Little Red, one of the youngest cats to be neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and eartipped at our Rochester Feline Frenzy.
April 20 was a game-changing day for cats and their caregivers in the greater Rochester area of New York—and it couldn’t have come at a more important time! Yesterday, Alley Cat Allies brought our Feline Frenzy® to the area, starting with a high-quality, high-volume Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) event in collaboration with Lollypop Farm, Humane Society of Greater Rochester. A whopping 96 cats and kittens were spayed or neutered, vaccinated, eartipped, and microchipped with costs covered, as always, by Alley Cat Allies.
The most impressive part? It all happened before lunchtime! Alley Cat Allies’ expertise and dedicated supporters combined with Lollypop Farm’s well-oiled machine of a veterinary crew at their Klingstein Veterinary Clinic meant we accomplished huge things in record time for cats. Nearly 100 cats and kittens returned to their outdoor homes today, healthier and freed of the stresses of mating, pregnancy, and birth. For a community in great need of no-cost resources for cats, the impact of our Feline Frenzy cannot be overstated—especially with warm weather and kitten season kicking into high gear.
“Alley Cat Allies visited Rochester and Lollypop Farm earlier in the year and listened to the concerns of the local organizations helping cats every day. We learned that, though people in greater Rochester care deeply for their cats, most simply cannot afford to spay and neuter them even at low-cost rates,” said Coryn Julien, Director of Communications for Alley Cat Allies. “We knew then that we had to bring our Feline Frenzy to the area starting with a huge no-cost spay and neuter event, and we’re so thrilled at the result!”
Alley Cat Allies Feline Frenzy is a comprehensive approach to improve the infrastructure in communities for the humane care of cats and kittens. Each Feline Frenzy is tailored to a specific area to foster the development of policies and programs that will save cats’ lives for years to come and meet the needs of the community.
The need is especially great in the City of Rochester, which has one of the highest poverty rates of all U.S. metropolitan areas. Even still, many community members care deeply about cats and dip into their own already strained finances to provide them with food. But for so many, affording spay and neuter was out of the question.
So Alley Cat Allies and Lollypop Farm put our heads together to create a plan to provide those services to roughly 100 cats in just one day. Knowing Alley Cat Allies was covering all costs through our Feline Frenzy, local organizations humanely trapped cats on behalf of Rochester residents and brought them in the morning to Lollypop Farm’s Klingstein Veterinary Clinic. There they were identified with the right paperwork, spayed or neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated. After recovering under careful monitoring on the clinic’s heated floor, they were then returned to their humane traps and picked up by the same organizations at the end of the day. There were very few medical complications, and each was treated with all costs covered by Alley Cat Allies. Alley Cat Allies also supplied educational materials to hand out to community members.
This morning, the cats were all returned to their outdoor homes! Alley Cat Allies staff rode along with Rochester organization RocKats to bring two cats, Sylvester and Green Eyes, back to their caregiver. Both were in great shape and eager for their homecoming. Another cat’s caregivers asked for the return to happen on the porch where they feed so he’d “know he was back home.” So many Rochester residents really do love their outdoor cats and consider them family and community.
Alley Cat Allies is strategizing how we can continue to help cats in the Rochester communities with the greatest need. We will keep you updated. Please know that the compassion and generosity of our supporters make this and all Feline Frenzy events possible!
Local news organizations covered our Feline Frenzy event with Lollypop Farm. You can find just some of that coverage here:
