Windsor cat group welcomes return of Humane Society clinic services

A Windsor, Ont., group that has been trying to control the city's cat population says it's happy that the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society will be resuming its clinic on Thursday.

Volunteers with the Windsor Community Cat Network trap,feed and fix feral cats, paying for the surgeries out of pocket.

Going without access to the Humane Society clinic meant volunteers were having to pay more, according to Barb MacDonell,an organizer and volunteer with the cat network.

"The Humane Society for a feral cat [charges] $50.00, and that includes the microchip, their shots, fix, spay," MacDonell said.

"And a vet can start anywhere from $199. Usually it's $299 up to $800."

LISTEN: Barb MacDonell joins Windsor Morning

Windsor Morning8:34Volunteer cat network thankful humane society to resume vet services

Barb MacDonell is with the volunteer group Windsor Community Cat Network.

Ramping back up again

However some vets have offered discounted rates to rescues, she added.

The Windsor/Essex County Humane Society was forced to suspend its clinic approximately two weeks ago due to a vet taking leave, said Rob Moroz, the society's interim executive director.

"When that happened, we had to shut down for a bit, so we looked for other resources, which we were successful in obtaining, and now we're ramping it back up again."

The society's first priority will be rescheduling previously-cancelled appointments, according to a notice on its website.

Itwill begin taking new bookings when those are complete.

'Really desperate'

Moroz could not say how many appointments needed to be rescheduled before the clinic could reopen to the wider public.

The clinic provides discounted spayand neuterservices, sometimes combined with other services such as vaccines, microchipsand parasite treatments.

MacDonell said the cat network needs it.

"We are really desperate," she said.

"We would ask maybe some of the vets to step up and help us at this time. We do have one local vet who has been very good to us and one rescue."

The cat population in the Windsor area is "very out of control," MacDonell said.

"Some streets, which we don't name our colonies have 75 to 100 cats, which hopefully we've got most fixed."

The population took off during the COVID-19-related lockdowns because people couldn't fix their animals, she said.

The cat network launched about a year ago and currently has around 200 volunteers feeding and in some cases trapping cats and taking them to be spayed or neutered.