PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Local veterinarians were busy Thursday performing nearly 100 operations on kittens.

 

Seven vets blocked off their schedules to partner with the Berkshire Humane Society's "100 Cats for Christmas" program. Through a grant from the Massachusetts Animal Coalition, the humane society offered what would cost upward of $500 to get a cat spayed or neutered for just $25.

 

"The grant covers 100. Today alone we are doing 87," said Erin Starsja, the feline and small mammal service supervisor for Berkshire Humane Society. "We do a program every week where we fix four. But this grant allows us to do as many as we can at once."

 

Early Thursday morning, owners who registered for the program brought their cats to the society and some 15 staff and volunteers took it from there. They loaded vans up with the crated kittens and transported them to veterinarian offices for an exam, a rabies vaccination, and the spaying or neutering.

 

"We reach out to the vets ourselves and this year we are using seven different vets," Starsja said. "We try to reach out in advance to find out what days work for them."

 

According to Mary Koncel, community outreach coordinator, spaying and neutering is the most effective and humane way to control the population. She says a cat can have two litters per year, averaging 2.8 surviving kittens per litter. Those kittens will then grow up to have their own litters. Over a 10-year period there will be some 80,000 felines stemming from just two cats.

 

"We're very committed to having these low-cost spay and neuter programs because it helps reduce pet homelessness," Koncel said. "This is a very effective way to make sure all cats and dogs are wanted."

 

The Humane Society receives $10,000 in funding through the grant — $5,000 used for cats and $5,000 used for a separate program for dogs. In just six years, dogs can breed up to 67,000 puppies if not spayed or neutered. The money is paid to the vets, who in turn offer discounted rates for the work, and comes at a cost of just $25 per cat.

 

Starsja said normally an exam, vaccinations, and spaying or neutering could cost a pet owner between $300 and $500 depending on the vet. 

 

This is the third year the Berkshire Humane Society has run the program and each year the volunteers, staff members, and veterinarians smooth out the process. Last year, Stasja said more than 100 cats were in the program so the organization allowed money from its weekly programs to cover the difference.

 

The Massachusetts Animal Coalition raises money for the program by selling license plates declaring that the driver is "animal friendly." The organization is a non-profit focused on decreasing the number of homeless, neglected, and abused animals in the state.