Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project

Everyone knows we love our big boys around here—-but we love our big girls, too! (We just don't see quite as many of them.) Guinevere visited us this week for her spay and rabies vaccine. She's 2 years old and 11 pounds, plus she's fluffy, which makes her very magnificent indeed!

It's Big Boy Thursday, and this is Leo! This certified Big Boy and gentle giant is 5 years old and weighs nearly 15 pounds! And he was a perfect candidate for a neuter for several reasons besides the obvious one of no longer fathering kittens.

Leo has some fractured and missing teeth, and has no doubt been in a few fights with other cats. We usually ear-tip boy kitties on the left side, but tipped him on the right instead because the tissue of his other ear is thickened. And he has a mild case of entropion, a condition where the eyelid turns in and irritates the eye by rubbing on it—which our vet says should resolve on its own, once his cheeks diminish post-neuter!

That neuter now accomplished, and with his vaccines and a dose of flea treatment, this community cat will appreciate having a more comfortable and peaceful life!

Do you have any large cat carriers you'd like to pass on? Are you planning on visiting a thrift store sometime soon? Our stash of large carriers is quickly dwindling. Our feline patients need a safe place to recover after surgery, and you can help!

Folks can drop off carriers at the temporary Lynnwood location (19720 44th Ave W, Suite T, Lynnwood WA, 98036) Monday through Thursday between 9AM and 2PM. Ring the doorbell if no one is on hand to let you in. Our Big Boy (and Big Girl) kitties thank you, and so do we!

How now, brown cow...er, tortoiseshell cat! Here's an unusual tortie for your Tuesday--orange and brown, instead of black!

Winnie is a 4-month-old community cat from Orting, WA, who visited us for her spay and rabies vaccine last week. She has a caretaker, but needed to be trapped for them to bring her to us. Since female cats can get pregnant when they're as young as 4 months of age, this was perfect timing!

FAF (Friends of the Animals Foundation) brought us this little tousled guy last week for his neuter, vaccines, and flea treatment. He’s from a feral colony at a large apartment in Tukwila. FAF had the population there under control, but there was a mini explosion recently, and they are back at the site hoping to get it back under control.

“At night, the kittens sneak into the adjacent park to run and play,” our FAF contact told us. “When I went to trap, I laughed as I saw this little guy curiously eyeing a fly trapped in a Wendy's cup that was littering the ground. Kittens are kittens no matter their circumstances!”

As this kitten is feral, he will be rereleased. It was noted that he is underweight, so they will be sure to provide more food at that side of the complex.

Meet Oscar Sunset! He's an ear-tip kitty from Darrington, WA, who visited us on the last day of July with his brown tabby sister, Stormy Weather. The woman caring for him frequently ends up with kittens from various feral or barn cats in the area. She gets them used to people and being handled, and has them snipped and vaccinated. Then they go to homes where some get to be family pets and others who need a bit more freedom get a barn to call their own.

The person who transported Oscar Sunset to us notes that the fostering for homes is VERY rare. Mostly they handle cats who range from indoor/outdoor to barn cats. Some are feral or grownup kittens from cats who were dumped in rural areas around town. All of the cats who come through them have caretakers. As they can, kittens are socialized and rehomed.

Big Boy Thursday comin' atcha! This large and splendid 2-year-old community cat visited us from Grays Harbor Spay/Neuter Project last week. While here, he received not only his neuter, but also vaccines and flea treatment. He will now be less cheeky (we're sorry about that part!) and less likely to get into fights. Plus there will be no more kittens produced by this guy!

You might have seen the orange kitty boy we posted on Friday, the one with the birth defect. We thought you might also like to see him awake!

You can tell he's friendly, so he'll be heading off eventually to a shelter for adoption. But not all kittens are so lucky, even the ones who won't do well fending for themselves outdoors, because foster homes are in short supply. That's where you can come in! Groups like Community Cat Coalition need fosters for cats and kittens, and their website has all the info you need to get started. You can have a direct impact on the lives of kitties like this little guy, plus lots of chances to get snuggles along the way!

It's safe to spay and neuter kittens who are as young as 2 months old—and since cats can become pregnant at 4 months, it can be a very good idea to do so!—but they have to weigh 2 pounds for us to provide them with that surgery. Dust and Bunny, unfortunately, were just a skosh under that weight when we saw them yesterday. It happens!

So they have to go home and gain a little weight before they try again. We certainly enjoyed getting to see their tiny faces, though!

This young community cat visited us today from Onalaska Farm Sanctuary for her spay and vaccines. When we examined her, we could tell she was a past mom, but now she won't be a future one!

You may have heard that white cats are frequently deaf. That is true, but mostly for blue-eyed white kitties! The gene for deafness is linked to blue eyes, so cats like this golden-eyed cutie have a far lower chance of being born with hearing loss.

CW: Feline birth defect

This week Community Cat Coalition brought us 3 kittens (4-5 months old) from one site with birth defects on their hind legs. This probably doesn't bother the kitten, but does hinder his chances of survival outside. Luckily, these kittens are friendly, and hopefully they will be able to be placed in a shelter.

