LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control's efforts to reduce cat numbers in the Kelseyville area has received a deadline extension while the agency works to meet its goal for the number of cats spayed or neutered.
The Kelseyville community cat program – which offers free spay and neuter services – is funded by a two-year, $32,880 Petsmart Charities grant which was awarded in late 2012, as Lake County News has reported.
The program's goal is to reduce the Kelseyville cat population's reproductive capacity by 75 percent, according to Animal Care and Control Bill Davidson.
Davidson said the grant requires that 650 cats be spayed or neutered over a two-year period. However, so far, about 525 cats have gone through the program.
He said Petsmart Charities is giving Animal Care and Control a new deadline of March 3, 2015, to meet that 650-cat goal.
“Community cats” don’t have specific homes. They're sometimes fed by different people in a neighborhood, usually lack vet care and are responsible for large number of kittens each year.
Spaying and neutering community cats – and returning them to their neighborhoods – has been a main component in Animal Care and Control's efforts to reduce unwanted cats and the county's high euthanasia rates.
Over the last three years, as Davidson has established the community cat programs, the cat euthanasia rate has dropped by half, as Lake County News reported in July, http://bit.ly/1qu5Mc9 .
Davidson said he's looking for more Kelseyville-area residents to bring in cats for the program, emphasizing that community participation is needed for the program to succeed.
For more information on the community cat program, call Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.