Our Mission
SAVE LIVES THROUGH PREVENTION. INVEST IN SPAY/NEUTER.
“We’re a small organization doing BIG work!”
Our mission is to save the lives of homeless cats by providing access to high volume spay/neuter surgery in a safe and humane environment, collaborating with others and mentoring like-minded organizations to increase spay/neuter in their regions.
The Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project has altered over 150,000 cats since our inception in 1997. We are the first free-standing clinic dedicated to providing free spay/neuter surgery for free-roaming cats in a safe, high quality, humane environment. Cats from over 23 counties throughout Washington State have been brought to our clinic to be altered.
SURGERY FOR ALL CATS
On a continuous basis, Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project has altered more cats than any other organization in WA State. All of the free-roaming cats arriving for surgery receive a basic health exam, rabies vaccination and an ear tip to clearly identify the cat as altered to avoid future trapping/transport for surgery that is not needed.
In addition to free spay/neuter surgery for free-roaming cats, we also offer spay/neuter services for any cat needing access to surgery. These surgeries for tame cats are done without ear tipping and are part of our feral cat prevention program. A small donation is requested for these surgeries to help subsidize our surgical costs.
FUNDING
The average cost to alter one cat is just over $130. This includes the costs for the surgeon, veterinary technician, anesthesia, sutures, pain relief, surgical pack, rabies vaccine, and other direct and indirect costs. During a typical clinic, 30-40 cats are altered, including 25 spay surgeries.
Funding for the Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project comes primarily from private donations.
NATIONAL MENTORING ORGANIZATION
In 2006, PetSmart Charities selected FCSNP to become a National Mentoring Organization. A generous grant was awarded for development of a mentoring website to enable other organizations to replicate our successful spay/neuter clinic model in communities across the country and around the world.
A LEADER IN HIGH QUALITY, HIGH VOLUME SPAY/NEUTER SURGERY
The Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project has received letters of commendation from Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire and national animal welfare organizations, such as ASPCA and Best Friends Animal Society.
Our Story
1997 – Our founding
Dr. Christine Wilford, along with several other dedicated volunteers, formed a 501(c)3 to provide free spay and neuter surgery for free-roaming cats. Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project began with monthly clinics in a donated space at a medical assistant training school.
Soon FCSNP was spaying and neutering up to 160 cats per clinic session. An average clinic required eight veterinarians and 50-60 volunteers, who would perform 125 surgeries over the course of 11 hours.
2000 - 2001 – ESTABLISHING OUR IDENTITY
FCSNP began compensating some of the veterinarians, added surgery days, located a rental space for a dedicated clinic, and hired Lea Lucky, a founder of FCSNP, as paid part-time Executive Director.
2003 – 2004 FCSNP’s First Facility
FCSNP opened a dedicated clinic in a subleased space on Roosevelt Way NE in Seattle—the first facility in the area dedicated to free spay/neuter services for free-roaming cats[MW1] . We added our first paid support staff in addition to veterinarians, while continuing to operate with a large number of volunteers, and weekly clinics began immediately. Within a few months, six clinics were being held each month.
A pilot program offered low-cost spay/neuter surgery for a limited number of rescue groups serving tame cats and kittens that would not be ear-tipped. In 2004, its first full year in the free-standing clinic, FCSNP altered more than 2½ times the 2,048 surgeries performed in 2003.
FCSNP hired a full-time Executive Director. Organizations contacted FCSNP requesting information about the clinic’s operation, from all over North America and as far away as Romania.
2005-6 Recognition and Cat #20,000
In 2005, FCSNP held its first annual Sexless in Seattle spay/neuter event in recognition of National Feral Cat Day. This milestone event sparked letters of commendation from Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, from the City of Seattle Mayor’s office and from national organizations such as Best Friends Animal Society and the ASPCA.
We celebrated the 20,000th cat to come through the clinic.
In 2006, PetSmart Charities selected FCSNP to receive a grant to become a National Mentoring Organization. We hired a full-time veterinarian, and for the third year in a row, FCSNP altered more cats than any other organization in Washington State.
2007 – 2015 Growth and Milestones
During our tenth year, FCSNP added a fifth surgery day per week during the peak of kitten season, thanks to a generous grant from the Handsel Foundation.
On July 17th, 2008, the last clinic was held at our Roosevelt location, and on July 20th, we began surgeries in our new larger clinic in Lynnwood.
In 2009, the Clinic Manager position was created. FCSNP developed an online presence on Facebook and began a monthly electronic newsletter to complement our printed newsletters.
In 2010, an auction component was added to Sexless Soiree, and in its first year, the event more than doubled its budget goal. We hired a full-time Executive Assistant, and Cat #50,000 received his neuter.
2016 - 2019 Clinic Remodel and Cat #125,000
In 2016, we were able to add additional square footage to our existing space. A clinic remodel provided more lobby space for clients as well as dedicated space for office staff. We altered our 100,000th cat.
In 2019, we altered Cat #125,000.
2020-2021 – COVID-19 Challenges
Like so many other organizations, we had disruptions in our operations due to COVD-19. In March 2020, we shut down for six weeks while we figured out how to safely continue operating, reopening in May.
2022- 2023 - regrouping and 150,000 spays and neuters
FCSNP hired its first designated Volunteer Coordinator.
More than 9,000 cats passed through our doors, from locations as near as our immediate neighborhoods and as far away as Grays Harbor to the west and Onalaska to the east. 5,519 cats received services at our Lynnwood clinic and 3,630 at our Renton clinic/collaboration with South County Cats. Community cats were 18% of patients before the pandemic, growing to 37% of the total in 2023.
In December, we altered our 150,000th cat.