I've been frustrated with SSPCA over the past month as I've tried to secure affordable spay/neuter appts for a litter of 5 kittens I've been fostering, along with their mother (whom I've decided to keep). However, my recent email exchanges with SSPCA have added a new layer of disappointment to an already frustrating experience.
About a yr ago, the adult daughter of a friend's bf brought home 2 barn cats, 1 black & 1 grey. The agreement was that she could keep them on the property as barn cats if she had them spayed. Unfortunately, that never happened. About 7 mos ago, the black cat gave birth to a litter. All but 1 of the kittens died. Afterward, her dad told her that both cats needed to be fixed. Unfortunately, that still never happened, & both cats became pregnant.
The grey cat gave birth to 7 kittens 3 mos ago. I checked on them regularly, and about 3.5 wks ago, my friend texted me after she & her boyfriend returned from being out of town. They discovered that only 5 of the 7 kittens remained. At that point, I suggested bringing the grey mama & her 5 kittens to my house while we arranged to have them fixed & find them good homes. They have been staying with me since 9/27.
Once I had them settled into their "wing" of my house, I began looking into affordable spay/neuter programs for the kittens. I was able to get mama cat spayed through Bradshaw Animal Shelter relatively quickly as we initially thought she was pregnant again (turns out she had a severe tapeworm infestation).
Getting appts for the kittens through SSPCA, however, has been an entirely diff experience.
For the past 3 wks or so, I've logged into SSPCA's spay/neuter sched system almost every day at exactly 6p, as instructed. Every time, the appts are already full.
After my first attempt, I also signed up for email notifications about last-min openings. I freq receive these emails around 1a for appt avail for that same day. Since I'm a night owl, I see these notifications when they arrive & immediately check the sched page. However, no openings are avail.
To be clear, I'm not checking once, seeing that the sched is still full, & giving up. I refresh the page multiple times & log out & back in periodically over the course of ~ 30 mins. Despite repeated attempts, I've never once seen an appt become avail.
After a week of experiencing these issues, I called SSPCA & left a voicemail explaining what was happening. I asked whether there was something else I should be doing & requested a call back. I never received one.
This week, I emailed them & explained the steps I'd been following & the results I was getting. The initial response essentially instructed me to do exactly what I'd already been doing. I replied to clarify that I was following those instructions & explained that I was trying to get the kittens fixed asap & get them adopted out.
When I say "adopted out", I mean finding them loving homes. I'm not making money from this. In fact, I've already accepted that I will cover the spay/neuter expenses myself, in addition to the costs of providing food, litter, shelter, & everything else the cats need while they're in my care.
The response to my follow-up email informed me that SSPCA's program is only for cats who'll be released back to the streets. If I intend to find the kittens homes, I'd have to pay the reg. price for their spay/neuter procedures.
Am I understanding this correctly? Because I'm trying to get these kittens fixed & place them in loving homes rather than release them back to the street, I have to pay more?
I understand that programs have eligibility requirements & that diff services may have diff costs. My frustration is that I've spent weeks diligently following the instructions provided, trying to access affordable services that would allow me to get these kittens fixed asap. I've been unable to secure an appt, received no response to my VM, & initially received an email response that simply repeated the instructions I'd already been following.
I'm trying to do the responsible thing. These kittens were born because the adult cats were not spayed, & I stepped in when their living situation became concerning. I brought the mama cat & her surviving kittens into my home, took responsibility for their care, & am working to ensure they're spayed/neutered & placed in safe, loving homes.
I'm not asking for anything beyond the opportunity to access affordable spay/neuter services. Instead, I feel as though I'm being penalized financially for trying to find the kittens homes rather than putting them back on the streets.
I realize SSPCA receives a high volume of requests & has limited resources, & I'd expect an org dedicated to animal welfare to be willing to provide clearer guidance & help people who are actively trying to prevent unwanted litters & improve animals' lives. This experience has been incredibly frustrating & has left me disappointed in an org I'd hoped would be a resource for people trying to do the right thing for animals. read more