But for CCC to keep doing this necessary work, they DESPERATELY need foster homes for the cats they have! If you can provide a space for cats and/or kittens to keep them safe until they can get into already-overwhelmed shelters, please see the CCC website (URL in comments) for more information on how to get started. Otherwise, tame cats and kittens like this one may have to be released back outside.

We're extra lucky today, because it's World Cat Day—and it falls on Big Boy Thursday! And it's a special treat for Gray's Anatomy fans, because our Big Boy today is McSteamy!

McSteamy is a community cat from Snohomish, WA, who visited us via Community Cat Coalition for his neuter last week. He's 2½ years old and 11.4 pounds. As you can see, he's got a ragged ear (although it's fully healed), so you know he's been getting into some scraps, as un-neutered male cats are prone to do. Luckily, those days are now over!

(We also saw McDreamy, a brown tabby of similar size, that same day. Unfortunately, he declined to be photographed.)

On Wednesdays we wear orange! Among our ginger friends today were these three community cats, visiting us for their snips from Grays Harbor Spay/Neuter Project. The two red and white tabbies are from the same site, so it's not a stretch to guess they are related. (You'll notice that the big guy appears to have "trap nose," which results from a cat hitting up against the side of a carrier or trap. It looks painful, but should heal just fine on its own.)

Sometimes a kitten is just a hissypants when she wakes up from her spay. And that's okay! Boone, who visited us yesterday from Alley Cat Project, can put this experience behind her now and focus on growing up without any worries about going into heat or having unwanted litters. (And Boone, it's okay, we know you're normally a sweetheart!)

Ki-Kitty wants to make sure everyone knows she got her spay today! She's a friendly community cat and not shy at all about spreading the news. She visited us today from Moses Lake, along with kitten Dot (as well as kittens Spot, Leo, and Bean), and we saw that she was in heat—so maybe she's celebrating that she saw us when she did!

Congratulations to our Renton clinic/collaboration with South County Cats for snipping their 10,000th cat one week ago! Cat #10,000 is Mamala, a 2-year-old pet kitty from Auburn—and yes, she is named after Kamala Harris!

Mamala lived next door with her owners’ neighbors as an outside/barn cat and had 2 litters. “When the neighbors moved, they left her and the other kittens there, and they slowly made their way over to our yard,” her person told us. “When we found out she was pregnant with her 3rd litter, we decided to bring her inside and she gave birth a couple days later. She had 5 kittens! We rehoused 4 of them and decided to keep one, as well as her, so she’d have a playmate! She and her kittens have a forever home!”

Fun facts about Mamala:
She’s blind in one eye!
She love freeze-dried sardines.
They tried leash training her but she does not want to be outside.
Her fur is similar to bunny fur.

Is this not just the happiest story in every way?

Happy Big Boy (and also Throwback) Thursday! We'll have some of our current crop of Big Boys for you soon, but for today, here's a handsome fellow who visited us for his neuter back in June with a voucher from Purrfect Pals Cat Adoption Centers.

Given is 3½ years old and weighed in at 12.8 pounds! He's a gentle boy who doesn't bite, not a thing you can say about all Big Boys!

Who says black cats are hard to photograph? Salem is photogenic, and a lucky black cat to boot! This community cat from Arlington, WA, is just 1½ years old and has already given birth—but after visiting us today for her spay, she will never have to worry about caring for kittens ever again.

Don't you feel luckier yourself, now that you've seen her sweet little face?

Join us for Alley Cat Project’s next in-person adoption event where you will be able to meet many adoptable kittens and cats.

Available kittens and cats range in age, color, and personality - kitten to adult. Come see them in person to find the purrfect match for your family! They will go home with you immediately after adoption, so please come prepared with a sturdy carrier to bring them home in.

Save time by pre-filling out our questionnaire — https://tinyurl.com/ACPADOPTIONS
Please indicate that you plan to come to the event and what you are looking for in your response to “name of cat you are interested in.”

*Due to limited space and minimizing stress for our cats and kittens, only those who are ready to adopt and have filled out our questionnaire are allowed in the room. You will also have a brief conversation with one of our volunteers to be approved for adoption prior to meeting any cats or kittens. Thank you for understanding.

Please note that Alley Cat Project adopts kittens out in pairs. Kittens thrive when they have a friend! Most kittens will be in bonded pairs at the event. Unpaired kittens can only be adopted to homes that already have a young, friendly, and playful resident cat.

All Alley Cat Projects cats are spayed/neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated prior to adoption.

On Friday, a week before the 4th anniversary of our first spay day with Cat Spay/Neuter Project at our South County Spay & Neuter Clinic, the 10,000th cat was altered. On August 1, 2020, our first spay day altered 15 cats. Over three spay days this weekend, 161 cats - 63 male and 98 female cats, received surgery. What a way to celebrate our 10,000th cat! It actually put us at 2,263 cats for the year and 10,128 since we opened the clinic. Pasado's Safe Haven's monthly spay days add another 500+ surgeries to the total number of cats altered.

