About People for Animals

What We Do

Our key service to the public and animal welfare groups is affordable, routine pet care which is aimed at specifically driving more animals to early spay/neuter procedures to prevent accidental pregnancies, make pet ownership more affordable, and reduce the numbers of homeless animals in local shelters.

Low Cost Spay/Neuter: PFA performs more spay/neuter procedures in our clean, professional and well equipped facilities each year than any other provider in NJ. Because of our surgeons’ expertise utilizing the latest techniques, smaller incisions, and shorter anesthesia time, our patients suffer very little pain and have a fast recovery.

Walk-in Wellness Services: PFA’s Wellness Services offer affordable pet care such as vaccines, preventatives, and microchips to the general public and animal welfare groups. This program has the added benefit of providing revenue, assisting the organization to be self-supporting.

Veterinarian training in HVHQSN: PFA also partners with Neighborhood Cats, Inc. to provide intensive training in High Volume, High Quality Spay and Neuter (HVHQSN) techniques for licensed veterinarians interested in improving their skills.

Public Policy Advocacy: PFA offers expert consultation to promote humane public policy to elected officials at every level of government. We have successfully advocated for Humane Feral Cat Population Control (TNR) in many NJ counties and municipalities. We also actively advocate for humane legislation in our State Legislature.

Humane Education: The goal of PFA’s Humane Education Program is to engage school-age youths in age-appropriate discussions on topics that relate to how we interact with each other, with animals, and with our environment.  The program, Living Harmoniously with Animals, aligns with NJ Student Learning Standards (NJSLS) and includes critical thinking, collaboration, personal safety, problem solving, making the right choices and how we can be agents of change.  We encourage students to think critically, focusing on kindness and social responsibility.  Our volunteer and staff facilitators visit classrooms, youth camps and other venues to present curricula and activities that are designed by experienced professional educators.  We also host tours at our clinic for the students, allowing them to see humane work in action.

Access to Veterinary Care: PFA is committed to ensuring that all families have access to affordable veterinary care for their non-human family members regardless of ability to pay. By expanding our diagnostic capabilities as well as increasing the scope of veterinary services available at our clinics, PFA is working toward the vision of a healthy life for all animals.

Whole Families Program (WFP): PFA embraces the One Health approach, which recognizes that the health of people, animals and our shared environment are interdependent. This philosophy informed the creation of our Whole Families Program.  The WFP expands the traditional veterinary focus on the animal to include
the human family members and their life circumstances. The program engages with NJ’s most at-risk communities by conducting free vaccination clinics providing basic preventative care.  Talking to pet parents about their family’s needs and worries allows early intervention and helps keep Whole Families together.

Partnerships: PFA believes strongly in forming partnerships and fostering cooperative relationships with other animal welfare groups in the state. We have had numerous successful partnerships and we actively seek opportunities to collaborate. We feel that it is critical for animal welfare groups to find the common ground on which we can combine our resources to accomplish mutual goals. Together, we can achieve so much more than when we work alone.

Position Statements

• PFA endeavors to overcome obstacles to essential veterinary care whenever and wherever they are encountered. Our programs are directed toward educating pet owners as well as making veterinary services affordable and accessible to all pet caretakers, both animal welfare professionals and the general public.
• PFA believes that all pets adopted through rescues and shelters should be neutered prior to adoption. PFA does not believe contracts and/or deposits are adequate to ensure timely spay/neuter compliance by adopters.
• PFA advocates adoption of pets from rescues and shelters and discourages purchasing animals from breeders or pet stores.
• PFA does not support cat or dog breeding of any kind, especially when conducted by non-professional pet owners, “backyard breeders” and puppy mills.
• PFA advocates pediatric spay/neuter and will alter animals which are at least 2 months of age and weigh at least 2 lbs. PFA advocates neutering cats and dogs at 4 months of age.  Recommendations on the proper age to sterilize a particular pet will consider the totality of the individual animal’s circumstance and current veterinary knowledge.
• PFA promotes Trap-Neuter-Return as the most effective and humane means of feral cat population control currently available.
• PFA believes in compassionate euthanasia to relieve suffering related to medical and/or behavioral causes.
• PFA seeks to promote cooperation and collaboration between animal welfare professionals. PFA employees, volunteers and Board Members are expected to refrain from making disparaging remarks concerning any other animal welfare group or veterinary provider, publicly or to anyone outside of the organization.
• PFA does not declaw cats at our clinics. Clients are offered alternative solutions such as nail caps or scratching posts.
• PFA does not judge the decisions our clients may make regarding the care of their pets. Instead, we seek to understand and provide information in a respectful, non-judgmental way.
• PFA does not import dogs from outside of NJ for any adoption programs. We do not encourage or discourage this practice among other animal welfare groups; however, we do believe that whenever animals are imported from outside of NJ, it is critically important that these pets are spayed/neutered prior to adoption to prevent future population problems that could result from this practice.