FieldHaven Feline Center’s Spay/Neuter Clinic Temporarily Halts Appointments
Lincoln, CA – In an effort to combat an overwhelming spay/neuter crisis, FieldHaven Feline Center is temporarily closing appointments at their Hathaway Spay Neuter Clinic. They are making their way through a waiting list of feline patients, giving priority to pregnant females, but there is no timeframe when the clinic will reopen for the community.
“We are so backed up on spay/neuter appointments that we simply need to find the light at the end of the tunnel. While we do not like suspending appointments for public cats, we must do something to catch up on the cats we already have waiting for appointments, and that unfortunately means halting new ones,” said Joy Smith, executive director for FieldHaven.
FieldHaven is now issuing a heartfelt plea for immediate community support. Here’s how to help:
- Provide funding. FieldHaven has a full veterinary team and is actively looking to expand, but funding is needed to set up and equip a second clinic. To donate to help sustain spay and neuter efforts, use this link.
- Become a Kitten Sitter. With so many requests for help every single day, becoming a temporary foster home will help keep kittens safe and off the street, not to mention it takes away their ability to reproduce. FieldHaven provides free guidance, support and more, for community members who participate in this program.
- Talk to your veterinarian. If veterinarians could even offer five low-cost spay/neuter surgeries each month, it would help those who care for unowned cats, including strays, found cats, and community cats. Many people don’t have funding to own a pet but support spay/neuter, so this is their way of helping. If more low- and no-cost options were available, more people could afford to do this.
“This crisis stems from COVID, when veterinary clinics focused efforts on lifesaving and critical care, shutting down elective but certainly needed spay and neuter efforts. Other clinics shut down entirely, concerned for their health and safety or because they choose to give up their PPE and supplies to human hospitals. So, spay and neuter for owned cats and community cats stopped almost everywhere. Combined with a critical shortage of veterinarians the consequence is still drastically affecting shelters, rescues, and vet clinics nationwide today,” Smith continued.
FieldHaven is also nearing the end of their TAMI program, a year-long community-based program. It made affordable services more accessible and reduced overall euthanasia of unwanted cats in specific regions of northern California. Funding for this program was awarded by a grant from California for All Animals and wraps up later this month. The areas TAMI targeted benefited from free or low-cost spay and neuter, vaccines, microchips, and basic medical care. It will also now be temporarily halted until more funding is received. To donate to TAMI, use this link.
Sources:
- Shelter Animals Count: Millions of Pets Weren’t Spayed and Neutered During the Pandemic and That’s a Big Problem
- ASPCA: Overcoming COVID-19’s Challenges to Vital Spay/Neuter Services
- Frontiers in Veterinary Science: COVID-19 Associated reduction in Elective Spay/Neuter Surgeries for Dogs and Cats
- Animals 24/7: “Spay/Neuter Deficit” of 8 Million Run Up in COVID Crisis: Is There A Fix?
- UF College of Veterinary Medicine: Decrease in Spay-Neuter Surgeries During Pandemic May Undermine Pet Welfare
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