By Erik Andrulis | President and Executive Director
Our SAVECats Continued program is off to a great start. From April 1 - June 30, 2021, we provided rabies vaccinations and medical support to 302 cats. Of those 302, we performed 281 spay/neuter surgeries, with 130 neuters and 151 spays. We opened our clinic up on Fridays to support the SAVECats project and been doing weekend clinics every other weekend as well. Initially these restrictions placed severe limitations on this program such as not being able to loan humane traps and other equipment. Our program manager Niki Cochran is doing an excellent job of promoting SAVECats and is working very closely with TNR volunteers, animal rescues, and AACACC to identify and target colonies of community cats.
We are at 494 animals spayed or neutered after 2 quarters of 2021 - and with the first quarter truncated by one month (we started on 2/1 rather than on 1/1), we are running approximately 100 animals behind our intended schedule. We will likely need to add an additional month at the end of the funding period to fulfill our goals. Also, we are still experiencing setbacks and delays due to COVID19 but these have diminished due to more individuals having been vaccinated. The Spay Spa & Neuter Nook is still operatong under social distancing guidelines that limit capacity. Likewise, our employees and potential clients are still reluctant to meet with each other due to concerns of COVID exposure.
We are working with communities to identify and schedule surgeries for areas of AA County that are producing the most kittens. We are adding additional surgery days on weekends to accommodate these surgeries. We are also working closely with AACACC to identify additional cat colonies and caregivers by tracking where "litters of kittens" come from. We are also working with AACACC to redirect calls for community cats that are potentially going to be surrendered to AACACC. We are also working with our rescue partners inside and outside of Anne Arundel to find homes for socialized and socializable kittens.
Currently, there are many factors that will affect meeting our objectives. One of the biggest factors will be if our veterinary clinic or our area of focus (Anne Arundel County) is shut down or quarantined. Likewise, many people are still fearful of COVID-19 exposure for themselves and their animals. Another factor that may affect our ability to meet our objectives by the end of the calendar year is the late start to the project. In light of these factors, we feel that we will achieve our overall objectives, but may have to extend our project by several weeks/months.
Please share our project on your social media pages - for the animals!
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