Minn-Kota PAAWS

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Minn-Kota PAAWS is completely volunteer-run and serves as a spay/neuter clinic and cat shelter. PAAWS was started for one mission – to reduce the number of animals euthanized at the local pounds, and to reduce the number of unwanted litters of cats and dogs born.

In 2004, founder Lori Magelky wanted to have a feral cat spayed. She watched this cat have litter after litter, until finally, the cat was livetrapped. Calls to area veterinary clinics resulted in price quotes of $200-plus. With this information, an idea was born. There needed to be alternatives for people who simply couldn’t afford these prices.

For the first two years, Lori drove cats to a low-cost spay/neuter clinic 120 miles away. She would return in the late afternoon. In 2005, she contacted an area veterinarian who had recently retired and was living in Moorhead, Minn. Dr. Ron would occasionally travel 70 miles to Crookston, Minn., to perform spays and neuters on cats and dogs at the shelter there. He would frequently take pets from Fargo and perform the surgeries there.

In late 2005, surgeries were performed in a donated space at the Moorhead airport. In early 2006, with the help of an area Realtor, PAAWS found and moved into its current space in Fargo. The program has since grown to include three cat rooms, a receiving area and a surgical room.

PAAWS has also acquired several new veterinarians and many core volunteers. Subsequently, our program numbers have increased: 97 pets were served in 2004; 307 in 2005; 652 in 2006; and 1,489 in 2007. As of Dec. 4, 2008, 1,584 surgeries have been performed.

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