Change Lives: Spaying & Neutering Cats Works!

Friends,
 
Community cats living in colonies are among the most vulnerable animals and need all the help we can give them.  Many not only end up in animal control shelters where they are euthanized, they are also at risk from external forces – weather, starvation, injury and abuse from humans.  Without intervention, the colonies just get bigger and that’s why our program spaying and neutering community cats is so important.  
 
But we wouldn’t be successful without the critical work of our amazing team of trap-neuter-release (TNR) volunteers who are so dedicated to helping these cats, often at personal risk.  This group of people work in and around several rural counties in central North Carolina that are dumping grounds for unwanted cats.  They often work directly with the kind people caring for a community cat colony, supporting their efforts to help them.  In addition, if a particular community cat colony is threatened because of its location in relation to homes or neighborhoods, our TNR team members often have to negotiate with landlords to make sure that, once the cats are all spayed and neutered, they can continue to live safely in that location.  So, it’s not just a matter of trapping cats and getting them to our clinic.  This work involves so much more.  
 
Everything we do is focused on helping the cats and that’s not just offering a spay or neuter procedure.  It’s also giving them the health care and attention they don’t get on a regular basis.  We also treat their injuries – minor or severe, conditions they arrive with, and we offer them critical rabies vaccines.  
 
Happily, through our TNR network, we are able to follow up on our colonies after our initial work is done, and we can see that there are no new litters of kittens and that the adult cats are healthier.  That tells us that our program is working – reducing the number of kittens being born in these colonies and taking care of the adult cats who live in them to reduce their suffering and improve health.  We can’t take away all the threats they face, but we can and do make their lives better.
 
You are a part of this dedicated team, too!  Your support is the reason we can help these cats every year.  We are so grateful!  Thank you for caring about the cats!