I had hoped to be able to be enthused by the new Comox SPCA Joint Spay/Neuter Initiative but this initiative lacks not only substance but it also lacks common sense and compassion.

This program is aimed supposedly at low-income people. Asking someone making a minimum wage or living on welfare to pay $75 to have their cat spayed is demeaning and lacking in compassion both for the owner of the cat and for the cat. Even expecting a truly low-income person to find $50 to neuter their cat is unrealistic.

Has either the Comox SPCA or the Cat Advocates Society thought how an owner will feel if they cannot even afford to be part of this program?
All I know is that when the group I volunteer with gets a request for funding to help spay or neuter a cat we ensure enough funds are donated to make sure the cat in question gets spayed or neutered. A conversation takes place asking simply what the owner can afford to put in and the balance is then covered. Low income people's cats get spayed and neutered this way and kittens are not born and handed out to other people who also cannot afford to get them spayed and neutered. People are not made to feel demeaned but rather are congratulated on making the right decision to help control the cat population and these owners now feel like they are part of the solution and tell their friends to get their cats spayed or neutered as well.

Another point that I am particularly annoyed about is the fact it costs more to get a cat spayed than neutered. The fact that female cats are the one's that give birth and are the greatest part of the over-population problem should not have escaped the societies involved in this initiative.

Making spaying more expensive really is defeating the whole initiative if the purpose is to decrease the cat population.

I am surprised after all the years that the SPCA has been involved in animal welfare that the society still sees fit to put impediments in the way of a true solution.