voucher program which was presented by Braston Gray, director of the animal shelter.

“Owner co-pay for these is going to be $45 per cat.  Dogs weighing between 1 and 60 pounds would be $55 and dogs weighing between 61 and 120 pounds would be $75.  That’s also going to include the animals be microchipped and vaccinated for rabies as well,” Gray said.

It was noted during the presentation that the majority of veterinary clinics in Brown County have shown interest in participating in the program.

Animal shelter board member Mandy Dorsett shared average costs charged by county veterinary clinics.

“I visited with every clinic in the county, got their fee schedules, got some information.  We came back and did averages.  I can tell you that the average (cost) to alter a cat is $87 so it (the voucher) is a pretty good discount.  For small dogs, 1 to 60 pounds, the average was $133 for spay and neuter, so the margin is a little bit better there.  Large dogs, we did 61 to 120 pounds, the average on that is $204.    We capped it at 120 pounds, because after 120 pounds the cost is very unpredictable and it was really hard for us to figure how quickly we would go through the funds,” Dorsett.

Low-income vouchers are also available through the Corinne T. Smith Animal Shelter along with vouchers for residents in Brown County that don’t live in the city of Brownwood.

Contact the Corinne T. Smith Animal Center for more information on their voucher programs.  The phone number is 646-0617.  The animal center is located at 3016 Milam Drive in south Brownwood.