Richmond SPCA extends free spay/neuter surgeries
The Richmond SPCA has extended its offer of free spay/neuter surgeries to owned cats within its service areas through June 30. This promotion was designed to ease cat overpopulation during the spring breeding season.
The offer began Jan. 1 and was originally slated to end March 31, but a grant from Dr. Kay Gross on behalf of the Richmond Spay/Neuter Foundation has funded an additional three months of free cat sterilizations.
All residents in Richmond, Hanover, Henrico, Chesterfield and Goochland who own a cat are eligible to receive the free procedures, including rabies vaccination, regardless of household income. By providing the services for free, the Richmond SPCA hopes to prevent the birth of hundreds of orphaned kittens.
The program is an extension of the organization's existing free spay/neuter campaign, which was launched in 2005. That initiative provides the surgeries at no cost to cats and dogs belonging to residents with incomes less than $30,000, feral cat caregivers, pit bulls or strong pit bull mixes and full-time college students.
The organization pledged to perform a total of 9,000 surgeries annually beginning in 2005 in order to make Richmond a no-kill community by 2008. The spay/neuter goal was exceeded in each of the last two years, with 11,017 performed in 2006 and 11,210 performed in 2007.
In addition to free surgeries for pets of qualified owners, low-cost spay and neuter services are also available and range in cost from $30 to $60. For more information, please call the Richmond SPCA's Spay/Neuter Helpline at 521-1300.
The preceding was compiled from a Richmond SPCA news release.
Please sign in to respond | | Register