LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – The Capital Area Humane Society is looking to expand its spay-and-neuter clinic to reduce surgery wait times and crack down on animal overpopulation in the area – and they are looking to the community for help to make it happen.

For the past few years, the Humane Society has been trying to move its 14-year-old spay and neuter clinic, currently located at 5919 S Cedar St. in Lansing. According to President and CEO Julia Willson, they originally opened it to address a need for affordable spay and neuter services in the community, with prices as of Jan. 1 being anywhere from $50 to neuter a cat, to $250 to spay a dog weighing more than 100 lbs.

The Capital Area Humane Society’s Spay and Neuter Clinic (Courtesy CAHS)

“We really saw a need that a lot of folks in the community want to do the right thing and provide that service for their pets,” said Willson. “But really, the accessibility to veterinary care and the cost were prohibiting them from doing that in some instances, so we opened that clinic, with the goal to really address spay/neuter and make it affordable and accessible to every pet owner in the community.”

Spaying and neutering animals is one of the Humane Society’s primary concerns, as it helps address pet overpopulation – a problem Willson says is not just limited to the Lansing area, but one faced all over the country.

The current clinic services around 6,000 animals each year, and Willson says they have performed more than 85,000 spay/neuters since its opening.

However, the Humane Society has run into a problem.

“We’re booking three or four months out for individuals wanting these services, and we have a very small location, and we’re just not really able to keep up with the demand,” said Willson. “And we thought over time, we’d be able to catch up and, really, the delays for services are growing, they’re not shrinking.”

As a result, Willson says the community is growing frustrated with the wait – which also contributes to the overpopulation issue. Waiting three to four months could mean another litter of puppies or kittens out in the community — in shelters, or out on the streets.

Willson also says waiting to be spayed/neutered could also potentially harm animals in the community. Health conditions can arise when an animal goes into heat, and animals could potentially develop infections when they aren’t spayed/neutered. Pregnancy is also a concern, which could lead to further complications down the road.

“There’s certainly some health benefits to spay and neuter across the board, whether it’s preventing population or not. Generally, pets are healthier if they’re spayed and neutered,” says Willson. “But the wait, I think, is really detrimental to the overpopulation crisis that we’re facing, and shelters are packed full of animals every day.”

The Humane Society has a solution – expanding the clinic, something made feasible due to a building donation from the Michael G. Eyde Estate that would allow the Humane Society to relocate the clinic to 3303 W Saginaw St. The clinic would move from a 2500-square-foot facility to a multi-story,16,000-square-foot one.

A mockup of what an operating room would look like at the new location. (Courtesy CAHS)

“The second story, the top story of the building, will be converted into a surgical center, and that will be the focus of that space,” said Willson. “It will enable us to at least double our surgical capacity.”

To staff the new facility, the Humane Society would likely double its medical staff within around a year after the facility opens.

“We’ll probably have twice as many surgeons, twice as many support staff, twice as many licensed technicians,” says Willson. “We’ve got a team of about 8 individuals now, so probably 16 to 20 to enable us to reach our capacity.”

She also says that the sheer size of the new space would allow the Humane Society to expand its services.

A mockup of what the reception area would look like at the new location. (Courtesy CAHS)

“We haven’t gotten that far because, right now, our focus is moving our spay-neuter clinic,” said Willson. “But because this space is so much larger, it just gives us so much potential for the future to offer other services for pet parents in our community.”

However, right now, Willson says the only thing holding the project back now is a lack of funding. After working with builders and architects, she says the humane society managed to cut the cost of the project to between $2.2 million and $2.5 million. Currently, the Humane Society has raised a little more than half of that — $1.3 million.

It’s getting the other half of it that is complicating things. They rely on community support, which has recently become difficult to gather.

“It’s been a bit of a challenging climate for fundraising and, you know, we’re hoping that maybe picks up a little bit,” said Willson. “I don’t think it’s a lack of interest in giving, I think it’s maybe more people having to tighten down on what they give to nonprofit and charitable organizations.”

Willson believes the economy is contributing to the difficulty of fundraising. She says that this is one of the most difficult situations for raising money she’s experienced during her 25-year career in animal welfare.

“Expenses are going up and up, and I think that’s impacting the people of our community who want to give to charitable organizations,” said Willson. “I know people are still giving and extremely generous, but we even see our average donors who may give, you know, a certain amount every month giving a little less and a little less just because it seems that maybe those expenses going up are impacting them and their personal lives.”

As soon as the funding comes through, though, Willson says they are ready to kick things off, estimating they will likely be fundraising through the end of this year. After that, she says the renovation will likely take around nine months from start to finish.

In fact, the Humane Society has already been working to make the project happen.

“There’s been a lot of things behind the scenes happening over the last six to nine months to actually make this possible, and not just the donation of the building, but we had to go through the rezoning process with the township,” said Willson. “I know the only thing holding us back right now is securing the funding so that we can start the project. It’s really ready to roll.