A black cat named Lyza became an unwitting milestone in the Richmond SPCA's drive to reduce the area's number of homeless animals.
It took less than five minutes on an operating-room table at the SPCA's Robins-Starr Humane Center for Lyza to become the organization's 13,000th spay/neuter patient of 2008.
"I feel like we should have some champagne to celebrate," Robin Starr, the Richmond SPCA's chief executive officer, joked as she and several other staff members and visitors stood outside the surgical suite and watched the procedure through a large glass window.
Less than 24 hours after the surgery, Lyza was examined by the SPCA's medical staff yesterday morning and cleared to go to the area where the group displays the animals available for adoption.
Lyza, a stray who had been picked up by Richmond Animal Control officers and delivered to the Robins-Starr Center, marked another quick turnaround by the staff of the SPCA's growing spay/neuter clinic.
Opened in 2002, the clinic had a goal of performing 9,000 spay/neuter procedures annually by 2008. But generous donors have enabled the SPCA to ramp up the activities at the clinic, which features a three-table surgical suite where the staff typically does about 50 procedures a day but has handled as many as 87.
The results are beginning to show on the streets. While SPCA officials say exact numbers are hard to pin down, staff members are noticing a detectable decline in the number of newborn kittens and puppies arriving at the shelter.
"It's a huge positive difference," said Dr. Angela Ivey, the Richmond SPCA's director of veterinary services. "We've seen a drastic reduction, especially with kittens."
And that means the clinic can accommodate more animals, whether they are someone's pet or the many strays that continue to arrive. As Lyza was being taken out of the surgery suite to the recovery room, another stray cat, a gray kitten that the SPCA staff named Palin, was being prepped for her procedure.
Of the 54,627 procedures the clinic has performed since opening, roughly two-thirds have been free. There is no cost if the pet owner is on government assistance, has an annual income of less than $30,000, is a full-time college student, owns a pit bull or Rottweiler or is a caregiver for feral cats. From January through March each year, the clinic also does procedures free for all cats.
Otherwise, the fees are $60 for female dogs, $50 for male dogs, $40 for female cats and $30 for males.
The favorable rates mean Ivey and her staff have plenty to keep them busy, even with the reduced number of newborns arriving at the clinic.
"I don't think there's an end to it," Ivey said. Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or jmacenka@timesdispatch.com.
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