Slowing the Multiplication Factor
Multiply 400 cats — as they’ll do without any assistance — and in a year you’ll get 4,000 kittens, more or less.
“It can cascade,” says Kathy Evans of Rude Ranch’s Spay Spa and Neuter Nook.
Four thousand fewer unwanted kittens in 2015 sounded like a pretty good investment to Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Spay and Neuter Advisory Board. So good that the seven animal advocates on the new board voted to grant $29,275 of its first-year $475,000 budget to the two-year-old Davidsonville not-for-profit.
The Spay Spa and Neuter Nook is the only Anne Arundel or Calvert group to win funds in the first funding cycle of the program created by the Maryland General Assembly last year to reduce the number of cats and dogs euthanized in shelters. Funding comes from a fee paid by pet food companies that sell products in Maryland.
Spay Spa and Neuter Nook is one of 14 organizations across Maryland awarded grant funding to provide low-cost spay and neutering to low-income pet owners. Fifty-one applicants requested more than $1.8 million.
Spay Spa and Neuter Nook’s grant also covers 100 dogs.
“Dogs can multiply pretty good, but their puppy potential is harder to rate,” Evans told Bay Weekly. “Litters range so vastly, from four for Chihuahuas to 10 to 12 a litter for over-achievers like Labs.”
The program is targeted to four northern Anne Arundel communities: Brooklyn Park, Glen Burnie, Pasadena and Severn. The areas were chosen with Anne Arundel County animal control administrator Robin Catlett because of high rates of owner-surrendered animals, largely unaltered.
“National figures show that low spay and neuter rates correlated with higher poverty rates,” Evans said. Senior citizens, who often live on fixed incomes, are also included.
As is transportation. “We’ll set up neighborhood staging areas,” Evans explained, so people can meet us on X day at X time and place, and we’ll transport their animals back and forth.”
The program kicks off with a pilot in December and continues full-blown throughout 2015, bringing the Spay Spa and Neuter Nook to its full capacity of about 6,000 surgeries per year.
Spay Spa and Neuter Nook services are also available countywide. Prices range from $50 to $55 for cats and $65 to $175 for dogs, rising with weight. Frequent specials, often supported by PetSmart, reduce prices to as low as $20 per surgery.
Info: www.spayspa.org.