“Dude, Where’s My Cat?”

Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Offering Free & Discounted Feline Services

Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter (SCCAS) wants to return lost or stray cats to their homes! To help do this, SCCAS is offering the “Dude, Where’s My Cat?” program to Santa Cruz County resident cats, including FREE spay/neuter services, as well as microchipping and vaccinations for $10. This program is limited to the first 300 cats.

Registration and scheduling can be completed at both SCCAS shelter locations: 1001 Rodriguez St. in Santa Cruz and 580 Airport Blvd. in Watsonville. Cat owners should not bring their animals to register and must bring proof of Santa Cruz County residency.

SCCAC wants to reduce the homeless cat population and reunite lost pets with owners. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, cats are 21 times more likely to be returned home from a shelter if they have a registered microchip. The microchip includes information of the pet and the owner, and can be scanned to identify the animal and reunite it with the owner.

A licensed veterinarian performs all spay/neuter surgeries at our Santa Cruz shelter location with a professional focus on spay/neuter procedures. Surgeries include a preoperative exam by a veterinarian, pain medication and dissolvable sutures. (For the safety of the animal, cats over 10 years of age require a $55 blood panel test.)

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. For more information, please visit www.scanimalshelter.org.

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The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is an open admission shelter, which welcomes every animal in need. Our goal is to be a humane resource for the community by providing a safety net and second chance for local animals. There are two locations where owners can find and recover lost pets, adopt new animal companions, or sign up for Planned PetHood, our low cost spay/neuter program available for all resident pets.

Our success is achieved through a variety of life-saving services and programs which are described in detail on our website, www.scanimalshelter.org. The support of our community is crucial to sustaining and expanding these services.