Issuu

Rounds

2026

Decrease Their Numbers. Elevate Their Status. End Their Homelessness.

Fiona

It is within reach, and it starts with a single appointment.

BY STEVEN L MAY, CERTIFIED VETERINARY JOURNALIST

Rounds There is a quiet emergency unfolding in shelters, alleys, barns, and back porches across this country, and it does not announce itself with sirens. It arrives one litter at a time. A free roaming cat has kittens behind a restaurant. A family dog is never altered and produces puppies that nobody planned for. A rescue that was already full takes in twelve more animals it cannot afford to treat. Multiply that by every town in America and you arrive at a crisis measured in millions. United Spay Alliance exists to end that crisis at its source, and after spending time with their work, I am convinced they are doing exactly that. United Spay Alliance, known simply as USA, is a national 501(c)(3) animal welfare nonprofit dedicated exclusively to one proven idea. The single most humane, most cost effective, and most lasting solution to the homelessness of cats and dogs is affordable, accessible, and timely spay and neuter. Not eventually. Not when it is convenient. Now, and within reach of every family and every community that needs it. Their framing is as clean as it is correct. Spay and neuter is public health for pets. It prevents disease, reduces suffering, eases the burden on shelters, and stops homelessness before it can begin. That sentence sounds simple. Delivering on it nationwide is one of the most ambitious goals in the animal welfare world, and it is the goal United Spay Alliance has chosen to carry.

The Mission USA promotes affordable, accessible, and timely spay and neuter services as the answer to cat and dog homelessness. The organization has built its entire structure around four goals that reinforce one another: Increase access to affordable spay and neuter services so that cost is never the reason an animal goes unaltered. Promote best practices, including the optimal age to alter cats, with the aim of eliminating kitten season once and for all. Provide collaboration and networking for leaders across the movement, from individual advocates to animal welfare organizations to veterinary professionals. Inspire and empower anyone with a passion for this cause to take meaningful action in their own community. What impresses me most is the discipline of that focus. USA does not try to be all things to all animals. It identified the highest leverage point in the entire system, the prevention of unwanted litters, and committed everything to it. That clarity is rare, and it is the reason their work compounds year after year.

Rabies Is a Community Disease, Not Just a Pet Problem It would be a mistake to think of rabies as a problem that stops at the edge of a single household. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around four thousand animal rabies cases are reported in the United States each year, and more than ninety percent of them occur in wildlife such as bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes. The CDC notes that three out of four Americans live in a community where raccoons, skunks, or foxes carry this deadly disease. Rabies is enzootic across the continental United States, which means it is a permanent presence in the landscape around us, not a distant threat.

Rounds The human toll is real even when the numbers are small. The CDC reports that more than four million Americans report animal bites each year, with roughly eight hundred thousand seeking medical attention, and that about one hundred thousand people receive rabies postexposure prophylaxis annually. Rabies is nearly always fatal once symptoms appear, which is why prevention and vaccination matter so much. The dramatic decline in human deaths, from more than one hundred per year in the early twentieth century to fewer than ten annually since the 1960s, is directly tied to the vaccination of pets and to coordinated animal control programs. That is the clearest possible proof that managing the domestic animal population protects people, not just animals. This is where the work of United Spay Alliance connects directly to public health. Fewer unwanted litters means fewer unvaccinated free roaming animals living at the boundary between wildlife and our neighborhoods. Free roaming and unmanaged populations are the bridge across which a disease like rabies can travel toward people. Reducing those populations through accessible spay and neuter, alongside the vaccination that responsible programs encourage, shrinks that bridge. When USA helps a family alter and protect a pet, or helps a grassroots group manage a community cat colony, the benefit extends to every neighbor on the street. Spay and neuter is public health for pets, and through that, it is public health for people. Around four thousand animal rabies cases are reported in the United States each year, with more than ninety percent occurring in wildlife, according to the CDC. Three out of four Americans live in a community where raccoons, skunks, or foxes carry rabies, per CDC reporting. More than four million Americans report animal bites each year, about eight hundred thousand seek medical attention, and roughly one hundred thousand receive rabies postexposure prophylaxis. Human deaths fell from more than one hundred a year in the early twentieth century to fewer than ten annually since the 1960s, a decline the CDC attributes directly to pet vaccination and animal control programs.

The Initiatives They Carry All Year United Spay Alliance runs a connected set of programs that operate throughout the year. Together they form a complete approach, reaching the family searching for a low cost clinic, the veterinarian who wants to do more, the grassroots group that needs funding, and the advocate who wants to change the system itself. Spay and Neuter Referral Directory A national, searchable database that helps anyone find the spay and neuter help they need, available every day of the year. It is the front door of the entire organization and the most used resource USA offers. State Leader Network A network of grassroots advocates, active in forty states, who help families locate low cost services in their own communities. These are the people on the ground who turn a national mission into local results.

