PORT ANGELES — Come next spring, 75 fewer feral cats might populate the Welcome Inn RV park on U.S. Highway 101 west of the city.
That’s roughly how many kittens the 15 or so female cats that were spayed over the weekend would have littered — not to mention how many an equal number of neutered male cats might have sired.
Peninsula Friends of Animals and the Clallam County Humane Society brought the Spay to Save clinic’s mobile veterinary van to the mobile home park Saturday.
Dr. Karen Mueller, a Bellingham veterinarian who specializes in high-volume spay and neuter surgeries, performed the operations, helped by a vet’s assistant, a veterinary technician and several volunteers.
They first operated on about 10 cats that Welcome Inn residents had brought in to be sterilized, then turned to the roughly 20 free-roaming or feral cats they had trapped humanely, sometimes enticing the animals with what volunteer Marion Wagner of Sequim called “stinky fish,” mostly tuna or mackerel.
It took Mueller about six minutes to spay a female, 60 seconds to castrate a male — all under anesthesia — then to clip their ears for identification, vaccinate them for rabies and distemper, and treat them for fleas if necessary. One cat was quarantined with a respiratory infection.
Adult cats were released after they recovered for up to two days. Kittens went to Friends of Animals foster homes, where they will be socialized, then put up for adoption, many at Petco in Sequim Village Marketplace, 1205 W. Washington St.
The day’s activity cost $1,500, said Humane Society President Sue Miles, all of it from private donations.
Miles herself has fostered a litter of kittens that a female delivered while awaiting adoption at Petco.
They are ready for new homes, as is another kitten named Rain.
When it was trapped, Rain had a broken leg that had to be amputated. Potential adopters can call Spay to Save at 360-461-5434.
Other people interested in having their pets neutered can email Wagner at marion@spaytosave.org.
For qualifying low-income pet owners, sterilization costs $10 for a male cat, $20 for a female feline and $30 for a dog of either gender.
People also can borrow humane traps to catch feral cats, which Spay to Save will sterilize for free.
More than 100 feral cats have been treated since summer, Wagner said.
“If people are feeding feral cats, I train them in how to use the trap,” she said.
Trapping, neutering and releasing wild felines has been shown to reduce their population.
“Killing cats does not work,” she said Saturday, because cats usually can find shelter and food.
“It’s not a solution to stop feeding because then you starve them.
“[Trap-neuter-return] has been shown in the past that it will work — basically sterilize the population and then reduce it.”
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Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com