Santa Barbara County Animal Services is offering free spay, neuter, and microchip services to cat owners for the month of February, thanks to the county’s Project PetSafe program.
Project PetSafe outreach coordinator Jessica Ortega-Wiebe said PetSafe runs the free offer, called “Snip N Chip,” twice yearly because that’s how often female cats go into heat—usually once in late winter and again in late spring.
February’s offer aims to beat the spring heat and curb the county’s feral cat population, she said.
One unaltered female cat can give birth to two litters of eight to 12 kittens each year. If all these kittens went unfixed, Ortega-Wiebe said, one cat could theoretically contribute to as many as 500,000 kittens over a course of five years.
“Not only is the program important for the overpopulation problem that we have in our county, but it decreases mammary and testicular cancer and benefits the health of the animal,” Ortega-Wiebe said.
The microchip service is included in the offer to help shelters return lost cats to their rightful homes. Microchips are inserted via needle into the skin layer between the cat’s shoulder blades, and the chips are programmed with numbers that lead back to the cat’s registered owner.
“We often end up with cats at the shelter, and people don’t think to start looking for them there,” Ortega-Wiebe said. “The microchips help us get them back to their owners.”
The Snip N Chip service is advertised as available to the first 150 residents who sign up, but Ortega-Wiebe said that number is more of a minimum target than a maximum limit.
“If we exceed that 150, we will continue to get the cats altered,” she said. “We will welcome more. We’re just aiming for 150 in the county. We will find a way, because we want the cats altered.”
September’s Snip N Chip program drew approximately 200 cat owners, but Ortega-Wiebe said this month’s service is drawing less attention.
“February seems to be a slower response,” she said. “That’s why we’re offering it for free.”
This article appears in Feb 4-11, 2016.