CAT’s mission is to work with our community to save the lives of homeless, sick and injured cats and kittens by offering shelter, adoption, foster, hospice, and veterinary services to end needless feline euthanasia in our community.
On September 27, 2011, the Cat Adoption Team spayed and neutered more than 50 cats in one day. The cats traveled in cat carriers and file boxes, in pairs and in groups as large as six, to take advantage of Spay & Save – the most affordable spay and neuter opportunity ever offered by the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland (ASAP). The Spay & Save event provided low-income cat owners the opportunity to have multiple cats—the whole “kitty and caboodle”—altered for a single payment of $10. The remainder of the cost of the surgeries was covered by generous grants and donations from the community.
Spaying or neutering just one cat can have a major impact on the population of unwanted cats. Considering that an unspayed female cat can have as many as three litters of kittens a year starting when she is six months old, it’s no surprise that more than 23,000 unwanted cats and kittens entered Portland area shelters in 2010 alone.
That’s why, in 2006, CAT and leaders of Portland’s largest animal welfare organizations and veterinary associations teamed up to form ASAP, which aims to reduce the number of unwanted cats and kittens in our community by making low-cost spay and neuter services available and convenient for all pet owners. By offering spay and neuter services at shelter locations around the Portland area, CAT and ASAP have contributed to a 15 percent reduction in shelter admissions since 2008, and have reduced euthanasia by more than 40 percent.
Since 2008, CAT has performed more than 1,100 low cost or subsidized spay and neuter surgeries, but September’s Spay & Save event marks the first time cat owners could bring multiple cats for one low fee.
“With the economic downturn, cost is now even more of an obstacle for low-income cat owners,” said Lowry Stephenson, longtime CAT volunteer who has been volunteering since the very first Spay & Save event. “It’s an opportunity for people to make sure their cats don’t have kittens, and also to put an end to bad behavior like yowling and spraying.”
Rachel from Beaverton brought in her two orange tabbies, Jack and Percy, while her kids waited in the car. “It’s a relief to be able to get them fixed,” she said. “I don’t want them to start spraying on my furniture, and we don’t need any more kittens, that’s for sure.”
For more information on Spay & Save, or to find out about CAT’s other low-cost, high quality spay and neuter services, go to http://www.catadoptionteam.org/spay. If you’d like to make a donation to support CAT’s effort to make subsidized spay and neuter services available to cat owners in need, go to http://www.tinyurl.com/spayfund.
by Julianne and Colin Thacher, CAT volunteers
14175 SW Galbreath Drive.Sherwood, OR 97140.(503) 925-8903..(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
