I know that you hear all the time about how your idea of parenting changes drastically when you have children and while I can’t tell you if that is true I can tell you that my view of cat ownership is one that has changed since I have been come a proud crazy cat lady.
I always had a hard and fast rule that unless something is breeding quality it needed to go to the vet and get spayed or neutered. I thought that it was a simple thing. I took my dog Pepto in when she was just a puppy because although she’s the best dog for our ranch, having a dog that herds from the Polaris or truck really isn’t a high paying trait. I thought that all of the feral cats was because of all the irresponsible cat owners that just don’t take the time to get it done. Then I got my herd….
The past few years we have had some cats show up at the house and just become one of the gang. The first one was Highbrow. You know like Highbrow Cat… the only people that understand are western horse people. When I told the vet tech when she went to get spayed the lady looked at her really hard and finally said she couldn’t tell that her brows were any higher than other cats she had seen but she would take my word on it. LOL
On my adventure to get Highbrow spayed I called a local vet. The receptionist wanted to know how old she was, and couldn’t grasp that I had no idea she just showed up. She also wanted me to bring her in for a consultation before we set a spay date. I didn’t have a lot of time to bring her in once let alone two times and I was 100% confident that we didn’t need a consulation one kitten was good enough for me. She picked us and lived in the barn, she didn’t need to be making more and attracting males to pee on everything. It was also going to cost over $300 between the two visits and that seemed like a lot for a kitten that just showed up one day. So I took Highbrow to the Stephens County Humane Society for one of their lower cost Spay and Neuter days. It was an eye opening experience the people working were so nice but they were so overwhelmed. The place was packed and they had you pay ahead because they said that sometimes people don’t come back to pick up the cats, they are just strays that they caught. I also ran into the problem that we don’t actually live in Stephens county so all though they did it they said it was really a program for those that lived in the county. I completely understood and decided the next time I would find another option.
The next cat that entered our lives was Meow Meow. She also came bred and had a litter or four kittens that we now affectionately call Mew, Junior, Nanners, and Apples. I called the lower cost spay and neuter clinic in my actual county which was booked out months in advance. This clinic was also further away from the Stephens County and I was going to be out of town but luckily one of my friends agreed to take Meow Meow in for me. The night that she was suppose to go in she disappeared and we haven’t seen her since. I had to call and cancel.
It was finally time for the four kittens to get spayed and neutered. I called the place in my county and they were booked out even further and I really didn’t want to wait that long. So I started calling some more vets. The average price for a spay or neuter in my area is over $300 per cat! And let me tell you we don’t live in some high income area like silicon valley! I finally called a little clinic called Rush Springs Veterinary Clinic and they were $95 per cat. So that’s were my little herd went. Now they were wild and pretty big! While I can pet all of them and pickup two of them they don’t really like it. Our barn cats are the kind that would prefer to do their own thing. The ladies at Rush Springs Veterinary Clinic were so nice. They took our herd in took great care of them for the 24 hrs that they had them and we no longer have to worry about having more kittens! They answered all of my questions about how to take care of them because like I said I didn’t decide to go get a cat they came to us… We are also able to still afford to feed them and didn’t have to pick a favorite to go in.
I now know why the cat population is so out of control. I understand that vets have a lot of cost involved with keeping their doors open and paying for their education but as Rush Springs and low cost clinics have shown it can be done economical. They don’t have the fanciest vet clinic but it is dang sure clean and they get the job done. They didn’t run any test on the cats they just did the procedure and sent them home. I have heard it preached a lot that you have to get your pets spayed and neutered but if it’s only available at the big price tag I was quoted I can see how a lot of people can’t afford to and the problem literally multiplies. I am a huge fan of vets but I have to say I have an ever bigger appreciation for ones that make caring and doing the right thing for our animals affordable.
I know that we aren’t the only family that had an animal or two show up and we decided to give it a chance. I am forever grateful to Rush Springs Veterinary Clinic for making it possible for me to do the right thing with the animals that I decided to keep. At $300 a cat I was going to have to make some hard choices on which ones got to go in and which ones might need to find a new home.
I have to admit that I have been humbled by this experience and my dead stance that the people that didn’t spay and neuter their non breeding animals were irresponsible owners has softened.
Thank you so much to the Rush Springs Veterinary Clinic staff!
Ranch Wife Ramblings 