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We held our first event in Calamba, Laguna province, south of Metro Manila in March 2011, in co-operation with the City Veterinary Office of Calamba and with the assistance of a team of volunteer vets from the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna. Thirty-three cats were sterilised during that first session.
We held our first event in Calamba, Laguna province, south of Metro Manila in March 2011, in co-operation with the City Veterinary Office of Calamba and with the assistance of a team of volunteer vets from the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Laguna. Thirty-three cats were sterilised during that first session.
Since then spay events have been carried out regularly in a number of locations in Laguna and Cavite. With limited resources - particularly the time of our volunteers and the necessary consumables (anaesthesia, antibiotics, painkiller etc.) - we typically hold only one session each month. We rely entirely on the goodwill of volunteers (vets and cat handlers) and we are hosted free of charge by private veterinary clinics and Local Government City Veterinary Offices. We use all donations for equipment, surgical supplies, anaesthesia, and for annual government compliance and taxes.
Individual members and associates of Zen Cats operate TNVR (Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return) schemes for feral cats in their own neighbourhoods, bringing the trapped cats to our events for sterilisation and we actively encourage other communities to develop similar schemes.
So many unprotected cats in the Philippines are neglected, abandoned and even tortured. They are shot, clubbed, dumped in drains and rivers to drown; they are run over, scalded and treated as vermin.
Thus, when we visit local communities, we try to encourage a better understanding of why community cats deserve better treatment. We explain that once spayed, the cats become guardians of their community, keeping down rats, snakes, cockroaches and other pests. We explain that culling - removing homeless cats - and killing them merely creates a vacuum for un-neutered cats to occupy. In addition to which, doing so is in breach of the Philippine Animal Welfare law.
Our free spay sessions give us an opportunity to encourage a better understanding of the role cats play when loved and cared for and to explain the need for responsible pet ownership.
If a man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals
-Leo Tolstoy-
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