5,000 Fixes for PetFix Northeast Ohio — Organization to celebrate by launching the 2008 Cleveland Cats Project
December 28, 2007 – The PetFix Northeast Ohio mobile low-cost spay/neuter clinic will alter its 5,000th animal on Monday, January 7, at the Cleveland Animal Protective League. In celebration, PetFix will partner with the Cleveland APL and the Cleveland City Kennel to launch the 2008 Cleveland Cats Project. With funding from the Billie Howland Steffee Family Fund of The Cleveland Foundation, the PetFix Clinic will spend a total of 20 days at the APL and the City Kennel during the next six months altering approximately 400 feral cats and cats of low-income Cleveland residents. It is estimated that the Cleveland Cats Project will prevent as many as 4,000 unwanted kittens from being born in the city this year alone.
PetFix, a non-profit organization, was founded in 2004 to end pet overpopulation in the region by altering cats and dogs of qualified low-income owners, feral cats, and shelter animals ready for adoption. The mobile clinic has been on the road for 24 months working with 19 PetFix Partner organizations in nine northeast Ohio counties, including the APL and City Kennel. PetFix Partners invite the clinic to come into their areas on a regular basis, qualify and schedule clients and collect fees. Animals are brought to the clinic in the morning and returned to their owners or caregivers in the late afternoon. Surgeries are performed in the mobile clinic by licensed veterinarians assisted by registered veterinary technicians and experienced veterinary assistants.
“We are very proud of what we have accomplished,” PetFix President Timy Sullivan remarked, “but we are just getting started.” According to Sullivan, it will take a network of mobile and stationary clinics working together to bring the birthrate for cats and dogs down to a number that the region can care for responsibly. “Our goal is quite simply to create a humane community where no animal lives out its life as a stray or dies in a shelter for lack of a home.”
Kittens as young as 8 weeks old and weighing 2 pounds are eligible for the PetFix Cleveland Cats Project. PetFix charges $20 for a neuter and $30 for a spay. All feral cat surgeries cost $30. Cats over 6 months of age are required to receive a $6 rabies vaccination. Owners must show proof of low-income. Feral cat caregivers do not.
To schedule a cat for surgery through the PetFix Cleveland Cats Project, call the Cleveland APL at 216.377.1633 or Cleveland City Kennel at 216.644.2759. For more information about PetFix Northeast Ohio call 216.536.0930 or e-mail fixemnow@aol.com.
