Cats Unlimited Reaches Major Milestone

April 30, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: A significant milestone was recently reached by the Cats Unlimited organization. The milestone is that since 2004 when Cats Unlimited was started, they have worked with the local veterinarians to spay/neuter 8,000 cats with their low-cost spay/neuter program.

This is a truly remarkable achievement only made possible by the dedication of many volunteers who have donated time (and money), the support from local vets, contributions from the public for items contributed to, and bought at, the fundraising events. And, of course, the effort includes all of the people who have acted responsibly and taken advantage of Cats Unlimited’s low-cost spay/ neuter program. A truly community effort! In addition, Cats Unlimited has gotten grants from national organizations, and in April received a grant from the W&L Community Fund.

So, what impact does spaying and neutering 8,000 cats have on the community? From the PetHealth Network (a service of IDEXX): “An average cat has 1–8 kittens per litter, and 2–3 litters per year. During her productive life, one female cat could have more than 100 kittens. A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just 7 years.” Wow! I’ll let you do the math of what the very large numbers could be, because it’s beyond my mathematical skills.

As an indicator of the impact of the low-cost spay/neuter program has had on our community are the statistics from the Rockbridge SPCA. In 2009, the number of cats taken in at the SPCA was 1,617 while in 2022 the number was 525 (statistics are from the Virginia Department of Animal and Consumer Services). That’s a 68% reduction in intake. There can be other factors for this reduction, but I believe the low-cost spay/neuter program is largely responsible for that significant reduction. This reduction helps local governments reduce budgets for animal control expenses.

In closing, please be a responsible pet owner, and citizen, and have your cat spayed or neutered. Thank you. JEFF SCOTT Lexington