CLEVELAND, OH (October 18, 2011) – Early in the morning of Friday, October 21st, a dog or cat will become the 20,000th animal to receive spay or neuter surgery at the Cleveland Animal Protective League’s (APL) Animal Welfare Clinic. The landmark surgery will be provided to either a feral or un-owned cat brought in by a caring Cleveland-area citizen, or a dog brought in from on e of the area’s shelters and rescue groups that are served by the APL’s program.
“The APL and our colleagues at other shelters are overwhelmed with the challenge of trying to find new lifetime homes for the cats and dogs who come to us for help,” stated Sharon Harvey, Executive Director for the APL. “Meanwhile, frustrated residents of our community s ee litter after litter of homeless kittens born in their neighborhoods. The APL is offering a solution through low-cost spay-neuter, which is not only cost-effective, but also the most humane cure to this tragedy.” Of the 20,000 surgeries performed by the Cleveland APL’s veterinary team, 15,000 surgeries have been on feral or stray cats who are brought to the shelter in humane traps by concerned residents who do the trapping and transport.
Stray and feral cats in Cuyahoga County can be spayed or neutered for a subsidized fee of only $10 each through the Cleveland APL’s program, which operates Monday through Friday, all year round. The City of Cleveland pays the up to $15 balance of the cost of surgery for strays brought in by Cleveland residents, while the reduced fee for Cuyahoga County residents has been made possible by subsidies awarded through grants from the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, a KeyBank Trust, the Bernice Barbour Foundation, and the Ohio Pet Fund.
Appointments can be made by calling Marta Anderson, Spay/Neuter Programs Supervisor, at 216-377-1624. Anyone outside Cuyahoga County can bring in a stray cat for a $40 fee. The fees include sterilization surgery, age-appropriate vaccinations, and ear-tip (of the left ear) for identification. Low-income families can have their pet dog or cat altered at a low price at the APL’s monthly sliding-fee clinic by calling 377-1633 and pressing option 1 to sign up. Rescue groups and shelters receive discounted surgeries on dogs and cats through the Cleveland APL’s program, so the animals they adopt out don’t contribute to the problem by breeding.
For more information about the Cleveland APL’s spay/neuter program for stray cats, visit www.clevelandapl.org/tnr
