Be Part of Feral Cat Spay Day Every May 27
Feral cats are a problem. An admittedly cute problem, but a problem. Alley Cat Rescue (ACR) launched Feral Cat Spay Day in 2010 to help.
ACR wants to encourage veterinarians and communities across the country to help keep feral populations healthy and manageable. For Feral Cat Spay Day it originally asked veterinarians across the country to provide free or low-cost trap-neuter-release (TNR) services for two feral animals.
In 2017 the organization expanded the day to the whole month of May. The goal was for vets to spay/neuter one community animal per week.
And for 2019 the program has expanded again! It’s now a Spring Spay Challenge. It runs for 3 months! ACR is asking vets to provide at least 2 free or low-cost sterilizations each week during March, April, and May.
Wow, that’s ambitious! But it’s not too much to ask. And many vets agree.
The first year more than 150 vets took up the challenge. Vets in Canada and South Africa participate, too.
Since then some 1200 have participated, sterilizing some 60,000 cats. It’s a great start, but we can do better!
Just one unspayed female can result in 420,000 kitten births over seven years if her offspring also breed. Yikes! Getting those girls spayed is much better than trying to care for all her kittens … and her kittens’ kittens … and on and on …
About Alley Cat Rescue
ACR is an international nonprofit organization working to help all cats: stray, abandoned, feral and wild. Its programs include TNR for feral cats, adoption for friendly cats, a low-cost spay/neuter clinic and more.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial holiday.
How to Get Involved With Feral Cat Spay Day
If you are a veterinarian, pledge to do at least two spay/neuter procedures for this day. You can register with ACR. If you don’t currently work with any rescue groups, there’s even a space on the form to indicate that. ACR will then send you a list of groups in your area for you to contact.
If you’re a rescue group, or just someone with feral cats living nearby, the rescue has lists of participating vets, organized by state. Some states have many more participants than others.
If there’s no vet near you listed, consider contacting local vets to see if they’d be willing to join the effort.
Even if you don’t have feral cats near you, if you have a relationship with a vet for your own pets, talk to him or her. Suggest this could be a good way to give back to the community.
You can also donate to Alley Cat Rescue, to help them continue with their work around the world.
Follow the Alley Cat Rescue Facebook Page, too.
[…] that Spay Day is not the same as Feral Cat Spay Day, celebrated every year on May […]
[…] Feral Cat Spay Day: Technically this day became a whole month of spaying & neutering community cats, with veterinarians around the country offering free or low-cost sterilizations. But everyone can do their part to reduce the number of cats heading to shelters each year. Let’s use this day to remind everyone of the importance of sterilizing cats, whether free-roaming or pets. […]