Kootenai Pets for Life hosts successful spay, neuter clinic

Standing in the empty gymnasium of Libby Middle High School Sunday evening felt surreal. 

It was only moments before that this massive cathedral size room was filled with tables and chairs, three surgical stations with a vaccine team, dozens of volunteers, along with Libby and Troy families with their companion pets. 

Just minutes after the last surgery ended these stations were torn down and packed up, as the Spay Montana crew hit the road for their next destination, this time home. The empty quiet after the last few days of hustle and bustle almost felt like we were never even there.

But we, the greater Libby community, were there. We were lying on the floor in canine recovery under the guidance of our steadfast dog care lead, Elaine. 

We were moving cats from pre-op to surgery and back to recovery from Jordyn and Erin to veteran cat volunteers like Bobbi and Eileen. It was the county volunteers like Sarah who provided much needed care for animals and our fearlessly bold Faith who refused to let folks leave without informative checkout care. It was Sydney and Marge who were checking you, our community members, in with a meticulously curated schedule supported by Pam, our gentle and persistent phone call specialist.

You see it wasn’t just the work of Kootenai Pets For Life and Lincoln County, it was the work of this tremendous community. Volunteers like Todd, Joe, Natalie and Beth who kept their calm after they assisted on surgery after surgery like an assembly line. 

What we understand is that there are no small jobs, but that every cog keeps the machine running. It’s people like Ben who comfort you from your car into the dog staging area for surgery prep, to Devon who is delivering them back to you, post-surgery. 

It’s Leslie, Edwina and Susan who educate and guide you through dog care because they want to see you and your canine companion thrive in this place you call home. 

It’s places like the Evergreen Motel who provided rooms for our vets to rest, the Venture Inn that gave us linens to be turned into animal recovery beds and folks like Mary Jane and Connie that sewed beds, blankets and warmies for free every day before the clinic. 

You see that’s the thing about compassion, it spreads like wildfire, and when one community member steps up to help another that contagion grows. When you see experienced leaders like 88-year-old Tim running the autoclave and new young faces like 16-year-old Catelynn working in recovery, the big picture becomes inspiring.

And it’s not just about this past weekend; it’s the continual support from those here in Libby that are committed to your pet care. People like Megan, the frontline in your shelter and public animal care at KPFL or Deirdre the local adoption coordinator. 

It’s Randi who assists you year-round with access to resources and even provides her family as additional support staff. And of course, Linda the president at KPFL, who is often fighting an unseen battle against animal overpopulation where dogs are left at shelters and cats are abandoned outside to face a hard feral existence. 

This war isn’t over, but over the weekend the Lincoln County Health Department, as advocated by Kathi Hooper, helped support

KPFL’s bold endeavor to make a dent in this issue. 

In just two days, we as a community were able to serve 147 animals, including 84 cats and 63 dogs in spays and neuters alone. These numbers don’t account for the dozens of animals that came in to receive vaccines. 

What these basic numbers fail to do is paint the picture of the countless hours of work that this clinic took, or the year-round care that KPFL provides. How our small but mighty KPFL employee crew prepped all the linens, towels and kennels for weeks. 

Not to mention Wylee’s Frozen Treats and Kootenai Country Ice Cream that helped cool off some much deserving people this last weekend and sparked some joy during an intense event. 

It doesn’t tell the story of how community members sponsored strangers because they needed assistance in affording animal care. The numbers give us a bottom-line. 

Spay Montana helped us (KPFL) care for well over 150 animals and provided education and low cost spay and neuter services. 

It was a moment that will stay emboldened in my mind forever because this community is compassionately contagious. We also want to send a personal thank you to Dr. Griffith for handling after-care questions and support. 

As well as BKB Construction, for providing our team with food and all the muscle for setup and takedown. To all our volunteers, the Montana Spay Team, and those who sponsored us we are eternally grateful and we at Kootenai Pets for Life are committed to helping find solutions to best serve the Libby and Troy community.

    Troy's Paige Adkinson helps "Molly" during recovery after her surgery at Spay Montana's Spay/Neuter Clinic June 7, 2025, in Libby. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)
  

    Surgeons and their assistants perform procedures at Montana's Spay/Neuter Clinic June 7, 2025, in Libby. (Scott Shindledecker/The Western News)