Effective for all appointments booked 8/5 or after, we’ve made some new changes to our spay/neuter procedures:
All cats receiving the Outdoor/Barn Cat package must arrive in a live trap, even if the cat is friendly.
We did this for a multitude of reasons, including the safety of our volunteers. Our vet clinic requires any cat receiving the outdoor package to arrive in a trap, so when you bring us an outdoor cat in a carrier, we have to transfer her. Often a caretaker can handle their outdoor cat because the cat knows and trusts you, but the cat is frightened and doesn’t know us, and this puts us at increased risk of bites when we have to coax Fluffy out of her carrier and into a trap, and vice-versa when we arrive home and now have to put Fluffy back into her carrier. Secondly, this will reduce stress on the cats by avoiding us transferring them back and forth. Third, this will shave at least an hour off of drop-off AND pick-up times, which means that cats can now be picked up at 8pm instead of 9pm! We hope you’re all happy about that last part!
As always, we have humane traps and wire carriers on-hand at all times for you to borrow before your appointment.
The $2 fuel surcharge has become permanent and has been rolled into the regular costs.
Unless gas prices miraculously drop, or someone donates an egregious amount of money, the extra $2 is truly needed to keep the spay/neuter transports running. In addition to our fuel costs, we are paying to maintain our transport van, which comes with all the typical expenses you’d imagine – tires, oil, air fresheners to combat the cat smell (kidding!). Keep in mind that we average 3,500 miles a month and traverse Chicago potholes big enough to swallow a Subaru, and you’ll understand why our vehicle expenses are second only to our veterinary bills! We hope that you are still able to afford our subsidized spay/neuter costs and remind you that IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO NEUTER YOUR CAT, PLEASE ASK US FOR HELP! We are here to help!
New services for pet cats are available!
Over the years many of you have asked for your indoor/pet cats to receive de-worming or flea treatment but we weren’t able to offer it. We’re pleased to announce that you can now get those services when your cat comes for spay or neuter! De-worming and flea treatment will now be available for your pet cat, if you choose, for $5 ea. De-worming will be with Strongid which is effective against roundworms and hookworms. Flea treatment will be Frontline Plus or Advantage. As with all of our services, we fundraise to cover the true costs of these procedures and medications, which are obviously much higher. We hope these options provide you with another affordable way to care for your pet.