ASPCA survey shows an increase in kittens spring to fall season is really three seasons in one, starting in spring, peaking in late spring or early summer, and ending in fall. “One female and one male cat and their offspring can produce 1728 kittens in just 3 years….420,000 in 7 years” (http://www.peopleforanimals.net ).Those statistics are staggering.

We live in a world with a major overpopulation problem where there are 3-4 million animals euthanized a year. In April 2013, The Tennessean reported that Metro Animal Control  (Davidson County) had an intake of 10,000+ animals annually with a euthanasia rate of 76-78%.

How you can help:

1-Spay and Nueter your pets (and any feral ones in your community)

There are lots of low cost spay and neuter clinics in Middle Tennessee and financial support programs. The Pet Community Center just opened a new clinic in East Nashville and also offers a Trap Neuter Release Program to humanely help curb the feral cat program. View the list of resources available to help in Middle Tennessee. Read an article that also lists prices and additional details.

Here are some benefits of spaying and neutering your pets according to People For Animals
-
“Sterilization of your cat or dog will increase his/her chance of a longer and healthier life. Altering your canine friend will increase his life an average of 1 to 3 years, felines, 3 to 5 years. Altered animals have a very low to no risk of mammary gland tumors/cancer, prostate cancer, perianal tumors, pyometria, and uterine, ovarian and testicular cancers.”

-“Sterilizing your cat/dog makes him/her a better pet, reducing his/her urge to roam and decreasing the risk of contracting diseases or getting hurt as they roam. Surveys indicate that as many as 85% of dogs hit by cars are unaltered. Intact male cats living outside have been shown to live on average less than two years. Feline Immunodeficiency Syndrome is spread by bites and intact cats fight a great deal more than altered cats.”

2-Adopt a kitten or a cat

Consider adopting a kitten or a cat. Kittens are easier to adopt because they are so cute so take the time to consider rescuing a cat instead! Read an article about the pro’s of picking a cat instead of a kitten, published on Veterinary Partner.

Click here for a list of rescue groups, shelters and animal control agencies who will all have animals to adopt!

Other ways to help:

Foster, volunteer or donate time or funding to help support efforts.
You can even purchase an animal friendly license plate and $15.62 of the annual $56.50 fee will be “allocated to the Animal Population Control Endowment Fund.”http://www.tn.gov

Other Resources
Pet Statistics, ASPCA, http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics
Spay/Neuter Statistics: People for Animals, http://www.peopleforanimals.net

The post Kitten Season appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

Stationary Card Sets Available: (Cats, Flowers, Animals, Scenic and Travel)

Cat Set

-12 cards (6 different cards with 2 copies each) $15
-18 cards (6 different cards with 3 copies each) $20

This set is titled “family” and is a part of our family. We rescued the stray pregnant female May of 2015 and she is now our Mama June, a wonderful mother and sweet cat. Having just days before lost our cat of 15 years it was an incredible experience to watch the kittens grow. Want to read more about the rescue story, click here.

Flower Set

-12 cards (6 different cards with 2 copies each) $15
-18 cards (6 different cards with 3 copies each) $20

This flower set is from different areas of Nashville, Huntsville and St. Louis.

Animal Set

-12 cards (6 different cards with 2 copies each) $15
-18 cards (6 different cards with 3 copies each) $20

These animal pictures were taken on different trips from Alabama to Hawaii. There is so much beauty and strength in these amazing creatures.

Scenic Set

-12 cards (4 different cards with 3 copies each) $15

These pictures were taken from left to right (Kauai, Hawaii, Kennebunkport, Maine, Bald Head Island, NC, and the Bahamas).

Travel Set

-12 cards (4 different cards with 3 copies each) $15

All four of these photographs were taken on the beautiful island of Santorini, Greece. An unforgettable spot especially as there were community dogs lying around everywhere.

If you want to purchase cards, you may do so through our Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/StrayMagnet. Prefer to cut down on fees and have more go to the animals, just email us at contact@straymagnet.com. You can designate which animal organization your proceeds go to from our list or choose your own.

