Helping Paws

February 28th is World Spay Day. Groups and individuals can participate by organizing, or take part in, events either today or any time in the month of February which is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month!

I thought this would be a good time to share with you some photos of our two spay/neuter events this month.


On February 15th our group took care of 59 feral/stray/low income cats. This past weekend we helped 35 cats. Unfortunately a windstorm came through on Friday night and Saturday and kept our numbers down for this weekend event.

Before their turn in surgery we try to keep the kitties calm and quiet. They are in a warm, safe environment.

We are very fortunate to have two local vets who perform the surgeries for us. This helps us keep costs down so we can help more cats. We also have vet students who come in sometimes and help out. Donations are used to buy supplies such as vaccines, flea treatments, microchips, etc. The Blue Mountain Humane Society makes their facilities available to us for these events, they even provide staff to help out.

I come in early to help with the check-ins. After surgery the cats come to another area for their shots, a micro chip and ear tattoo. After this is done they are returned to their carrier or trap (for feral cats) for recovery. I and a couple of other volunteers will monitor each cat as they wake up. The photo shows cats in carriers but the feral kitties get equal care.


This is Thomas, a low income household pet. Thomas had a little problem after surgery and was getting some extra attention. He recovered fully and was reunited with his owner at the end of the day. The green you see in the ear is tattoo ink, most of it will wear off in a couple of weeks.

Meet Calliope.
Calliope is a little kitten I trapped for the event on the 15th. She was lucky enough to be taken in by the Humane Society and will soon be up for adoption. Right now she is in a special area receiving medications for a respiratory infection, see the red around her eyes. I had thought she would be wild but it turns out she is a very shy little girl. After I took this photo I picked her up and held her. She immediately snugged up to me and started purring. She is such a sweet little girl she will have a new forever home almost as soon as she is ready for adoption. I will be back over at the shelter this week and will check in on her.

I know all of my readers here are very supportive of spay/neuters for their pets. Some of you also do rescues and we thank you for the work you do. For those who want to help please make a donation to your local shelter or humane society or to an organization in your area that does TNR (trap/neuter/return).

We know the TNR program works because our humane society has seen a big reduction in the number of cats brought to the shelter by individuals within our community in the past three years our program has been operating.