RSPCA ACT Cat Desexing Program A Success

During the month of September, RSPCA ACT partnered with local vet clinics for its newest animal welfare initiative and successfully desex 380 cats owned by residents in the greater Canberra community.

The ‘Frisky Tom’ campaign aims to desex 1,500 cats over a three-year period. To encourage cat owners to do this, the campaign offers free and discounted desexing for a month.

The campaign was implemented after RSPCA ACT noticed a worrying trend in the increase of pregnant cats and unwanted kittens coming into their care at the Weston shelter over a number of years. In fact, last financial year RSPCA ACT broke its own record set just the previous year for the number of kittens adopted by 9%.

RSPCA ACT CEO Tammy Ven Dange said that the rise in pregnant cats and kittens coming into care is a worrying trend, “Breaking our records for kitten adoptions two years in a row may seem like a good thing, but actually it’s quite troubling. We’re fortunate that right now there are enough people in Canberra that want to adopt these unwanted animals. However, with this kind of growth rate it is unsustainable both from an animal welfare and a resource perspective.”

Throughout the month of September RSPCA ACT vet clinic desexed 212 cats while local vet clinics including Kent Street, Inner South, Wanniassa Hills, Northside and Curtin desexed 168 cats. In total there were 380 cats desexed during the month.

Tammy Ven Dange was very happy with the number of cats desexed during September, “We had hoped to do a few more this year, but we now have plenty of lessons learned to take into next year to ensure that those that need to service know that it exists for them. What I can say is that we could not have achieved 380 desexings this year without the wonderful support of the vet clinics involved. A huge thanks goes out to them.”

Of the cats that were desexed, 29% were from the Tuggeranong region, with the City region next highest at 17% and the Belconnen region at 16%.

Tammy says it’s great to see people take advantage of the program, “Desexing your pet is a part of being a responsible pet owner. The “Frisky Tom” campaign is meant to remove financial barriers for people to do this, and we are very happy to see so many cat owners take advantage of this program this year.”

With the warmer months well and truly here, RSPCA ACT would like to encourage members of the Canberra community to desex their pets any time of the year to avoid unwanted litters. RSPCA ACT offers payment plans for veterinarian services for owners on any income. Please call (02) 6287 8100 or your nearest vet to book an appointment.

For all the latest RSPCA ACT news, visit www.rspca-act.org.au or follow RSPCA ACT on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information or interview requests please contact:

Joshua Pickham, Marketing Coordinator, RSPCA ACT
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 02 6287 8110

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RSPCA ACT Cat Desexing Program A Success

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