Spay and Stay

Saved me from a cat catastrophe! In the late 90’s my neighborhood was being overrun with feral cats. Generations and generations popped up in a few short years from just a few stray cats that had started breeding. We did what we could, taking one or two in each winter when the weather got bad, but we just couldn’t afford more than that because fixing them was too expensive, we were running out of room, and some were just too wild for us to even catch. In 2003 we happened to see a tiny article in the newspaper about a new program for Lake County that would help people trap and cheaply neuter wild cats called Spay and Stay. We signed up and they lent us live traps and showed us how to use them and once we caught them they took them down to a clinic in Chicago to have them fixed. Within a month we had no more breeding cats, and since then the few times we’ve had new cats show up they’ve helped us get them fixed, too. The program has gotten even easier now that they have a network of Lake County veterinarians doing the surgeries all week instead of driving down to Chicago once a month. The cats are so much happier and healthier now and it’s so great to see adult cats relaxing all day and living into their teens instead of adult cats fighting over mates and dozens of sickly kittens dying before their 1^st birthdays. We even got down to just one lonely outdoor cat last year so Spay and Stay matched us with a feral cat whose colony didn’t want her back and now the two are best friends keeping the local cat (and rodent) populations stable!
We were so grateful when they first helped us that we became regular volunteers for them and have enjoyed as many opportunities to help out as we can manage. They are a great group of compassionate, animal-​loving people who are a pleasure to deal with whether you need their assistance, want to adopt a friendly rescue cat, employ and shelter some less friendly mouser cats, or are just looking for small ways to help out cats in need. If a strange cat ever starts visiting your Lake County home or business please, please give them a call and get that cat fixed before you have 10 more!

Re
I had the misfortune recently of going to one of their adoption events in Vernon Hills, Illinois, to adopt a kitten. I chose a kitten and asked them to save it for me while the paperwork was going through. They agreed. The paperwork asked for a reference name and phone number. They did call my reference’s phone number but her husband said she would be home in an hour can I have her call you. They said no, we’ll just talk to you. I had not given them permission nor this man’s name as a reference yet they spoke to him. But they first of all «trashed» me to him saying awful things about me. Then they said do you find her the same as we do? They then proceeded to ask him facts about me, is my house nice, how many cats to I have, etc. The husband said he’s not sure about some of the stuff but they continued to press him. Not sure why they did this because they also require a home visit and they would come out and see for themselves. After speaking to the reference’s husband they waited a few weeks to let me know I was approved but that I couldn’t have the kitten I requested. They said I’d have to pick out another as the kitten I wanted was adopted by some else while they were checking my paperwork. I think they were unprofessional and out of line in speaking to someone that was not my reference also in giving away the kitten they said they would save for me. It was their choice to wait weeks to get back to me on the matter. I think they purposely didn’t get back to me until they had gotten my chosen kitten a new home with someone else. Stay away from spay and stay!!! Not worth the hassle and there are so many other better animal shelters/​rescue centers around to patronize.