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Feral and Community Cats

 

"Community Cat" describes any free-roaming, outdoor cat. Some are not socialized with people and are feral (wild), while others are friendly and may have been lost or abandoned by their previous families. They are called Community Cats because they live outdoors within a community, being fed and cared for by one or more neighbors. 

 

If you have Community Cats in your neighborhood and want to decrease the number of unwanted cats and kittens in your neighborhood without eliminating the ones that are already there, we have a spay/neuter package especially for them.  

 

Our Feral Cat Package is $60.00 and in addition to spaying or neutering it includes rabies and distemper/rhinotracheitis/calicivirus vaccinations, a flea-control and internal parasite treatment application for roundworms and hookworms, and an ear tip. Healthy, thriving cats with minor medical problems like superficial wounds, ear mites, and tapeworms are treated as necessary. 

 

If you bring a cat that is not thriving and it is determined by the veterinarian to have a debilitating medical problem like severe dental disease, stomatitis, kidney-failure, blindness, chronic severe ear infection, or other painful and incurable or difficult to treat disease, we will recommend that the cat be euthanized instead of releasing it and allowing it to continue to suffer.

 

How to Make an Appointment

 

1. Call (321)724-1141 to make an appointment for surgery. Walk-ins are accepted only if we are not fully booked that day. Please only

    trap Sunday night-Wednesday night as we are only open Monday-Thursday.

 

2. Trap the cat(s) and bring them to us. We have traps we can loan out.

  • Once you have trapped the cat, do not try and transfer it to another cage/carrier. Leave the cat in the trap/carrier that you have successfully contained it in.

  • Try not to feed the cat after midnight the night before surgery unless the cat is a kitten under 4 months of age. Kittens can have food until 6:00 a.m. the day of surgery. If you use food in a trap the morning of bringing it in for surgery, leave what food is in the cage. Do not risk opening the cage and releasing the cat or getting bit/scratched.

  • Cats and kittens should always have fresh water available if possible, regardless of how young or old they are.

 

3. All patients will receive a spay or neuter surgery, an ear tip, a tattoo (green line on abdomen/near scrotum),

    a vaccination for distemper/rhinotracheitis/calicivirus and a rabies vaccine if they are over 3 months of age or weigh over 3 pounds.

  • Kittens under 2 pounds must be held for surgery until they weigh at least 2 pounds. 

  • Kittens cannot be considered to be protected by a Rabies vaccination unless they are over 3 months of age (at least 3 pounds) when they are vaccinated. 

  • If you have a young kitten (under 3 pounds) that you have captured and can foster until it can be adopted to a home, you can receive the Feral Cat Package and request that the kitten not have its left ear tipped. If it becomes apparent that it cannot be tamed down and adopted out, you can return for an ear-tip and rabies vaccination after a month and pay only for anesthesia at that time ($25.00).

  • Cats that are found to be lactating (producing milk) should be released as soon as they are awake and within 24 hours of capture so they can return to their kittens.

  • All other patients should be held for one night after their surgery to fully recover before they are released.

 

There are nonprofit groups that collect donations to help communities with spaying and neutering their Community Cats. 

  • If you need financial help with your Community Cats let us know and we will check with the groups we work with to see if there is help available.

  • If you want to donate to these groups or learn how to help with trapping Community Cats in other neighborhoods, let us know. We welcome your help!

  • We loan out humane traps to those willing to TNR (trap, neuter, return) their community cats. Please call us to ensure availability.

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