Friday, October 29, 2010

Get Your Cat or Kitten ‘Fixed’ for Free


This November Elect to Spay your Demo’cat’ or Re’purrblican! To prevent unwanted litters of kittens from being born this coming spring, ASAP, the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland, is offering FREE spay/neuter surgeries this November in six locations around the Portland/Vancouver metro area. Caretakers of stray or feral cats can take advantage of this offer as well.

Qualified cat owners can have their fertile cats or kittens spayed or neutered for free between November 8 and 12, or schedule a spay/neuter surgery for only $10 any other time. Surgeries are performed by licensed veterinarians and subsidized through charitable donations. Up to 400 free feline spay/neuter surgery spots will be available the week of November 8 – 12.

“Add this ‘To-Do’ to your list along with voting”, says Joyce Briggs, President of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs, and volunteer with ASAP Spay & Save Program. “The winter solstice in mid-December prompts cats to go into season, and many are pregnant by January. Preventing those kittens is the reason for this extraordinary offer. With 20,000 cats entering our area shelters annually, we need to focus on finding good homes for them, without a flood of kittens this Spring. There are not enough homes for all of them.”

How to Qualify: For a cat owner to qualify, they must receive government assistance such as Medicaid, WIC, food stamps, SSI, Section 8 public housing, AFDC, or TANF, and live in Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, or Clark County. Those feeding unowned feral/stray cats need not meet income requirements.

Where: Services are being provided at the following locations, by license veterinarians and caring surgical teams. Transportation may be available for those unable to take advantage of this offer due to travel issues.
  • Cat Adoption Team – Sherwood
  • Oregon Humane Society – NE Portland
  • Washington County Animal Services – Hillsboro
  • Multnomah County Animal Services – Troutdale
  • Humane Society of SW Washington – Vancouver
  • Feral Cat Coalition – for strays or feral cats
How: Starting Monday, November 1, call: 503-802-6755 for a cat you own; or 503-797-2606 for feral cats. If you call prior to November 1, you can either schedule a appointment for $10 or you will be asked to call back on November 1. Free spay/neuter appointments will scheduled for November 8 through 12 only.

The free spay/neuter surgeries are being offered through the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland’s Spay & Save program thanks to generous donations. This vital program is funded through private donations as well as grant monies. Special thanks to PetSmart Charities http://www.petsmartcharities.org for their grant support. See www.spaysave.org for details on qualifying, addresses of surgery locations and more.

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