NEGAUNEE — Not having a spayed or neutered pet can prove to be costly down the road. The Upper Peninsula Animal Welfare Shelter is offering cheaper spays and neuters for lower income households. All seven Marquette County veterinary clinics will be performing surgeries.

“It’s a really great program because it allows people that might not have the means otherwise to get this service done, and it benefits the whole community,” said shelter manager Ryan Poupore.

There are some risks involved with not spaying or neutering, and UPAWS wants low-income households to avoid those risks.

“There are behavioral issues that you’ll run into, you’ll have the problems down the road of having unwanted litters, which is a big drain on resources if you end up with one of those, so if you can knock those out at a lower cost, it’s great,” said Poupore.

Each area veterinary clinic has offered to perform a limited number of reduced cost spay neuter surgeries on a first come first serve basis.

To learn more information, visit the UPAWS Website.