October Feral Spay-Neuter Clinic in Charlottesville, VA

Rikki has learned that a high-volume Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Day will be held on Saturday, October 20, 2007 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

All services provided -- sterilizations, vaccinations, and health treatments -- will be free regardless of the income of the cats' caregivers.

Two more feral cat spay/neuter clinics will be held on November 17 and December 8, 2007.


Details about October's Clinic:

Approximately 100 feral cats will be sterilized at the October 20 clinic.

A team of volunteer veterinarians will sterilize the cats, vaccinate them against rabies and distemper and eartip them for identification purposes. Veterinary technicians and trained volunteers will apply a flea and tick preventative and ear mite medication and treat the cats for any obvious ailments or infections. Following surgery, the cats will be returned to their volunteer caregivers.

Only feral cats will be accepted at the clinic. (Feral cats are the untamed offspring of stray or abandoned cats.)


Making Spay-Neuter Appointments

Appointments are required. Drop-ins will not be allowed. Cats must be brought to the clinic in humane traps, which can be borrowed from the clinic cosponsor, Voices for Animals. To make spay/neuter appointments, reserve humane traps, and get details about the location of the clinic, call 434-979-1200 or e-mail feralcats@voicesforanimals.org.

Appointment spaces are filling up quickly, so call or e-mail soon to ensure that your ferals get added to the schedule.

Volunteers Needed for Clinic

Over 50 volunteers are needed for jobs such as admissions assistant, trap transport, anesthesia assistant, bladder express, spay boards assistant, shaving, pre-surgical monitoring, fluid administration, post-surgery ear and wound cleaning, administration of flea/tick and ear mite preventatives, recovery room monitor, instrument cleaning, and discharge assistant.

Please e-mail clinic volunteer coordinator Dian Howe at dian1021@hotmail.com if you would like to help. Quite a few volunteers are still needed.

Donations Needed for Future Clinics
Clinic sponsors Voices for Animals, the Companion Animal Fund of Old Dominion Animal Hospital, and the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA donate thousands of dollars of equipment, supplies, and labor so that several feral spay/neuter clinics can be held each year. However, donations from individuals are also needed. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to defray clinic costs, you can mail it to Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project, Voices for Animals, P.O. Box 4466, Charlottesville, VA 22905.