Surely we’ve all been there: one day you open the door to your apartment to step out for a breath of fresh air, and to your surprise, you find one of these:
She is the cutest, friendliest Little Grey Kitty, and when you pet her and feel some lumps in her belly, you realize she is also a pregnant teen mom kitty! And although you are dying to share your home with the world’s cutest kitty, you also know you cannot afford to take care of her since you are a total broke-ass, and she has more hungry kittens on the way.
So you wish you could do something, but you don’t really know what, cus you can barely feed yourself and keep the bills paid on time, but your heart is breaking over this poor little kitty, who has clearly been abandoned by her horrible owners who didn’t have the brain cells to have her spayed before they let her outside. You feed her a little tuna from your pantry, and you wish there was something else you could do.
BUT WAIT! There is something you can do, and it doesn’t involve the SPCA (as good and helpful as they are), cus you know that if no one adopts her in a few weeks, this little kitty is going to sleep forever and forever.
In Austin, there are some truly awesome pet charities that have been set up as alternatives to the SPCA, in order to one day make ours a NO KILL city. After all, why should innocent animals have to die because their owners didn’t want to take care of them anymore? Why should animals have to be killed because they haven’t found loving, caring homes in a pre-set period of time? Sometimes, you just need more time. And so, the amazing people at Austin Pets Alive! (who saved 3,227 local animals in 2010) offer lots of support for people who find cats and kittens near their homes (click here for info on Found Baby Kittens), and help locate homes for animals who have been abandoned and are set for euthanization.
They also regularly bring their animals to stores like Petco and PetSmart so that they can be adopted, which is so much more awesome than buying a new dog or cat from a puppy or kitten mill. You can find a full list of animals that they’ve got for adoption on their website, or hit up the nearest Petco or PetSmart to see who’s available for adoption there. WE LOVE THIS! It’s so much better to see pet stores working with shelters than contributing to the problem.
Now, if you’ve already adopted a wild kitty, you may have other issues, including fleas, ticks, worms, and the need for low-cost spay and neuter options. Don’t fret: that’s what EmanciPET is for!
EmanciPET regularly offers low-cost spay and neuter operations for dogs and cats in Austin, but guess what? They’re running a Purrfect New Year’s Special from January 17 to 27 for all owned cats to receive FREE surgery, plus rabies vaccinations (a requirement) and a microchip to help track your puppy or kitten in case they are accidentally lost. Dudes, you can even book an appointment online, so there’s no excuses.
PLUS, if you are even more broke than a joke, EmanciPET also offers 100% free spay and neutering through their mobile clinics every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It’s a first-come, first-served thing, but if you’re in dire straits and really want to help control the pet population like Bob Barker used to say, then this is just the ticket!
Abandoned animals don’t have to suffer, thanks to these two kick-ass charities. We love them both, and encourage you to donate your time and your money (and your extra cans of pet food or office supplies; they’ve got wishlists for all kinds of things they need on their sites) to these very worthy causes.
P.S. Although we were unable to adopt Little Grey Kitty, we were ultimately able to give one of her kittens—the irrepressible Nedward Carlos Nedwards (aka Ned), pictured above—a good home. Hooray!
Check out EmanciPET at emancipet.org and Austin Pets Alive! at austinpetsalive.org for more complete information on all their programs or to volunteer and/or donate money. And if you want to adopt a cat, be sure to check out catzjazz.org as well!
