Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Almost 426 cat testicles...give or take.

On Sunday I was part of a very long, very special day.

It was neuter-a-thon day again!

My day started very very early, and for the first part of the day, I was the person responsible for taking the kitties off the operating tables, and taking them to their recovery rooms. This meant that I was one of the few people wwho actually had a hands on role where I touched every single one of the 213 cats that came through the clinic on Sunday. It also meant that I got to hold them and hug them, and they didn't fight to get away, like my cat does. I can thusly conclude that sedated cats are the best cats.

The next part of the day was spent checking out kitties and giving them back to their owners. That was also sort of rewarding- after explaining to them what they needed to do post surgery while they listened carefully (I just love an audience), several told me that they would not have been able to afford the vaccinations or neutering without the low cost clinic on account of layoffs, the economy, and all that jazz that we hear so much these days. That made me feel so good!

Here's an especially special fact: According to the man from the National ASPCA Office, we shattered the previous record for Southern Neuter A Thons- it was 153 in one day. We had 213! Hooray!

Did you know that a single male cat can father THOUSANDS of offspring? Well, did you? I didn't, but that's what makes this type of work so very very important- that's thousands of cats who won't be contributing to the head count of a feral cat colony, or won't wind up in shelters. Such a wonderful program. I really can't say enough about it.

I also can't tell you how sore I was yesterday. My wrists and shoulders ached, my legs feel like I climbed a mountain, and wow is my back stiff. But I would absolutely do it again in a heartbeat!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I live in a country plagued by feral cats. Our local council now has a law that dogs AND cats must be registered and it costs extra to own a breeding animal - but that doesn't seem to lessen the feral population.

May whatever force you believe in reward you for helping out with the record day!