Nashville Organizations that we support:

Nashville Cat Rescue
website: http://awos.petfinder.com

Nashville Humane Association
website: www.nashvillehumane.org

Happy Tales Humane
website: happytaleshumane.com

New Leash on Life
website: newleashonline.org

Humane Society of Sumner County
website: www.sumnerhumane.org

Agape Animal Rescue
website: www.agaperescue.org

Music City Animal Rescue
website: www.MusicCityAnimalRescue.com

Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue
website: proverbs1210.rescuegroups.org

Walden’s Puddle Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
website: www.waldenspuddle.org

National Organizations:

ASPCA
website: https://www.aspca.org

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
website: http://bestfriends.org

Humane Society of the United States
website: http://www.humanesociety.org

Photographs taken by Brooke Schroeder.

The post Stationery Cards For Sale To Benefit Animal Shelters, Humane Societies and Rescue Groups appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

Kitten season starts in the spring, peaking in late spring or early summer, and ending in the fall. According to the Pet Community Center, “Each year in Nashville over 10,000 animals are euthanized because of pet overpopulation.” “Spaying and neutering makes a big difference: Just one unaltered female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in only six years. In seven years, one female cat and her offspring can produce an incredible 370,000 kittens!” (PETA)

Middle Tennessee has lots of spay and neuter services, financial assistance programs, and low cost clinics.

A full list of those can be found at http://straymagnet.com. Below we we highlight a few mobile options, clinics and financial assistance programs.

Mobile Services:

Rover (Davidson County Residents)

Website: www.nashvillehumane.org
Rover is the Nashville Humane Association’s mobile surgical unit. “ROVER travels four days a week and is staffed by a Veterinarian, Licensed Veterinary Medical Technician (LVMT), Veterinary Assistant and Project Coordinator.” You can’t miss the big yellow bus which offers practically free -$10 spay and neuter services to qualifying individuals.

To qualify: you need to live in Davidson County and bring proof of one of the following: food stamp card, free school lunch program card or WIC documentation, disability letter or V.A. disability letter, last year’s tax return statement, public housing rent receipt or Section 8 letter, or Social Security income documentation.

To set up your appointment:
1-Call 615 352-4030
2
2-complete the patient information packet at http://www.nashvillehumane.org

The Spay Station (Wilson County)

The Spay Station is a New Leash on Life 33-foot mobile veterinary clinic. The Spay Station offers FREE spay and neuter services to those who demonstrate financial need.

To qualify: participate in ANY of the following programs: “food stamps, public housing, disability, WIC, Families First, SSI OR Medicaid.” While the Spay Station primarily serves residents in Watertown and Lebanon anyone (group or individual) may sponsor the spay station ($1,100) for their county. The Spay Station runs solely off of grants, donations and sponsors.

For an appointment or more information, please call 615-444-1196.

Spay & Neuter Programs and Low-Cost Services

Sumner Spay & Neuter Alliance

1033-B Union School Road
Gallatin, TN 37066
(615) 452-2233
Website: www.sumnerspayneuteralliance.org
Email: info@sumnerspayneuteralliance.org

Cost:
Male Cat $30, Female Cat $40, Feral Cat $25
Male dog $45, Female Dog $55

To schedule an appointment; call (615) 452-2233, Monday – Thursday from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

Beesley Foundation

2215 Keeneland Commercial Blvd.
Murfreesboro, TN 37217
(615) 890-6878
Website: www.beesleyfoundation.org

Cost:
Male Cat $40, Female Cat $45 (add $15 if pregnant or in heat)
Male Dog range $50-$90 depending on weight, Female Dog range $65-$100 depending on weight, exact fees available at http://www.beesleyfoundation.org.

Why prices are low:
1-”We are a non-profit clinic run by Beesley Foundation and supported in part by donations and fundraisers.”
2-”We only provide spay/neuter services and do not have the overhead required for full-service clinics.”

