Local organization works to help counter Montgomery County’s pet overpopulation problem.

A man sees a box on the side of the road and notices that it moves. He stops and looks inside, finding eight puppies. A couple realizes their neighbors have moved, but left their cat behind. A shopper finds a box of two-week-old puppies in the Target parking lot. A stray dog barks all night in the woods behind a rural home. All these animals—and many more—usually end up at overcrowded animal shelters. If they are not adopted, they are euthanized. “Houston, we have a problem,” says Sue Woody, who volunteers for a local organization that has more than a goal. It has a plan.

Operation Pets Alive

In a perfect world, the number of dogs and cats would equal the number of people who want to adopt them. However, both the Montgomery County Animal Shelter (near The Woodlands) and the Conroe Animal Shelter have more dogs and cats than they can handle. In 2011, two women–Marcia Piotter and Cathi Bruhn–decided to take steps to solve the county’s pet overpopulation problem and founded Operation Pets Alive (OPA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Marcia and Cathi worked tirelessly putting innovative programs in place and raising funds to support these efforts. Marcia and Cathi ultimately retired, but are still active volunteers. (Current board members joke that it took five board members to replace them.) OPA is staffed entirely by volunteers and is funded through grants, donations, adoption fees, and fundraising drives. While some of OPA’s programs reduce the number of animals that go into shelters, other programs strive to increase the number of animals that leave shelters alive, says Deidre Northcott, OPA’s treasurer. Since 2011, OPA has saved the lives of more than 25,000 dogs and cats. Its mission is to help Montgomery County become a “no-kill county,” with shelters facilitating live outcomes for 90 percent of incoming animals, says Deanna Ooley, a board member and volunteer. To reach this goal, OPA needs the help of local citizens.

Spaying and neutering

One of OPA’s biggest challenges is that some people are hesitant to spay or neuter their pets, thinking they may later want to breed them. Actually, Deanna says, there is little money in breeding; furthermore, shelters have many adoptable dogs and cats of desirable breeds. Some end up in shelters because owners were unable to sell their puppies or kittens, says Sue, who is OPA’s vice president and event coordinator. Volunteers understand that spaying and neutering is expensive, so OPA subsidizes the cost of these surgeries for lower-income families. Montgomery County families that earn less than $40,000 per year can have animals spayed or neutered for $50 through OPA. (Higher-income families pay $85 for cats and $140 for dogs.) OPA volunteers believe spaying and neutering is the most powerful tool in their toolkit. “If they are not born, we don’t have to save them,” Deanna says.

Adoption and fostering

When shelters are full, there are few options for animals: adoption, fostering, transportation to rescue groups in other parts of the country, or euthanasia. OPA currently has about 250 volunteer fosters, who take animals from overcrowded shelters and give them temporary homes while they are waiting to be adopted. OPA supports fosters by providing veterinary care for the animals, Deidre says. OPA always needs more animal-loving fosters like Crystal Salas, who has been fostering since June. “I was just looking for an adoption event, looking for a dog to adopt,” Crystal says. “I showed up at the wrong time, when it was ending.” Before she knew it, she had volunteered to become a foster. Since that time, she has personally saved more than 20 animals, and currently keeps 10 foster dogs and cats at her home. Foster dogs and cats appear on OPA’s website; some are lucky enough to be taken to adoption events at Petco, PetSmart and other businesses and events in the county. Rather than assigning animals randomly to adopting families, OPA volunteers try to find good matches between people and their animal companions. How many people are a part of the adopting family? Are there small children in the home? Do they live in an apartment, have a fenced in yard, or have room for animals to roam? Are they looking for a high-energy animal or one that Sue calls a “couch potato”? OPA volunteers insist there are animals for every person and people for every animal. They have even seen “tripods” find loving families. Sue often tells people about the time she discovered one of her foster dogs was deaf. She was afraid the dog would never find a home, but a woman in Dallas, who had experience with deaf dogs, wanted to adopt her. “This dog undoubtedly has the best life ever,” Sue says. Her adoptive people even take her to a doggy daycare where she plays with other deaf dogs. Another dog, a black Labrador retriever, was hit by a car, but ended up in the care of OPA, which paid for his extensive veterinary care. An OPA foster spent time with him before his adoption. Today, the dog lives near Lake Sam Rayburn and goes boating with his adoptive family. “He went from getting hit by a car to living the life of Riley,” Sue says. All OPA animals are vaccinated, de-wormed, spayed or neutered, treated for fleas, tested (and treated, if needed) for heartworms, and microchipped before they are eligible for adoption. Adoption fees, which differ for dogs and cats and vary according to an animal’s age, help OPA pay for its ongoing programs.

Animal Transportation

While Texas has an overabundance of dogs and cats, some parts of the country, such as the northeast, don’t have nearly as many. Although the situation is changing, OPA still helps the local pet overpopulation problem by sending dogs and cats to other parts of the country, where they can be adopted quickly. Pet travel can take a variety of forms, from private transport to trucks; sometimes, smaller animals even travel by air, courtesy of off-duty flight attendants who have airline flight benefits.

Trap, Neuter and Return

Mostly in the rural parts of the county—but sometimes in apartment complexes and mobile home parks—feral cats are a big problem. Good-hearted people feed them, but as the cats multiply, this can become prohibitively expensive. One solution to this problem is OPA’s trap, neuter and return (TNR) program. A typical scenario, says Deanna, who coordinates this effort, begins when frustrated landowners call OPA, explaining they can no longer afford to feed the cats if they continue multiplying. Can OPA help? Unfortunately, OPA currently has about 500 cats on its TNR waiting list, but OPA volunteers, working with other volunteer organizations, are working on the problem as fast as they can. “It’s like sweeping the ocean back with a broom,” Deanna says. Once or twice a month, OPA contracts with veterinarians and their crews who are willing to work on their days off. Cat owners are instructed not to feed the cats that day, and then volunteers, using humane traps, entice the cats with a tasty mixture of cat food, tuna and mackerel, adding a dose of Capstar, an over-the-counter flea treatment. Cats find the combination irresistible. Once the cats have been trapped, vet techs sedate the cats, vaccinate them, prep them for surgery and “ear tip” them. (By removing the tip of one ear, the surgically-altered cats can be identified in the future.) All that’s left is for the veterinarian to perform the surgery. “We have done 102 in the past two weeks,” Deanna says. After surgery, cats are returned to the same places where they lived before. OPA volunteers say that the goal of making Montgomery County a no-kill county is realistic; however, more work needs to be done. “Join us,” Deidre says, “and be part of the solution.” For more information, visit operationpetsalive.org.