You have to hand it to the 20 some veterinarians in Sonoma County who offered up their scapels recently to neuter/spay some 500 cats for free. It’s because of their efforts, there may be fewer kittens born this spring.
The “Fixin’ Felines” event, held in late February, was aimed at heading off kitten season, that time of the year when local shelters are inundated with more felines than there are homes. When the warmer weather hits, cats start roaming and in no time, kittens are born.
Let’s do the math, actually we don’t have to because some smarty at the University of Washington did it for us; one female cat and her offspring can give birth to between 100 and 400 cats by the end of seven years.
This cat overpopulation problem is a challenge for local shelters, so they got together to figure out a way to prevent it. It was determined the most effective method was to do a lot, I mean a lot, of spaying and neutering in the current cat population.
The vets, along with vet techs and nearly 100 volunteers coordinated the surgery weekend. The response was overwhelming with people stepping up to take advantage of the program. In fact, 300 cats were left on the waiting list.
For information on free or low-cost spay/neuter surgery for your cat, call (707) 579-SPAY.