Rounds Feline Fix by Five A campaign encouraging veterinarians to talk with clients about altering kittens before five months of age rather than the conventional six months or later. Acting before the five month mark prevents unwanted litters, keeps more cats in homes, and relieves the shelters and rescues that are otherwise overwhelmed every kitten season. HQHVSN Wet Labs Built around the principles of high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN), these one-day, hands-on training events help veterinarians master safe, efficient surgical techniques they can take back to their own regions. The goal is a replicable model that any community can adopt, multiplying the number of surgeons capable of meeting high demand. Veterinary Shortage Task Force A working group formed in response to an estimated national backlog of millions of surgeries, compounded by a shortage of veterinary professionals and rising costs. Its members include veterinarians, shelter directors, policy experts, and professors who study the problem and develop practical solutions to expand access. Keeper of the Flame Task Force A working group dedicated to bringing spay/neuter back into the national conversation. As funders and media coverage have increasingly shifted toward rescue, adoption, and other interventions, this group works to spotlight and amplify stories from the spay/neuter movement—reminding us all how essential prevention is to caring for animals.

Community Cats Grants Program Funding and capacity building for small grassroots nonprofits, helping them grow organizationally while supporting critical spay and neuter for community cats. Administration transferred fully to USA at the start of 2024, and the program continues a track record reaching back to 2017. Sustainable Solutions Grants A grant initiative supporting durable, sustainable approaches to expanding spay and neuter capacity, part of USA's funding work that helps programs survive well beyond a single season. United Spay Alliance Conference An annual gathering, held since 2021, that shares the movement's most important lessons and equips attendees to take action in their own communities. It is education and momentum in equal measure. 2026 SLM. All rights reserved. (3)

Rounds United We Spay Podcast A monthly podcast featuring the voices and stories of leaders across the movement, created to inspire and inform the people doing the work where they live. Resources and Education Year Round Beyond the flagship programs, USA maintains webinars, training resources, fact sheets, a veterinary jobs board, a funder's guide to free roaming cat management, and ongoing support for state leaders. Taken together, the calendar never goes quiet.

A Call to Action To the veterinarians reading this. You hold the single most powerful tool in this entire effort. Consider adopting Feline Fix by Five in your own practice and starting that conversation with every client who brings in a kitten. Look into the HQHVSN wet labs and the training resources USA provides. Join the Veterinary Shortage Task Force conversation. Even a modest commitment of low cost slots in your schedule changes the math for an entire community. Your skill is the difference between a litter prevented and a shelter overwhelmed. To every pet parent reading this. The most loving decision you can make for your animal is also the one that protects thousands you will never meet. Spay or neuter your pet, and do it on time. If cost is a barrier, use the Spay and Neuter Referral Directory to find help near you, because that is exactly why it exists. unitedspayalliance.org/directory. Talk to your veterinarian about the right age. Tell a friend. Share the directory. Support a grassroots group through the work USA funds. And to anyone who simply cares. Donate, volunteer, become a State Leader, attend the conference, or listen to the podcast and pass it along. United Spay Alliance has proven that focus plus persistence produces real change. They have shown the path. The rest of us only have to walk it with them.

Rounds A Dedication You Can Measure Plenty of organizations describe themselves as dedicated. United Spay Alliance proves it with numbers that can be checked, and that is the standard any reader should hold them to. The figures below come from the organization's own reporting.

Spay and Neuter Referral Directory

State Leader Network

74,144

60+

views

Active Leaders in

44 States+

19,190

DC & NYC

active users January to May 2026

The Community Cats Grants

351

Organizations Supported

26,111 Cats Sterilized

$953,838 Raised by Organizations

$613,601 awarded in matching grants Program launch in 2017

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The HQHVSN Wet Lab Program

Annual Conference

125

1,491

vets participated

Registered

States Y2023 to July 2026

Since 2021

None of these numbers stand alone. A directory visit becomes a surgery. A trained veterinarian becomes a clinic that serves a whole region. A funded grassroots group becomes a permanent fixture in a community that had nothing before. This is what dedication looks like when it is built to last rather than built to impress. United Spay Alliance shares this mission alongside many outstanding shelters, rescues, and veterinary teams across the country, and its strength lies in lifting up that wider community of partners, connecting their good work and helping every one of them reach further than they could alone.

United We Spay Podcast

4,841 All time Downloads

1,256 2026 YTD

Episodes December 2023 to August 2025

Decrease their numbers. Elevate their status. End their homelessness. It is within reach, and it starts with a single appointment.

United Spay Alliance, P.O. Box 612, Walkersville, MD 21793. Toll free 888 590 0444. A 501(c)(3) organization, EIN 47-2598654. Learn more and find help at unitedspayalliance.org. 2026 SLM. All rights reserved. (6)