Salt Lake Spay and Neuter is proud to offer services to members of the community helping to prevent the overpopulation crisis of unowned Feral and Stray Community Cats.
What is a community cat?
Feral, stray, and pet cats are all members of the same species; they are all domestic cats. However, they are also different from each other in a very important way—in their relationship to and interactions with people. Knowing how to tell the difference can help inform how best to interact with a cat or what, if any, intervention would be in each cat’s best interest.
A community cat is any unowned cat. Included under this can be feral cats and strays who have been lost or abandoned. Community cats have a wide range of behaviors and degrees of socialization.
Feral cats are not socialized to people and have either never had any physical contact with humans, or human contact has diminished over time. Most feral cats are fearful of people and are not likely to ever become a cat that can be handled or even pet. Not all feral cats are community cats. Some people own feral cats and keep them as barn cats to catch mice. For our safety and the cat's safety, we will not accept any feral cat in a carrier or anything other than a live animal trap. If you own a feral cat, you can still bring the cat in a feral cat slot as we understand you might not be able to guarantee you can catch the cat for a scheduled appointment.
Stray cats are cats who have socialized with people at some point in their life, but have left or lost their home, or were abandoned. Usually, they no longer have regular human contact. A stray cat may be socialized enough to allow people to touch them, but they will become less socialized—or even feral—if they spend too much time without positive interaction with humans. If you have taken in a stray, they will not be considered a community cat or qualify for community cat services.
Because Salt Lake Spay and Neuter is not a full-service clinic, resources and treatment options will be limited. We are available and happy to help with basic spaying, neutering, and vaccines as well as dental needs by appointment. We may be able to assist in treating minor wounds, abscesses, and select eye surgeries on Veterinarian's approval.
Serious wounds, large abscesses, limb/skeletal injuries, vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory illness, chronic illness, skin disease, etc. Will be referred to a full-service clinic for treatment.
We usually accept 10 community cats daily Monday through Thursday from 7-9:30am on a first come first served basis. Pick up is the same day from 5:30-6pm. We close at 6pm. Please call or text us the day before you plan on trying to trap them to be added to the trapper list. This is not considered a scheduled appointment as we can never guarantee if the trapping will be successful. It isn’t common, but we may decline your cat for any reason. Please have an alternate plan in place if we are unable to take your community cat.
Salt Lake Spay and Neuter treats all Community Cats as Feral for their safety as well as ours. They must be brought in a humane trap, not a carrier. To qualify for Community Cat services, they must be unowned, have their left ear tipped, must receive a rabies vaccine, and you must have the intent to release the cat back to where it was. We require the trap to be fully functional, lined with newspaper or cardboard, covered with a towel or sheet, and be at least 8.5"W x 12"H x 18"L
Community Cat Services:
- Feral/Community cat spay...........................$60.00
- Feral/Community cat neuter.......................$40.00
- Ear tipping...................................................No Charge
- Rabies vaccine.............................................$8.00
- FVRCP..........................................................$15.00
- FeLV.............................................................$25.00
- Revolution...................................................$7.00
- Dental..........................................................$350.00 or less
- Minor wound care.......................................prices vary
Established Rescues with a 501c3 will receive an 18% discount on services except dental procedures and Revolution
We also accept vouchers from Best Friends Animal Society. They offer spay/neuter vouchers to support counties most in need, loan traps for humanely trapping community cats, resources for resolving cat-related issues in neighborhoods, winter cat shelters for keeping cats safe during colder months, and a pet food pantry for qualifying residents. Please email [email protected] for more information. You can also click here to go to their site for some great TNR, Trap Neuter Release, information.