Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Wants You to
Help Them Return Your Cat!
All Santa Cruz County Resident Cats:
- Microchip and Vaccination Package, all for only $5
- FREE Spay/Neuter for all Participant Cats
Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter (SCCAS) wants to return lost or stray cats to their homes! To help do this, SCCAS has a new program entitled, “Dude, Where’s My Cat?” which offers Santa Cruz County resident cats: microchip (including registration), rabies and FVRCP vaccinations, all for a total of only $5 and FREE spay or neuter surgeries. This program is limited to the first 300 cats signed up. The goals are to help return cats to their homes as quickly as possible and reduce the homeless cat population in our county.
Registration and scheduling can be completed at both SCCAS shelter locations: 2200 7th Ave. in Santa Cruz and 580 Airport Blvd. in Watsonville. Cat owners should not bring their animals to register and must bring proof of residence in Santa Cruz County.
Microchipping is a safe, easy, effective way to reunite lost pets to their owners and provides proof of ownership if a pet is ever stolen. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, cats are 21.4 times more likely to be returned to their home from a shelter if they have a registered microchip. The microchip itself is a tiny implant, typically about the size of a grain of rice, inserted under the skin and implanted in a very similar way to administering a vaccine. The microchip information is linked to a central database that holds all the details of the pet and the owner. Should the animal become lost or separated from its owner, a microchip scanner can be used to identify the animal and the owner.
All spay/neuter surgeries are performed at our Santa Cruz shelter location by a licensed veterinarian with a professional focus on spay/neuter procedures. Surgeries include a preoperative exam by a veterinarian, pain medication and dissolvable sutures. Dogs over 7 years of age and cats over 10 years of age require a blood panel test done by SCCAS for $55 for the safety of the animal.
Feral cats residing in the City of Watsonville will receive an ear tip. Feral cats residing in all other areas as part of a colony (group of two or more feral cats) will receive an ear tip and must be registered with SCCAS. Feral cat colony registration is free but feral cats must be tested for feline leukemia and feline immune deficiency virus at the time of surgery for a fee of $14.
SCCAS regularly offers low-cost spay and neuter surgeries through the Planned PetHood program, starting at $50 for cats, Pit Bulls and Chihuahuas, $75 for rabbits, and $100 for dogs.
For more information, please visit www.scanimalshelter.org.