News & Noteworthy 

We are excited to share that Cathy Bissell and the Bissell Pet Foundation is supporting us thru their Fix the Future campaign, which focuses on increasing access to spay and neuter for shelters and communities. They work with a network of HVHQSN vets who they have perform spay/neuter through the program. As a result, we’ll be offering several TNR days for the community, and spay and neuter days for our rescue partners in October.

Trap Neuter Return
Trap neuter return is not a service required by the contract ACCT Philly holds with the City of Philadelphia, so TNR is done as donations allow and as we have other resources available to support those efforts. However, TNR is one of the most effective ways to reduce the number of cats and kittens living on the streets and needing help. In 2023, ACCT Philly provided TNR services to 723 cats. In 2024, we’ve already surpassed that by helping 970 cats and counting! With more than 10,000 cats and kittens entering ACCT Philly annually, we’re thrilled to be able to provide access to more surgeries so that more community cats can be spayed or neutered. You can read more about why TNR is so important here.

 The TNR days are open to anyone with a community cat needing spay/neuter surgery. The cats will be vaccinated for rabies and FVCRP as well and be ear tipped so that in the future people will know they are already spayed or neutered. 

Rescue Partners
Our rescue partners are inundated daily with requests and we are very fortunate they choose to pull from ACCT Philly, helping thousands of animals each year, when we are not always able to offer much in the way of additional vetting. Like us, many of our partners are full, but most don’t have the benefit of a full-time surgeon or even a facility (or staff, as most are volunteer run).

Getting access to spay/neuter appointments often is challenging, and as a result, they cannot move animals out as quickly as they could if they had easy access. Providing access to spay/neuter means they can move animals out when they’ve found a home, and they don’t stay longer than necessary. This frees up space for the rescues to then take in more animals, such as animals from ACCT!  

The surgeries also most often cost money that the rescue barely recoups on adoption fees. We are pleased that thanks to Fix the Future, we will be offering five days of surgeries for ACCT Philly love local partners in October. Surgeries for animals pulled from ACCT Philly will be at no charge, and surgeries for animals not from ACCT Philly will be $25.

We are excited to be able to provide what we hope are the first of many more spay/neuter days to the TNR and rescue community.

If you have questions about the TNR days please contact communitycats@acctphilly.org
If you are an ACCT Philly rescue partner and have questions on how to sign up, please contact lifesaving@acctphilly.org