A Future with no OAR
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 10:58AM Yesterday we got an email that started this way: "I was unable to get my cat spayed before she ended up pregnant for the first time."
The email goes on to detail the kittens that have been born as a result - though the email didn't detail them all, we counted at least 20 cats and kittens stemming from this single unspayed female. The person who contacted us explained that she couldn't afford to have them all fixed, and was looking for placement in OAR's shelter.
In 2009, OAR opened up the doors of its spay/neuter clinic to address just this issue. Knowing that, no matter how big a shelter OAR built, we could not house all the cats and kittens that needed to find homes, OAR's Board and volunteers hoped to stop the problem before it began. With this low-cost clinic, OAR took away cost as a barrier to having a cat fixed. We work with clients to ensure that cats are fixed, no matter how many a client may have or what their budget may be. We offer transport services to 20 locations, so that access to our clinic is convenient. In 2012, we will fix more than 8,000 cats in our clinic.
OAR would like to put ourselves out of business. We hope to see a day when our shelter is empty, and the calls and emails like this one no longer come in. Help us get to that goal! Let your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors know that there are resources to get their cats fixed. Remind them that cats reach sexual maturity as early as 4 months - so that "kitten" that you're waiting to fix could be pregnant before you do! Let them know that the cats they feed outside their house, though maybe not properly "their" cats, will still have babies that will come to their door for food - as many as 3 litters every year (that's a lot of cat food!). Assure them that there is no such thing as "unable" to get a cat fixed these days - OAR will work with anyone to make it happen. And make sure your own kittes are all fixed, too. It takes our whole community to make a difference in the lives of these cats - and it starts with you!
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