By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

Spay and Neuter Syracuse (SANS) now has a bigger and better home for its low-cost clinic on Erie Boulevard in Syracuse. The 3,000-square-foot clinic, which once housed the DeWitt Animal Hospital, opened Oct. 5.

SANS, which was founded in 2005 by the Syracuse Onondaga Cat Council, has been raising money since 2012 to build the clinic, which is staffed by volunteer veterinarians and vet techs. Thanks to grants from the CNY Community Foundation, the Gifford Foundation and PetSmart Charities, SANS was able to purchase and renovate the clinic.

“With this new clinic, we’ll be able to do more procedures in a day. We should be able to have more clinic days open,” said Peggy Ries, a member of the SANS board of directors.

Since 2005, SANS has spayed and neutered more than 23,000 pets. As of Nov. 1, the new SANS clinic had performed 236 spay/neuter surgeries.

It is the first and only low-cost pet sterilization clinic in Onondaga County. Previously, SANS was housed on the second floor of a building on Spring Street in Syracuse. Ries said the Erie Boulevard location is more convenient for many of SANS’s clients, volunteers and rescue partners.

“With the new location, it’s much more visible than our old location, which was on the Northside,” Ries said. “We’ll be able to get our name out better.”

In addition to having expanded office space and more visibility, SANS’s new clinic is wheelchair-accessible, has more parking for clients and, most importantly, can accommodate larger animals. Being able to spay and neuter larger dogs expands SANS’s ability to work with breed-specific rescue organizations, such as Cuse Pit Crew.

“In our old clinic, we could not take any dogs bigger than 50 pounds. You can’t take a dog up and down the stairs that’s just had surgery,” Ries said. “There’s a lot of those bully breed dogs out there in the shelter that need to be spayed, and those are the bigger dogs usually.”

Along with spay and neuter procedures, SANS offers basic veterinary services such as DHPP (distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza and parvovirus) and rabies vaccines, heartworm testing and flea treatment. While it is not a replacement for full-service veterinary care, the SANS clinic offers students, veterans and other pet owners with limited means the opportunity to give their pet’s life a healthy start.

SANS is located at 2616 Erie Blvd. E. in Syracuse. To learn how to help SANS continue its mission or to view the clinic schedule, visit spayandneutersyracuse.org or facebook.com/sansyracuse. To make an appointment, call 834-0141.