February 14th, Valentine’s Day our team will be at the Hiram Clarke Multi-Service Center (3810 Fuqua, Houston, 77045) wrecking the love life of cats by providing free spay/neuter services. Check-in is 630 am. Show up with your cat in a carrier or contained in some way and we will spay/neuter/vaccinate and return your kitty to you by the end of the day. You pick up at the same spot you dropped off. Your cost? Not a dime.
Historic Partnership
In the summer of 2013, Friends For Life started a unique collaboration with the City of Houston, called the Healthy Pets Healthy Streets Initiative. The first of its kind in Houston shelter history, this public/private partnership provides free spay/neuter and vaccinations to the animals of low-income residents in various Houston Council Districts with some of the lowest income and highest owner relinquishment rates.
We underwrite all cat surgeries as our part of the partnership and the City of Houston underwrites all dogs. When shelters (even ones that do not agree on everything) sit down together and actively look for common ground and ways to work together, lives get saved. It’s a beautiful friendship!
Why have there been shelters in Houston since 1924 and this kind of partnership with the City never happened until we undertook it 2013? We think that’s a valid question. What we can tell you is that we believe this is part of what you should expect shelters to do as partners in the community.
I am especially proud of the first-ever public/private partnership in which Friends For Life and BARC have joined forces to offer free spay/neuter and wellness services. Since the beginning of the program in July 2013, hundreds of surgeries have been performed. Houston is a progressive city and these progressive animal welfare programs are a part of that.
Mayor Annise Parker
So far, Fix Houston cat project has prevented, by conservative estimates 7,200 cat births and potentially thousands of cats coming into (and likely not out of) the shelter system. We believe that this kind of proactive commitment to get services to the community before the animals even come into the shelter system is a cornerstone in moving Houston toward the No Kill city it can and will become.
By the numbers to date:
- Total surgeries: 451
- Complete cat colonies stabilized: 88
- In-progress colonies: 19
- Number of births prevented: (conservative estimate) 7,200
- 9 free surgery days so far in Houston neighborhoods with including crushing the groove of even more tomcats on February 14th, 2016.
Tell us that you do not think it is a little delicious to celebrate Valentine’s Day underwriting a neuter.
You can underwrite a single surgery for $50.00, or go big and underwrite a whole surgery day for $2500 (or anything in between). Every donation helps! Questions about underwriting multiple surgeries or even a whole day? Contact us!
This forward-thinking program is getting ahead of the waves of animals that are coming into shelters by providing opportunities to pet owners who may not have money or transportation to have their pet altered.
This is the future. And it is No Kill.