To Sign up for an appointment: Click here to download their application. “Fees for surgery (and required shots) must be paid before an appointment is made. When we receive your application with payment, we will call you to make an appointment.”

Fix for Life Spay & Neuter Clinic

511 W. Baddour Parkway
Lebanon, TN 37087
(615) 453-2349
Website: newleashonline.org
Email: fixforlife@newleashonline.com

“Fix for Life, an initiative of New Leash on Life, is a spay/neuter clinic that is dedicated to reducing pet overpopulation in Wilson and surrounding counties by providing high volume, high quality, low-cost sterilization services. Spay/Neuter services are offered to shelters, rescue groups as well as the general public and you do not have to qualify financially to use our services.”

Cost:
Male Cat $30, Female Cat $40
Male Dog under 50lbs $40, over 50lbs $50, Female Dog under 50lbs $50, over 50lbs $65
*Prices sometimes decrease when they receive grants, call regularly to inquire.

Call for an appointment (615) 453-2349 Monday thru Thursday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Middle Tennessee Spay and Neuter Clinic

738 B. North Main St.
Shelbyville, TN 37160
(931) 684-5353
Website: www.mtsnc.org

Cost: Cat $30 Dog $45

Who Qualifies: “Anyone on state or federal assistance including TNCare, food stamps, disability, reduced or free lunch etc., anyone who adopts from an animal agency, animals in the care of a rescue, humane or animal control, anyone with barn or feral cats (not owned pet cats) and those on fixed income. A 1-2 person home under $30,000. For each additional person add $6,900.
*Thanks to a grant provided by ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) we are able to offer a discount of $20 off a surgery for big dogs over 50 pounds.”

Financial Assistance Programs:

Pet Community Center

Financial assistance and transport available to Fix for Life Spay-Neuter Clinic.
(615) 512-5001
Website: www.petcommunitycenter.org
Email: info@petcommunitycenter.org

Cost:
Male Cat $30, Female Cat $40, Feral Cat $38 (includes rabies vaccination and ear tip)
Male Dog $45-$55 (based on weight), Female Dog $55-$70 (based on weight)
Full list of prices available at http://www.petcommunitycenter.org.
Book an appointment by completing their questionnaire.
*Financial Aid may be available, contact them for more information.

People for Animals

Financial assistance and discount certificates available.
Franklin, TN
Website: www.peopleforanimals.net
Email: PeopleForAnimals@comcast.net

Process:
 Call (615) 794-8925 to talk to a volunteer who will determine the level of assistance available and the appropriate vet clinic for the surgery. The pet owner then calls the clinic to schedule the surgery.
List of programs and services
List of vets they work with (accept PFA certificates)

Nashville Humane Association

Discount certificates called “Friends of Animals Certificates” are available for purchase to use at participating clinics
. Anyone can purchase!
213 Oceala Ave
Nashville, TN 37209
(615) 352-1010
Website: www.nashvillehumane.org

Cost:
Male Cat $51, Female Cat $65
Male dog $64, Female Dog $90


List of participating vets

Cheatham County Animal Awareness Foundation (Cheatham County Residents)

Spay neuter services and financial assistance program for residents of Cheatham County. The Spay Station comes once a month to spay and neuter cats and small dogs and large dogs are performed at a local vet clinic.

Website: www.cheathamcountypaws.org

Call or email for more information:
Call for cats and small dogs (615) 829-8984
Call for dogs over 40 lbs (615) 578-1262
Email: cheathamcountypaws@hotmail.com

Local Trap and Release Programs:

The Pet Community Center also have a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program called Feline Fix. For more information visit www.petcommunitycenter.org
Together with Nashville Paw Foundation they are offering a spring program called Free Feral Cat Mondays. They will fund the sterilizations for 120 cats Fix For Life. The two dates left are May 6 and May 13. To schedule an appointment, visit http://www.petcommunitycenter.org.

