City’s free spay and neuter program on hold

A citywide program that provides free spay and neuter services for Pittsburgh pet owners is coming to a halt, the city’s Bureau of Animal Care and Control announced Tuesday.

The taxpayer-funded program is aimed at keeping the city’s population of stray cats and dogs at bay by offering free spay and neuter procedures to pet owners who have a Pittsburgh address.

But the program is on hiatus until further notice after a recent evaluation found “inappropriate” and “disingenuous” uses for the service, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety.

“While we understand the pause will cause short-term inconvenience for people and their pets, we fully support the city’s goal of restructuring the program to make it as effective as possible in reducing the serious problem of overpopulation of animals,” said Dr. Amanda Zetwo, medical director at Animal Friends, a shelter that works with the city to facilitate the program.

Since the program launched in 2015, vet staff at Animal Friends have performed thousands of spay and neuter surgeries at their Animal Wellness Clinic, according to Cindy Cole, a spokesperson for the shelter.

The city cited cases of non-Pittsburgh residents borrowing the city addresses of friends and family to have their pets spayed or neutered for free as cause for concern about the program’s efficiency.

Advocates at small animal rescues in Pittsburgh are concerned the program pause could mean less capacity to provide foster homes for cats in need and a boom in stray cat populations ahead of the spring kitten season.

Jody Mader, a director at Catcalls Rescue, said the program pause is a “major concern for small rescues in the area,” noting that most foster homes provide full financial support for the cats they care for.

“If cats cannot get fixed this spring, we are going to see a repeat of what happened during COVID when all of the vets shut down their services and canceled spay and neuter appointments,” Ms. Mader said. “After that, the number of homeless cats skyrocketed.”

Ms. Mader said most small rescues around Pittsburgh are already near capacity, calling the stray and feral cat situation “out of control.” She pointed to the city program as the first line of defense when her rescue is contacted to help with everything from outdoor feral colonies to indoor cat hoards.

“This situation is unmanageable at this time, and it is only going to result in more suffering animals than rescues can feasibly take on if this program stays on hold for even a few months,” Ms. Mader said.

Small cat rescues rely on foster homes to operate, said Rivky Blumberger, the director of foster -based rescue Pittsburgh Hill District Cats. Most of them don’t have a brick-and-mortar location or access to the same funding that animal shelters do.

Many of the homes that foster for Pittsburgh Hill District Cats take in 10 to 15 felines at a time, according to Ms. Blumberger.

“I feel bad for the females who are like, running around in bad neighborhoods who will keep having kitten after kitten because rescuers can’t afford to keep putting out $100 a cat,” Ms. Blumberger said.

The director estimated operations to spay or neuter cats typically costs around $100 at base level in a veterinarian’s office.

Previously, the foster helped caretakers register for the city program to fix the cats for free, which enabled them to take in large colonies of cats at one time. Without access to what she called an “extremely helpful” program, Ms. Blumberger fears the stray cat population will triple this spring.

The hiatus is intended to re-evaluate the program amid rising costs and find ways to prevent similar issues in the future, the city said.

“We are continuing to work collaboratively to ensure the future stability and sustainability of the program in order for the residents and animals who are most in need to have access to the quality care that is provided,” Dr. Zetwo said.

During the pause, staff at the Bureau of Animal Care and Control will work to develop new applicant criteria that are tailored to Pittsburgh pet owners most in need. They will also focus on ways to keep the feral cat population under control, according to the city.

“We are excited to build out a more sustainable and equitable program and are looking forward to rolling out a new and improved program to all city residents that also safeguards good stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” Lee Schmidt, director of public safety, said in a Tuesday news release.