Carma, SPCA holding cat neutering clinic Saturday

Cat Rescue Maritimes (Carma) Pictou County chapter hopes to see 30 cats spayed or neutered while the SPCA mobile clinic is set up at the Melville-Seafoam Community Hall on Saturday. Carma is planning to target eight areas on Friday in the Seafoam, Melville, West Branch and River John areas, and trap feral cats so they can undergo surgery the next day. The mobile clinic is expected to arrive around 9:30 a.m. and be set up until mid-afternoon. “It’s really great. It puts it out there how we can all work together,” chair Helen BaudouxMcLaughlin said, adding that it gives them an opportunity to share what each group does. Carma volunteers will spend Saturday night in the hall with the cats, with a veterinarian on call in case any of the felines go into distress. The SPCA’s 2016 mobile unit report says they believe no one group can address the cat overpopulation crisis. They work with municipalities, cat welfare groups, individuals and the Nova Scotia Veterinary Medical Association for support and funding for a trapneuter-return (TNR) program. In 2016, the SPCA’s Mobile Spay and Neuter Clinic treated 302 cats at 12 locations in Nova Scotia. On April 10 this year, the mobile clinic was set up in Salt Springs, which Baudoux-McLaughlin said was a huge success. She notes there’s a large feral cat population in Salt Springs, as well as in River John. She said there’s no reason to be ashamed if someone has a colony of cats living nearby, noting that often people aren’t able to trap them or pay the price tag to have them spayed or neutered. That’s where Carma comes in, she said. The registered charity focuses on feral population control through TNR. They also foster cats and kittens who either can’t return to colonies or are young enough to be socialized, recently holding an adoption day at PetValu that saw 12 out of 18 animals adopted. The public is invited to drop by on Saturday to see the mobile clinic and grab some snacks and pamphlets.