Most of our visitors never see the two windowless rooms at the back of the Friends of Felines clinic. But those rooms – surgery prep and the sterile OR – are the engine of our rescue work. We want to highlight them as our annual gala approaches and we ask our community for support.
Every day, this incredible medical team dons scrubs, organizes a rack of carriers and cat traps and gets an average of 40 cats spayed and neutered. Some of the daily surgeries are our shelter kitties, each one fixed before they’re adopted into their new homes. Some are feral or community cats trapped by dedicated volunteer rescuers. Some are owned pets.
Last year, our surgery team performed 6,830 surgeries. It’s 4,419 so far this year, with a grand total of 23,611 surgeries done since 2021.
This team is efficient and professional, with steady hands and an unwavering commitment to taking excellent care of all cats. They examine cats, put them under anesthesia, check their vital signs, shave them and administer medications, all in a matter of minutes. For hours, they keep the flow going, with new kitties getting ready as our veterinary surgeon works his magic in the sterile operating room.
Recently, a volunteer stopped by to get some photos of the surgery team in action. She watched our lead veterinary assistant Janelle prepare a cat for a neuter.
Her jaw dropped. “You’re so fast,” she said.
Janelle politely explained she was actually moving at quarter speed to make taking photos easier.
When we bring visitors into the surgery prep room, we usually hear two things: “Wow,” and “I had no idea you did all this.”
We do it because we care deeply about the welfare of cats – and that includes preventing unwanted litters. It’s why we offer affordable surgery: just $99 for anyone. It’s why we gave out more than $69,000 in spay/neuter assistance to community members last year. It’s why we can work with feral cat trappers and reschedule surgeries when the cats have their own schedule and won’t go into the traps.
This challenging, yet rewarding work takes having our entire community behind us.
