LUMBERTON — A single female cat and its offspring can produce as many as 420,000 newborns in seven years, according to Health Director Bill Smith.

A female dog isn’t quite as productive, but can produce about 400,000 offspring during that same period.

It all adds up to a big problem for the Robeson County Animal Shelter, where thousands of unwanted animals end up each year, with about half of them being put to death. And although animal advocates and county officials have been at odds over conditions at the pound, they do agree on one thing: The problem of strays is because too many pet owners don’t have their animals spayed or neutered.

The cost in a poor county is surely part of the problem, but this week vet hospitals are coming together to help out by providing a discounted spay and neuter clinic. The reduced costs are available from Tuesday through Sept. 16 at the following six vet hospitals, which make up the Robeson County Veterinary Medical Association: Baird’s Animal Hospital, 3169 E. Elizabethtown Road, Lumberton, (910) 739-4998; North End Veterinary Clinic, 5791 Fayetteville Road, Lumberton, (910) 738-9368; North Star Veterinary Clinic, 532 Canady Road, Parkton, (910) 858-2525; Pembroke Veterinary Clinic, 1447 Prospect Road, Pembroke, (910) 521-3431; South Robeson Veterinary Clinic, 9464 N.C. 41 South, Fairmont, (910) 628-7178; and Southeastern Veterinary Clinic, 1720 N.C. 211 West, Lumberton, (910) 739-9411.

“We wanted to try and let everybody know we were concerned by doing a discount,” said Dr. David Brooks, owner of Pembroke Veterinary Clinic. “We hope when we get the client in, we could do some pet awareness and let them understand their pet’s health needs.”

Brooks said the clinic is modeled after the Spay Neuter Incentive Program, also known as SNIP. It partners with other grass-roots organizations to fund spay and neuter clinics for stray, roaming and feral dogs and cats.

“We can help control a bunch of things if we can get them in our door and talk to them,” Brooks said. “You can explain it better.”

The discounted price is $75 to spay a female cat and $60 to neuter a male cat. The cost for a dog under 40 pounds is $85 for a female and $80 for a male. The cost will be $15 more for dogs that weigh over 40 pounds.

Male cats and dogs should be at least 4 to 5 months old before they are neutered and females 6 months old before they are spayed.

Susan Barrett, an animal advocate from Winston-Salem, welcomed the news.

“I think that’s phenomenal,” Barrett said. “For each one that they do, that is one more litter of pups that we won’t have to worry about.”

Barrett has been involved with other rescuers who pull animals from the Robeson County Animal Shelter.

“We’re constantly putting on a Band-Aid,” she said. “We can’t pull 45 per day if you got 45 comin’ in the back door.”

Smith said the county pound takes in about 5,000 animals a year, and although adoptions have increased in recent years, about 45 percent of those animals end up being euthanized.

“The veterinarians have stepped up to the plate and are doing their part — now it is time for responsible pet owners to do the same,” Smith said.

Animal advocate Faith Walker, a Lumberton resident, has also organized a one-time spay and neuter clinic for Robeson County residents. She said a veterinarian in Fayetteville “was generous enough to offer to participate in this one-time spay and neuter clinic at a very low rate.”

The one-time clinic will be funded through money raised from yard sales and donations, according to Walker. She said Robeson County residents wishing to take advantage of the clinic should call her at (910) 674-4994 or Frances Stayton at (910) 736-0123 to make arrangements.

She said pets should be taken to the Health Department on Country Club Road at 8 a.m. Wednesday, where the pets will be transported to Fayetteville. Walker said pets can be picked up Friday at the Health Department at about noon.