Dogwood Alter Project

Dogwood Animal Rescue is a very generous organization that is dedicated to the mission of spaying and neutering as many dogs and cats as possible to reduce the overpopulation of local shelters. Beginning at the end of 2021 and continuing through today they have paid for over 14,000 spay and neuter surgeries performed by Valley Pet Care.

Residents of Stanislaus County who fall under the jurisdiction of the Stanislaus Animal Services Agency are eligible to have up to 4 dogs and 4 cats spayed or neutered through the program.

If you live in Modesto, Ceres, Patterson, Hughson, Waterford, Salida, Denair, Keyes, Crows Landing, Westley, Hickman, or Empire you qualify. Just bring your ID as proof of residency with you on the morning of surgery.

We must have an ID of your current address on it when checking in. If whoever is checking in the animal has an ID with the same address, they may drop off.

Residents of Turlock, Riverbank, Oakdale, Newman, La Grange, and Farmington are serviced by their own local shelters and are not eligible for the program. Certain unincorporated pockets within the listed towns/zip codes may still be eligible. If you believe that you live in one of the listed areas but are under the jurisdiction of Stanislaus Animal Services, you must contact the shelter to find out if you qualify and they can issue you a voucher.

Each household may have 4 dogs and 4 cats altered. The program is limited to cats, small breed dogs, Pitbulls, Huskies, and German Shepherds.

Stanislaus Animal Services has an alternative voucher program that is available. You must contact them to obtain a voucher.

Make an appointment with us online. We will automatically apply the discount to the surgery based on your address. You must bring a valid ID with your current address on the morning of surgery for us to verify your eligibility.

If you have community cats (unowned, free-roaming) in your yard or neighborhood you may bring those to us as well. There is no limit of number of community cats you can have done, however, they must come in an appropriate cat trap, and we are required to clip their ear tip as part of the TNR program. Due to space and demand, we must enforce a limit of two community cats per trapper per day and appointments are required. Please call us to inquire about the availability of these appointments.

Unfortunately, no, we do not offer a trap rental program.

Dogwood Animal Rescue will pay for all surgical-related charges to residents in the qualifying areas of Stanislau County if they pertain to the spay or neuter. This may include pregnancy termination, in-heat fees, or cryptorchid fees. In addition, the county animal shelter has donated rabies vaccines for this program, allowing all animals to be updated with a rabies shot if they require one. Post-operative pain medication is always included for every owned pet at Valley Pet Care.

There is a $2 hazardous waste disposal fee assessed per animal to comply with state law. Any other non-spay/neuter-related charges will also be the responsibility of the owner of the animal. These extra charges include vaccines other than rabies, nail trims, e-collars, microchips, ear assessments/cleanings, anti-parasitic products, or extra procedures. All the above are optional and will be gone over with our pet owners prior to the surgery.

Valley Pet Care needs to do a certain number of surgeries daily to keep our prices affordable. To this end, we require a deposit to make sure people will show up to their appointments. The deposit will be refunded less any out-of-pocket costs on the day of surgery. If you need to cancel your appointment, we will refund the entire amount if you request cancellation at least 2 business days before your appointment.

$2 per animal. This is true for both owned pets and community cats. The $2 is to cover the hazardous waste disposal fee assessed per animal that is required by the state. Any additional products, services, or procedures selected on the day of surgery will be the responsibility of the owner of the animal.

We are still happy to help you get your animals spayed or neutered. Visit the services tab on our website to see our pricing.

We have a link at the bottom of this page where you can donate directly to Dogwood Animal Rescue so that they can continue to fund this awesome program in our community. Feel free to write a thank you note on a paw print for our bulletin board when you pick up your pet!