By Alexandra Molnar
Contributing Writer
Region – With millions of homeless cats nationwide and 50 to 150,000 homeless cats alone living in central Massachusetts, the Second Chance Fund for Animal Welfare (SCFAW) is helping to decrease these numbers by offering affordable and accessible services such as spaying and neutering at a lower cost to their owners.
An organization that is run online and serves the greater Worcester area, reaching as far west as Gardner, the Second Chance Fund was started in 2001 in Bolton by a woman who discovered that a local man was feeding 35 feral cats under his porch. Today, the nonprofit organization has 60 volunteers and has spayed and neutered at least 12,000 cats.
The fund tries to reduce the population of tame feral cats and pets, as it is a large problem in Worcester County. Inge Trzoniec, a volunteer and Shrewsbury resident, summed up the goal of the Second Chance Fund as creating a community with “no more unwanted cats, no more homeless cats, and no more discarded cats.”
Trzoniec, who owns three cats herself, became involved after a friend told her about the organization. She started raising funds and awareness by selling T-shirts and handing out pamphlets at Petco. Now she volunteers at two of the five veterinarian clinics with whom SCFAW has forged a partnership, helping out at the clinic in Worcester once a month and in Westborough every two weeks.
The clinics, called CatSNIP clinics, are offered at least once per week in varying locations. Between 20 and 30 cats arrive to get spayed or neutered by a veterinarian at a lower price. Instead of costing $200 to $400 dollars for the procedure, through fund-raising, donations and grants, SCFAW is able to offer spaying for $75 and neutering for $55, as well as less expensive rabies shots, for economically-challenged cat owners.
The Second Chance Fund is for cats only because in Massachusetts there are more homeless cats – domestic or feral – than dogs in Massachusetts. Volunteers for the organization form a network whereby they receive calls about, or find kittens that were dropped off on the street and find foster homes until a permanent home is secured.
Trzoniec's favorite aspect of volunteering is seeing the look on the clients” faces when they bring their cats to the clinic for spaying or neutering.
“It makes [the volunteering] all worthwhile seeing the faces and the people and how grateful they are,” she said.
According to an interview on local Worcester programming with Executive Director and Treasurer of SCFAW Adrienne Linnell, one cat can produce 12,000 cats over a 12-year span because cats can have three to four litters per year. Not only does spaying and neutering reduce the number of homeless cats, but the procedures prevent certain kinds of cancer.
SCFAW also has a hotline manned by volunteers that anyone can call for questions regarding cats. The hotline also receive calls from people who have questions about their cat's behavior or from individuals who have found a stray and would like to know the next steps to take.
In addition to spreading awareness about the organization, Trzoniec volunteers at the clinics, where she interacts directly with clients, helping them bring in their cats and filling out paperwork for the one-day procedure.
“[I] feel we have made a big difference because of the large amount of cats spayed and neutered,” Trzoniec said.
In addition to the CatSNIP clinics and hotline, SCFAW has a Barn Cat Placement Program that places certain cats who do not behave well in the confines of a home or shelter in horse boarding or training stables. This is an alternative to euthanizing the animals.
The Second Chance Fund also has fund-raising events, such as having a booth at the Pet Rock Fest held once a year at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, the Whisker Walk in Lancaster, and the Bolton Fair.
Since there is no physical office for SCFAW, if you are interested in a spaying or neutering appointment for a cat, go to their website www.secondchancefund.org and sign up for a clinic that offers these lower-cost procedures. To speak to a SCFAW volunteer, call 978-779-8287.