LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has received a new grant that will be used to focus on Clearlake’s community cats.
On Tuesday, as part of its consent agenda, the Board of Supervisors approved the agreement between the county of Lake and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for the $10,000 grant.
The grant is for fiscal year 2013-14 spay/neuter services for community cats, including those within the city limits of Clearlake. With its vote the board also gave Animal Care and Control Director Bill Davidson authorization to sign the document.
“We should be receiving the money in June,” said Davidson.
Davidson told Lake County News that this is the second $10,000 grant from the ASPCA that Animal Care and Control has received. The previous one came through last year, as Lake County News has reported.
For that first grant that came through last year, Davidson said 550 surgeries were performed in nine months at Animal Care and Control’s veterinary clinic, which opened in March 2012.
This new grant will help concentrate services on the city of Clearlake, said Davidson. He said Lee Lambert of Clearlake Animal Control worked with him on the grant.
The collaboration with the city of Clearlake “was one of the keys to getting the grant,” Davidson said.
Davidson said he is planning 400 surgeries for the new grant, and he wants to get as many Clearlake community cats as possible to fill those surgery slots.
“Community cats” are defined as cats that don’t have specific homes. Many neighborhoods have them – cats, often friendly enough to make their way around to different homes for food and shelter, but not belonging to anyone.
They often lack the necessary veterinary care, including spaying or neutering, and altering them is believed to be a key way of reducing the number of unwanted kittens.
Thanks to the additional efforts being taken in the area of spay/neuter, Davidson said his agency is seeing large reductions in euthanasia rates. Final rates on the shelter’s euthanasia for the year will be ready by this summer, when the fiscal year closes out.
Community cats often are euthanized when being admitted to the shelter, said Davidson. The option to spay or neuter them is helping keep them out of the shelter.
“All cat intake numbers are down this year,” he said.
When Animal Care and Control was studying the addition of a veterinary clinic a few years ago, it was revealed that Lake County had the worst cat euthanasia rates in the state, he said.
Davidson said those statistics are now about two years, and while he’s not exactly certain where Lake County current stands, he’s certain that it’s much improved.
This year’s kitten season is just getting under way – Davidson estimated it will continue through the end of summer. “This year is going to be a key indicator about how things are working,” he said.
Animal Care and Control currently is operating a community cat spaying and neutering program for the Kelseyville area funded by a PetSmart grant. However, Davidson said they are not getting as much response as expected.
“We’re having a tough time getting Kelseyville cats in here,” he said, noting outreach efforts currently are under way, and his wife, who works as a principal in the Kelseyville Unified School District, has received approval to pass the information along to students and parents.
Now that Animal Care and Control has its own veterinary clinic, Davidson said they always will offer spaying and neutering of community cats, whether there is grant money or not. However, he plans to continue pursuing those grants to continue the work of reducing euthanasia rates.
For more information on the community cats programs, call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
