The Go Fix Georgia program was developed in 2019 to improve spay/neuter access to remote and rural animal shelters and communities across Georgia. County shelters within the metro-Atlanta area such as Fulton, Gwinnett, and Dekalb offer veterinary services including spay/neuter, vaccinations, and microchips to the animals they manage. However, if you drive just 30 minutes outside of Atlanta in almost any direction, counties such as Newton, Habersham, and Rockdale do not have access to affordable veterinary care options for their animals.
Prior to Go Fix Georgia, counties such as Newton and Habersham were forced to either euthanize animals or adopt them out without veterinary care. This would contribute to the overpopulation problem Georgia faces. This new and inventive program steps in to provide a vital gap in care for these animals by transporting them to Planned PEThood’s low-cost spay/neuter clinic for vaccination and spay/neuter prior to adoption.
There is one rule we require when working with a shelter. Every animal that enters the Go Fix Georgia program is guaranteed safety! That means these animals will ether be adopted or placed with a rescue group.
In addition to enduring the health and wellbeing of these animals, and preventing future unwanted litters of cats and dogs, our team helps find rescue placement for emergency medical cases and provides transport. We often even take these cases into our rescue program. Planned PEThood works closely to network with local rescue organizations to encourage them to pull from the county shelters we support, adding those pets to the transport and moving more out of the shelter. Rescues and shelters often struggle with sending staff to remote shelters for rescue efforts, so many were eager and willing to aid us in our efforts.
Planned PEThood’s goal is to broaden the scope of this service to include other rural counties and remote locations across the state, and empower other counties and organizations to adopt this model. With access to affordable spay/neuter services, Planned PEThood aims to further reduce Georgia’s pet overpopulation problem, which causes the deaths of at least 40,000 cats and dogs in Georgia shelters each year.
Interact with the Go Fix Georgia team and follow their progress on Facebook.
History and Program Success:
- In June 2019, we worked alongside Newton County leadership to facilitate an adoption fee increase at Newton County Animal Control which ensures all animals leaving the shelter have funding for their spay/neuter surgery and rabies vaccination. Read more here.
- This program was initially created thanks to an innovation grant from Maddie’s Fund, and was sustained over the next year thanks to a Rachel Ray Save them All Grant from Best Friends Animal Society.
- Newton County was the pilot county for this program. Since 2019, after working with Newton County animal control they now euthanize less than 25% of the animals that enter their care each year. In 2019, they euthanized close to 75%. That is a huge increase in lives saved.
- In 2020, Habersham County Animal Control and Athens-Clarke County Animal Control began partnering with the Go Fix Georgia program. Including outreach events. Read about an outreach event in Habersham County…
If you have any questions about this program please e-mail gofix@PEThoodGA.org.