Additional Resources:

“Pet Statistics: How Many Pets are in the United States?/ How many animals are in shelters?/ etc.” ASPCA
“Why Spay/Neuter?” on People for Animals
“Kitten Progression: At-a-Glance” on Alley Cat Allies
“Feline Spay + Neuter” by Mark Waldrop, DVM on Nashville Paw
“Spay and Neuter FAQs” from the Sumner Spay & Neuter Alliance

The post It’s Kitten Season; Help Control Overpopulation by Spaying and Neutering Your Pets appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

As our country has been hit but yet another natural disaster with Hurricane Sandy and thousands of Northeasterners are still without power and a looking at a long recovery ahead I am reminded of another devastating storm, the fall out for animals, and the outpouring of community support helping to make a happy ending.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “The Joplin tornado is the deadliest single tornado since modern record keeping began in 1950 and is ranked as the 7th deadliest in U.S. history. On Sunday, May 22, 2011, an EF-5 tornado hit the city of Joplin, Mo., leaving an estimated 157 people dead. B Alan Scher Zager and Jim Salter reported in the Huffington Post, the tornado destroyed “7,000 homes,” “leaving nearly one-third of the city’s 50,000 residents homeless,” and many without the ability to care for pets.

In response “The ASPCA showed up in force in Joplin following the disaster to aid in rescue, feeding and medical care of animals victimized by the tornado, reported Arthur Geon from Global Animal.”  The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) also “provided the Joplin Humane Society with a $100,000 grant to support disaster relief and recovery efforts.” The ASPCA and the Joplin Humane Society set up temporary housing by converting “two vacant warehouses next to the shelter into air-conditioned kennels. A gravel parking lot outside a former used appliance store has been converted into an owner’s waiting room, with plastic chairs and Polaroid snapshots of unnamed animals stuffed into thick three-ring binders.” (Zager, Salter from Huffington Post)

Given the magnitude of the devastation the ASPCA and Joplin Humane Society provided care for over a month (doubling the mandatory “14 day holding period for animals affected by disaster”) “trying to reunite as many pets as possible” before moving forward to find the pets new permanent homes. The ASPCA and the Joplin Humane Society hosted an adopt-a-thon event June 25-26 to help find the animals new homes. (ASPCA June 17, 2011 Press Release ) I had just joined twitter and I was amazed and thrilled at the adoption updates. The numbers were overwhelming and showed and outpouring of love and support for the animals and the Joplin Community. The ASPCA reported June 27 “more than 5,700 people from 24 states rolled into Joplin, Mo. and by the end of the weekend they had “successfully found permanent homes for 745 pets.”

Out of that devastating natural disaster people responded and the numbers were overwhelmingly positive. Here are some key figures to remember:
1-“The ASPCA provided emergency sheltering for approximately 1,300 animals during the month-long sheltering period.” (ASPCA)
2-”Nearly 500 animals were reunited with their owners” (ASPCA
3-”745 pets found permanent homes” during the adopt-a-thon (ASPCA)
4-Over 100 volunteers helped taking care of the animals from veterinary care to kennel cleaning (Huffington Post)
5-$100,000 grant was given to the Joplin Humane Society “to support disaster relief and recovery efforts” from the ASPCA
6-5,700 people from 24 states went to Joplin Missouri to the adopt-a-thon (ASPCA)

I hope these numbers are encouraging for those still dealing with the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. I hope and pray those lost or abandoned are rescued and reunited with their owners, providing another happy ending amongst devastation. The ASPCA and other organizations are still in the midst of rescuing animals from Hurricane Sandy. For news on their rescues, visit their blog at http://blog.aspca.org/. There is also a helpful article “After Superstorm Sandy, Pets Are Rescued By Animal Support Groups” by Vetstreet’s Amy Sinatra Ayres, Laura Cross and Shayna Meliker on the Huffington Post (Nov. 2) which outlines resources available like a facebook page for reunification, who to call for lost and found pets and how you can help.

The post In the News: In the Wake of Sandy, Remembering Joplin Missouri appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.