Cat Spay of Santa Fe Comes of Age

July was a benchmark month for Cat Spay of Santa Fe.  By its end,  we had helped 570 caregivers fix – and keep -- over 1,000 cats – in just a little over a year since we first launched.    And we did this by partnering with ten northern New Mexico veterinary clinics (private and nonprofit) so our participants could do the surgeries in their own communities on their own time schedules.  This is paramount because our target cats mostly live with the elderly, the disabled, and families with young children who find driving long distances to a centralized spay/neuter event difficult if not impossible to handle. 

Establishing locally-based low/no-cost spay neuter programs has to be at the crux of any community’s cat assistance services.  With it, all the other issues surrounding cats become manageable – free kitten ads start to disappear, shelters no longer burgeon, and outdoor cat abandonment happens less often.  Without it, cats with perfectly good long-term homes lose them when their intact behaviors (kittening, yowling and spraying) become more than their caregivers can handle.  Lacking the money or the clinic accessibility to fix their cats, they give them up (to a shelter or by releasing them outdoors). 

Of the 1,000+ cats we’ve fixed so far in Santa Fe, less than a handful came from shelters, breeders or pet stores – almost all were either found outdoors, given to them by a friend or relative whose cat had kittens or born to their own cats that were not sterilized.   Although shelter cats are almost always sterilized before adoption, they account for less than 20% of the cats adopted each year – so the majority of cats rely on their caregiver to ensure they’re fixed – and those with the money to do it usually do.  No one chooses to live with an intact cat – much the opposite – it’s the most frequent reason that a cat is given up.  Often simple solutions are the most effective – and nothing is simpler than providing low/no-cost and accessible spay/neuter for all cats living indoors or out. 

If you live in northern New Mexico, our program is fast, convenient and free.  Usually you can apply during a 5-minute phone call and your vouchers will be mailed the next day.      They cover the full cost to spay or neuter each cat and vaccinate once for rabies (if it’s done at time of sterilization).  The program is open to families with gross incomes under $40,000 a year who are committed to the life care of their cats and willing to get all the cats in their care fixed within 30-60 days of applying.  We can also provide assistance to property owner caring for naturally-occurring colonies of yard or barn cats regardless of income.  Full program information is on our web site:  zimmer-foundation.org.