CAMPBELL COUNTY, Va. – You’ve heard the saying: cats have nine lives. But Thursday, the South Central Spay/Neuter Clinic made sure community cats don’t breed more lives.
“One cat can have several litters of kittens in a year. So, all of a sudden, you feed one cat and you’ve got 20 in your backyard,” said Reese McClanahan, manager of the clinic.
Owned by the Lynchburg Humane Society, the Campbell County clinic hosted a record-breaking surgery day for nearly 150 feral cats, which is more than double of what the facility typically sees in one day.
The procedure will change the cats' behavior.
“Things like fighting, breeding, marking. They won’t always eliminate those behaviors, but it makes a marked decrease in them,” said veterinary technician Julie Foster.
Along with being vaccinated for rabies, the cats were prepped for surgery, weighed, put under anesthesia, and given pain medication.
“We try very hard to make sure that our animals are not uncomfortable postoperatively. These cats get a shot that lasts them for three days of pain medication, so that when they’re re-released, they don’t hurt,” said Foster.
Although the clinic hosts a big event once a year, they spay and neuter 60 to 70 cats a day, 6,000 to 7,000 of them each year.
Unfortunately, if you’re looking to add one of the furry friends to your family, you won’t be able to whisk away these whiskers.
“Most of them are not able to be adopted. They’re not your friendly, come-up-and-rub-against-your-leg cat,” McClanahan said.
The animal experts said these cats don’t typically do well in a shelter environment, so freeing the feral felines back where they were is for their best interest.