March 19, 2018 - With the lengthening days and more daylight, it is important to get your cat spayed/ neutered promptly. The mating season in cats is determined by a number of factors, including the length of daylight and the presence of other cats. Most female cats reach puberty between 5 and 9 months of age, some as early as 4 months. When there are 10 hours of daylight and other conditions are optimal, the female cat’s hormonal system is activated. The natural mating season of cats in the Northern Hemisphere is from March to September.
It is also important to get your dogs spayed and neutered. A recent sad situation occurred when a young female dog became pregnant with 11 puppies. Two of the puppies were still birthed, two more of the puppies later died, and it was an expensive procedure at the Vet to help the mother dog. All of this sadness and expense could have been avoided by getting the dog spayed.
As we are all aware, there are not enough good homes to be found for all these innocent animals that are born. Shelters are often full, people already have pets, and a great number of these animals are dumped, or euthanized each year. Much of this sadness and misery can be avoided by taking responsibility and getting your animals spayed/neutered.
The Northside Pet Connection’s main mission is to assist in the spay and neuter of cats and dogs throughout our area. The NPC does this by providing spay and neuter vouchers that greatly reduces the cost to pet owners. The towns we serve include: Groveland, Big Oak Flat, Coulterville, La Grange, Don Pedro and adjacent communities. In February, the NPC distributed 40 spay and neuter vouchers and 11 medical vouchers. All vet clinics do accept these vouchers which substantially reduced the cost the spay and neuter. A list of local vets is provided at our website: npconnections.org.
Please call (209) 732-6194 to request vouchers. For Spanish speakers, please call (209) 852-9440. When making a request, please provide your name, phone number, mailing address and how many vouchers are needed. Messages are checked once per week. If you are interested in becoming a member and volunteering to assist the NPC in its mission, please call (209) 878-3860.
Thank you for caring about your animals and the welfare of animals in general. You can help the NPC continue its mission by adding the NPC to your Mar Val Community card or Save Mart Shares card. There are also donation boxes in the towns that the NPC serves. Finally, you can mail a tax-deductible donation to: Northside Pet Connection, P.O. Box 411, Coulterville, CA. 95311.
Article by:
Jo Balch - NPC Vice President
Kathleen Morse - NPC President
As usual, thanks for your support of Northside Pet Connection, visit the website: npconnections.org for more information.