Our clinic has seen cats from 19 counties - King, Snohomish, Pierce, Thurston, Mason, Kittitas, Lewis, Kitsap, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Whatcom, Yakima, Clark, Benton, Island, Multhomah, Grant, Adams, Skagit.

This work is made possible with staff from Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project funded by South County Cats, volunteers from both organizations, donations and grants to South County Cats, as well as fundraisers that many of our supporters have contributed to.

It's impossible to calculate the tens of thousands of unplanned kittens, as well as lives saved, through the great work that is being done at our clinic. but we know it's making a tremendous impact on the counties and communities these cats come from.

South County Cats subsidizes every surgery as well as funding the equipment, lease, utilities and medical supplies for the clinic. Visit our website https://www.southcountycats.org/you-can-help to learn how you can help us keep surgery and rabies vaccine free for feral/community cats and low-cost for companion cats.

Curious what's happened to our old clinic as we perform spays and neuters in a temporary space while our new space is being readied? Here's what it looks like now--all empty, along with the neighboring businesses, behind construction fencing! Kind of sad, isn't it? But happily now our snips have resumed in Lynnwood!

Today was not only the first clinic in our new temporary Lynnwood location, it was a clinic sponsored by one of our long-term supporters, Mary, in honor of Jeanne Dahncke! 15 cats visited us today from Alley Cat Project for their spays and neuters, including Earl, Daisy, Trino, Seward 38, Anthony, and Bridget 25. Many thanks to volunteers Muhen (seen with Presto) and Kaleena, as well as Dr. Holly for their work today!

Jeanne (seen here in her high school yearbook photo) was a trapper and foster for cats, and July 11 would have been her birthday. This is the third year in a row Mary has sponsored a clinic in Jeanne's memory. Thank you, Mary!

Beautiful Stella, shining star! Stella was 6 months old when she visited us in June from Oly Camp Kitties in Thurston County. She got her spay and vaccines that day, and is now set for a much easier life than she might have otherwise had!

Oly Camp Kitties provides spay/neuter and basic health services to people in the unhoused community in the greater Olympia, WA, area who might otherwise have difficulty accessing those services. They also provide foster homes for cats and have cats and kittens for adoption, usually through Pawsific NorthWest Cat Cafe in Olympia.

Exciting things are afoot at FCSNP (see yesterday's post for details, in case you missed it), but that's no reason to skip Big Boy Thursday. After all, we wouldn't want you to miss out on Nemo!

Nemo is 4 1/2 years old and 14 1/2 pounds! He's a pet cat who visited us from Snohomish for his snip on June 12, along with another orange kitty, Sugar. And just look at those paws! Sometimes polydactyl kitties—those with extra toes—have medical problems with their feet. But not Nemo: his are perfect, just like Nemo himself!

FCSNP is happy to announce that we will soon be snipping cats again in Lynnwood at our temporary location, starting July 29!

We’ve been hard at work, as you can see, converting an empty real estate office into our temporary spay/neuter clinic. We’ll be announcing the address soon, and starting at 9 a.m. on August 1, you can make appointments for cats at our temp space! If you have a pet cat, please go to our website (feralcatproject.org) and look for the “Make an Appointment” tab. To make an appointment for a feral or free-roaming feline, email us at questions @ feralcatproject.org (remove the spaces between the words).

We’re looking forward to spaying and neutering in Lynnwood again!

"Where am I and why am I so sleepy?" tiny Kumquat must be thinking.

Well, Kumquat, you have just gotten your spay! You were brought to us in June by Seattle Area Feline Rescue to get you ready to be adopted into a forever home. Cats as young as 4 months old can get pregnant, and you're not too far from that age, but now you can focus on the joys of being a kitten, like cuddles and playtime, rather than on raising litters of kittens!

This 10-month-old community cat from Grays Harbor Spay/Neuter Project was lucky when she saw us in May—and not just because her spay means a lifetime now free of heats and pregnancies. It turned out she had a pyometra, or infected uterus, a condition which can be life-threatening.

But this tabby cutie received her spay and an injection of a long-lasting antibiotic to aid in her healing, so her condition is completely cured. Spays save lives!

Gus Gus is a feral, free-roaming cat who lives outdoors, but he has a person who cares enough about him to make sure he got his neuter, vaccines, and flea treatment from us. He visited us from Monroe, WA, in June, when he was just 5 months old. Look at the size of those paws! Gus Gus is going to be a big kitty, but luckily, not one who cruises the neighborhood making kittens and looking for a fight!

Every once in a while we have a pic that may not be technically excellent, but which is still too entertaining not to share. And when that photo is of a 13.8-pound kitty, we share it on Big Boy Tuesday!

Teddy is a community cat who visited us from Bellevue in June for his neuter and vaccines. He's 2½ years old, and as you can see, very interested in everything around him. Repeated tries only netted these not-so-great pics--but you can see, they are still pics of a very great cat!

Masha is a 5-year-old community cat who visited us from Lynnwood in June for her spay and vaccines. We are honored to have been able to spend time with such an elegant brown tabby girl, gorgeous even when she was still a bit squinty post-anesthesia!