Change Lives: Spaying & Neutering Cats Works!

Hello, friends -

Welcome to 2025! As we start this new year, we can reflect on the amazing and heartwarming work done by our spay/neuter program in 2024. As I mentioned in my previous report, it was a tough summer for the hard-working TNR volunteers who face the hard realities of life for community cats. With a rainy fall and a winter that has already been colder than usual, it’s more critical than ever to help these cats and to reduce the number of kittens born in these rough circumstances.

That’s where our amazing program comes in! At the end of December, we successfully funded a spay or neuter procedure for 1,040 cats, our part of the program’s overall goal of 2,600 cats for 2024. As always, we address the medical needs that arrive with each cat, including some severe injuries that we were able to treat. You’ll see an example of what can we sometimes find in the photo of the grey kitten sitting on a shoulder, who needed an eye enucleation due to a ruptured eye. Our vet, Dr. Linda East, is always happy to be able to relieve the suffering of cats who need extra help, especially when this kind of help isn’t available to them at regular clinics. In addition to treatment and the spay/neuter surgery, we always give our cats any pain medicine required after surgery as well as a rabies vaccine and a flea treatment.

I want to share a particularly remarkable story happened late in 2024. One day, a local police officer arrived at the clinic with a tiny bundle of fur. He had spotted a small black kitten under a bridge and couldn’t leave it there. So he picked the small kitten up and, being nearby, brought him to us. This is the black kitten you’ll see in the photos. Upon examination, we discovered that this tiny kitten’s front right leg had no function – we’re not sure why, perhaps from an injury. We got him assessed and, when he was a little bigger, the leg was amputated. I’m really happy to report that he’s healthy and happy today and has been adopted by a wonderful family. We’re so happy that we could help him when he needed us and grateful to the police officer for showing extra kindness to an animal in distress.

I want to let you know that, despite rising costs for materials and medicines, over the years of this program’s success, the program’s cost per cat has not increased. All the medical services and treatments I talked about are offered at just $50 per cat. That’s far below what most spay/neuter clinics charge and includes far more extensive medical care when needed. We’re able to keep this going thanks to your generosity and care for these cats and we thank you for your ongoing love for them.

As always, our work wouldn’t be possible without the superhuman dedication of the TNR (trap-neuter-release) volunteers who work so closely with the community cat colonies and their caretakers. They really are the frontline workers who know where the colonies are and find creative ways to trap the cats so they can receive a procedure and medical care. Another photo I’ve included shows you a row of our main TNR volunteer’s humane traps. After every successful weekly trapping event, all the cages are power washed to clean and sterilize them.

In addition to our spay/neuter work, we once again partnered with two local rescue groups to find homes for 55 cats and kittens! It’s a happy occasion when any community cat who clearly isn’t feral finds a loving home. You’ll see a few of these happy kittens in the photos I included.

We thank you again for your support of this program and wish all of you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2025!  I look forward to our next spay/neuter program progress report!

Links:

• Meet Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary!

Hello, friends –

It’s been a tough summer for those working hard to make life better for community cats everywhere, including our project location, central North Carolina. It seems this year more intact cats are being dumped, resulting in more kittens being born in the colonies and ending up in animal control facilities or in the hands of local rescue groups. In our area alone, we’ve rescued more than a hundred kittens and given them to reputable groups to find them homes.

Despite this situation, we soldier on with your help in our work to alleviate suffering and end multiple litter births. Working with TNR volunteers, we’re doing our best for the community colonies in our area. The good news is that, at this point in the year, we can predict how many cats we’ll be able to spay or neuter in calendar 2024. We’ve done 1,950 so far this year and are on track to reach 2,600 by December 31. Your support is critical to this work and we thank you!

I’ve included some photos in this update, so you’ll see what we see working in this program. The first is a photo is of 36 traps used by one of our TNR volunteers. I’ve often said that the TNR workers are really the heart of our program since they know where the community colonies are and, in cases where there is a caretaker, the people caring for them.   As you know, we focus on large and small colonies wherever they are - from forests to trailer parks. This very dedicated volunteer is a great example of the care they show for the health of the cats they trap. She power-washes and sanitizes each trap after its use so the cats don’t share any communicable illnesses.

Two photos show you a very common condition we see called entropion. This painful condition results when a cats eyelids turn inward and rub the cornea. The Siamese cat’s left eye cornea was in such bad shape that his left eye was removed. The other photo shows a cat post-entropion corrective surgery. After the surgery the cat’s eyes will function normally and won’t be irritated any more. If entropion is not surgically corrected, it will lead to blindness.

Entropion is just one of the many medical situations the cats bring when they come in for a spay/neuter procedure. Even though our focus is spay/neuter, we treat all injuries and conditions the cats arrive with – from broken bones and injured eyes to flea infestation and ticks. We also give them a rabies vaccine when they are with us and any medication needed for treatment. Our goal is to alleviate the cats’ suffering.

The final photo shows two heart-tugging levels of compassion. The woman in the photo was in hospice care and her dearest wish was to hold a kitten before she passed on. We had in our care a very tame, loving and healthy trapped colony kitten that we were helping to find a home. This sweet one was the perfect candidate for this job and when he met the patient, he snuggled right up in her arms, and they shared some wonderful comfort and happiness together. 

You’re the reason every cat who leaves our clinic faces a healthier future and one with much less pain and suffering. You’re the reason so many kittens do not end up euthanized. The care and love for these cats that you share with Dr. Linda and the TNR volunteers lifts them up every day.  Thank you.

Dr. Linda, Sam and the Cats