SAVECats: A MD No-Kill Community Cat Program

Welcome to our March 2022 Report! 

We are entering out 4th year of funding of the SAVECats project and have now spayed or neutered over 4000 cats in Anne Arundel County alone.  If we add in the adjoining counties, we have helped well over 10,000 feral and community cats.  We are submitting for a 5th year of funding from the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Spay & Neuter grant program in April 2022 for funding start in 2023.

In the 4th quarter of 2021, from Oct 1 - Dec 31, and with being closed for the last two weeks of the year, we performed 224 surgeries, with 98 neuters and 126 spays.  This puts us at approximately 1000 surgeries done for the year!

I'd like to share a message with you that I also share with out newsletter subscribers.  I have attached this below. Enjoy.
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Every Spring, I find myself in my garden – weeding, dividing and trimming back flowers, putting down fresh mulch.  With dozens of different varieties of hemerocallis, phlox, paeonia, echinacea, and rudbeckia, I have lost track of how many perennials I have planted or transplanted in my garden.  Kneeling in the dirt, I hear the distant voice of Voltaire remind me: “One must cultivate one’s own garden.” Yes. One must. That is what I am here to do; that is what I have charged myself with. As you probably realize, it’s hard work maintaining one’s own garden.  But it is so satisfying to see the rainbow of colors bloom in my yard from March until October—and know that it is one’s own hand that brings this about.

I also find myself on the front lines of kitten season every Spring.  This is the time of year when we see the largest number of community cats in heat, pregnant, or with a litter of kittens at our spay/neuter clinic.  It’s my job to get the word out about this issue; to reduce the number of abandoned, abused, and malnourished animals; to remind our clients and stakeholders that we are here to help provide spay/neuter services; to provide trap rentals and training in trap-neuter-return; to find adoptive and foster homes for socialized or socializable cats and kittens through our rescue partners; to educate municipalities about the need to control the pet population; to remind everyone that community cats have the right to live without fear of euthanasia in Anne Arundel county; to advocate for community cats for those rights everywhere.  

I do not do this alone. It takes everyone to protect and save cats.  Our head veterinarian, Dr. Sandra Andrulis, leads the way. Our SAVECats program manager, Niki Cochran, traps as many cats as possible and coordinates with rescues. Our hardworking clinic reception and staff provide necessary services and support. I work with our partner Robin Catlett at Anne Arundel County Animal Care and Control to address feral colonies in need of support.  I work with the Rude Ranch Animal Rescue Board and staff to ensure proper funding, marketing, and resources are available.  I work to support a dedicated set of volunteers whose life work is to help community cats and communities in need of help.  And I work with you.    

 As with being able to see a beautiful kaleidoscope of flowers in my own garden, it is likewise amazing to see the gorgeous clowder of cats that grace our sanctuary and Spay Spa & Neuter Nook.  Since inception, our SAVECats program has helped over 4000 community cats. Now in its 4^th year, SAVECats has been a smashing success, thanks to you.  Thank you for supporting us in word and in action, in the clinic or on the street, through your donation of money or time.  With liberties from and respect to Voltaire, one must cultivate one’s own cats – where all cats that are unowned are, in fact, owned by me.  And you.

Warmest paws,
Erik 

Our SAVECats Continued program is continuing (no pun intended) to help as many community cats as we can! From July 1 - Oct 31, 2021, we provided rabies vaccinations and medical support to 350 cats.  Of those cats, we performed 330 spay/neuter surgeries, with 168 neuters and 162 spays.  The remaining 20 animals received different types of emergency medical care including amputations, hernia surgery, wound repair, and other medical needs.  

We are at 632 animals spayed or neutered since launching this project on GlobalGiving and over 900 since we started this calendar year.  We had projected doing 100 animals every month, but we have not been able to keep up with our projected numbers due to issues related to staffing, scheduled clinic closure (annual vacation for staff), and the inability to get cats to enter traps when we want them (always a problem when projecting numbers!).  Not to worry, because this is a never ending project.  We are always providing free spay/neuter and vaccinations to 100 cats every month. If we are behind our intended schedule, we just add an additional month at the end of the funding period to fulfill our goals. 

Thanks to your support of our good work, we have been awarded a grant from the MD Department of Agriculture for the 2022 to help 900 feral cats with our TNR program. We are so grateful your continued support!

Please share our project on your social media pages - for the animals!