Planned Pethood Leadville

Planned Pethood Leadville is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) animal welfare nonprofit, which was founded almost 25 years ago in Leadville, Colorado with a commitment to the overall health and wellness of pets throughout Leadville/Lake County, a small rural community.  Our goal is to help end economic euthanasia of adoptable companion animals in our area, as we believe that no animal should be euthanized because their owners cannot afford to pay for their care.  We aim to accomplish this through community outreach and provisions of resources focused on preventing/treating pet illnesses and overpopulation, as demonstrated by the more than 5,200 spay/neuter and medical procedures that have been sponsored by Planned Pethood Leadville in Lake County to date, thus saving countless lives four paws at a time!

Planned Pethood Leadville also helps ensure that all of our community’s pet owners have reasonable access to pet care resources by offering assistance to financially disadvantaged Lake County residents, as well as sponsorship of low-cost pet healthcare clinics. When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, we saw a huge increase in such requests for assistance and the need continues to grow due to harsh economic conditions. Recognizing that the negative impact of the pandemic and economic downturn on our community members’ financial resources will likely continue for some time, Planned Pethood Leadville is determined to continue providing these essential services to our community, despite a reduced capacity for community financial support.

The impact of Planned Pethood Leadville’s work was demonstrated earlier this year through our sponsorship of “Healthy Paws” - a community Spay/Neuter/Vaccine/Microchip Clinic conducted at the local community venue FREIGHT by a team of volunteer veterinarians led Dr. Jeff Young of Animal Planet’s “Dr. Jeff: Rocky Mountain Vet” television program.  During this event we were able to serve 83 families and 119 pets by providing 66 spay/neuter procedures, 123 vaccines and 56 microchips for pet owners who may not have otherwise had access to such care.

In addition, Planned Pethood’s initiatives have helped equip the Leadville Lake County Animal Shelter with supplies and resources needed to care for animals in shelter until they can be adopted or returned to their owners.  This has included purchase of essential medical equipment needed for vaccines and preventative procedures, as well as resources for properly assessing and correcting animal behavior, or to prevent injuries to staff and animals in aggressive situations, through purchase of much needed safety equipment, behavior assessment and training tools, veterinary supplies and services, and continuing education for shelter staff in shelter animal behavior and managing aggression to help ensure that interactions between staff and animals are conducted as safely as possible.  Planned Pethood has also provided Animal Shelter staff with funding for software and training needed to improve shelter management efficiency, as well as financial support for training of animals in shelter to enhance their adoptability. 

We believe that all of Planned Pethood Leadville’s efforts have a very positive community impact, which equals healthy pets, reduced pet homelessness and the ability for our community’s pet owners to have access to essential health care for their pets, as well as education on responsible pet ownership and the importance of preventative health care.  We are eternally grateful for the financial support of our donors and hope that you will join them in supporting our mission!