Low-cost spay/neuter clinic home to new litter of kittens
By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — Brianna Jolley, who drives the animal pickup van for the new low-cost spay and neuter clinic on Sharon Road, knows timing is everything.
Two weeks ago, Ms. Jolley put a homeless cat, who was barely more than kitten, inside the People for Animals’ van (dubbed the “Neuter Scooter”) because it had been hanging around an apartment complex and was being chased by large tomcats. When she got to the clinic and opened the van’s doors, she found she had six cats, not one.
”We took her out of the carrier and saw two little feet coming out,” Ms. Jolley said, adding she hadn’t realized the small stray tabby cat was in labor when it walked into her cat carrier for the trip to the clinic.
”She’s a friendly cat,” Ms. Jolley said. “We actually think that at one time she was somebody’s cat and maybe they also had a male cat in the house and she got pregnant and it was easier to keep the male.”
The irony of a cat giving birth in the Neuter Scooter isn’t lost on the clinic’s executive director, Jane Guillaume, who has made it her mission to educate people about the need to spay and neuter their pet dogs and cats at a young age. The stray cat, now called “Rizzo” by the staff, is probably not more than a year old, she said.
”This could just be another one of those cases where people let their cats come and go and don’t get them fixed,” Ms. Guillaume said.
The major reason people fail to get their animals spayed or neutered is cost, Ms. Guillaume said. Veterinarians often charge several hundred dollars for the procedures, so pet owners put it off. Kittens can go into heat and get pregnant by the time they are about 5 months old, dogs by the time they are 6 months old.
Once their unfixed animals begin to reproduce, the good-intentioned owners often tell themselves it’s still OK because they’ll make sure they find “good homes” for the puppies and kittens, Ms. Guillaume said.
”So you think you’re being responsible by finding homes for that litter of animals, but you have no control over what those people do with those animals later,” Ms. Guillaume says. “There’s a myriad of reasons that people give up animals and then those animals end up in the shelter system.”
In Mercer County, 34 percent of cats and 19 percent of dogs that enter the shelter system are euthanized, Ms. Guillaume said. Statewide, the euthanasia rate is 45 percent for cats and 17 percent for dogs, she said.
”In raw numbers, 6,527 dogs and 25,625 cats were put down in New Jersey shelters in 2010,” said Ms. Guillaume, citing the most recent statistics available.
Shelters have limited cage space and they do not deserve the bad rap they sometimes receive, Ms. Guillaume said.
”I feel for them because they are given an impossible task and they’re not given the resources,” Ms. Guillaume said. “Unfortunately, it’s the tragic reality of the situation. If we want to prevent all those intakes at shelters, we need to prevent overpopulation of animals in the first place.”
The 2,400-square foot Robbinsville clinic, which opened May 22, offers low-cost spaying and neutering of domesticated and feral animals. Veterinarian Iris Biely, of Jackson, does all of the surgical procedures at the Robbinsville clinic.
Surgery fees range from $110 to $140 for dogs (price varies according to gender and weight) and $75 for pet cats. The charge for feral cats brought to the clinic as part of a trap, neuter, release program is $55 and includes ear-tipping, which is the universal sign for a fixed feral cat. (Ear-tipping involves removing a quarter-inch from the tip of the cat’s left ear while it is anesthetized for surgery).
During the month of July, the already discounted fee for feral cats will be reduced even further to $17.76 in celebration of Independence Day. This discount is only for feral cat caregivers in Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties.
The surgery fee for all animals includes a physical exam, rabies and distemper vaccinations, antibiotics and pain control medicine. Domesticated female cats also receive a tattoo (a 1 cm to 2 cm green line near the surgical incision) because surgical scars will fade and a tattoo will easily identify the cat as having been fixed if it should one day end up in a shelter.
People for Animals, which opened its first low-cost spay and neuter clinic in Hillside in 1985, also has a walk-in wellness clinic at the new Robbinsville clinic from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. every Monday. Pet owners can bring their dogs and cats in for vaccines ($15 to $25) and routine tests ($25 to $27). The clinic also carries flea and tick preventatives at discounted prices.
Petco stores have partnered with People for Animals to serve as a centralized drop-off and pickup point for the clinic’s Neuter Scooter van. Pet owners and feral cat caregivers who don’t live near the Hillside or Robbinsville clinics can bring the animals to a participating Petco store on the Neuter Scooter’s route. By April 2013 every Petco store in New Jersey will offer this service.
Rizzo, the cat that went into labor in the Neuter Scooter van two weeks ago, will be staying with People for Animals in Robbinsville until her kittens are weaned, Ms. Guillaume said. The five kittens will be placed with an animal adoption organization and then Rizzo will also be be placed with a foster family.
”But not before she’s fixed,” Ms. Guillaume said with smile.
To make an appointment to have your animal spayed or neutered at the Robbinsville clinic, call 609-208-3252. The clinic is located at 1 Sharon Road, where the former Elks Lodge once stood. To learn more about People for Animals, or to make a donation to this nonprofit animal welfare organization, go online to www.PFAonline.org.