Feral Cat Fixathon

Female kitty just spayed

Saturday I spent the morning volunteering at Lollypop Farm for the feral cat fixathon. The fixathons happen a few times a year where small rescue groups and individuals can bring in feral cats to be spayed and neutered for a small fee. These people trap, neuter, and release (TNR) the cats back to their colony. This was my first time volunteering at one of the fixathons and it was a very fun day. The fantastic vets and vet techs were able to fix 43 cats Saturday morning!

My volunteer job was to help take care of the cats as they are coming out of anesthesia. The females have tubes in their mouths that must be removed once they start coming around. The males don't have the tubes because their surgery is must faster so they are put under less anesthesia. While one of the cats was under I was able to shave off his mats. Being a feral cat he doesn't have anyone to brush his long hair and it was extremely matted. I hope he was more comfortable when he woke up.

Shaved long hair cat

Feral cats are wild and are not candidates for adoption. People trap them and get them fixed as an effort to control over population. Cats reproduce very quickly. When a feral cat is fixed the point of its ear is cut off. This signals to others that this cat is already fixed and their is no need to go through the trouble of trapping and vetting this particular cat.