Our spay/neuter work began in 2001 with our Outdoor Cat Program -- developed along the Alley Cat Allies TNR (trap-neuter-return) guidelines.
In 2004, our Indoor Pet Cat Program extended our spay/neuter umbrella to include cats living in lower-income families. These cats are the lynch pin of cat overpopulation -- they're born outdoors to strays, then brought indoors as kittens, but -- when their unsavory intact behaviors (spraying, yowling, kittening) get too much to handle -- they're put back outdoors to live on their own (often pregnant) -- or given to shelters where they are euthanized -- Michigan shelters collectively put down over 200 cats a day.
But, after fixing over 12,000 cats, we're still scratching the surface. The greater Washtenaw County area has about 60,000 unsterilized stray/feral cats and another 9,000 unsterilized pet cats. As much as we'd like to fix all of them -- their sheer numbers prevent this -- instead we must focus only on those who can't be fixed otherwise -- the changes in our 2009 programs reflect this goal:
We've included a poster on our spay-neuter service --
if you pass a public bulletin board in any of our zip code areas,
kindly post it to help us get the word out.
Complete program information and applications are on our web site.
If you don't live in our service area or
meet the other program requirements,
you may still be able to get affordable spay-neuters
through other area programs.
Visit our web site and click on our FAQs
to find other ways to get help.
Our special thanks to the clinics below, who each performed more than a dozen spay/neuters at discounted prices for our program during 2008. It is their availability and support that makes our program so successful. Most of the time we're able to send participants to clinics right in their immediate community -- seldom more than 15 miles from their home. Without the help of these clinics, this would not be possible. Thank you!
