No Excuses. . .by Kathy Downey

On a steamy August morning in Salem, NH, the heat from Route 28 – not yet busy – rises up, waiting to meet the undercarriage of a constant stream of cars. I turn onto SARL Drive and follow this narrow road as it snakes away from the main drag with its strip malls, gas stations, and restaurants. Suddenly, I’m in a world of tall grasses, brush, and what look to be small patches of long-derelict farmland.

I am searching for the No Excuses Spay/Neuter Clinic, sponsored by Animal Rescue Merrimack Valley (ARMV) in partnership with Salem Animal Rescue League (SARL). A sign at the first bend in the road, “Salem Animal Rescue League – ARMV,” assures me that I didn’t inadvertently take a wrong turn. Additional signage, “Kitty Adoption,” “Vet Clinic,” and “Dog Kennels” – alert me that I’ve entered a distinct little compound.

Continuing onward, I drive past several trailers on the property, juxtaposed in no particular fashion, each housing a specific service described by one of the signs. Just beyond the dog kennels, where several sweet pooches awaiting adoption whine “Hello” with tails wagging, I come to a trailer, nondescript except for the sign that hangs beside the door. “Rocky’s Place” (named to honor the memory of a much-loved SARL dog) identifies the trailer as the location for today’s clinic.

ARMV’s No Excuses Spay/Neuter Clinic is a companion-animal sterilization program that assists low-income families with the expense of spaying and neutering their cats and dogs. Funded through grants from the Massachusetts Animal Coalition Spay/Neuter License Plate Fund, PetSmart Charities, PETCO, Foundation M, and the Yvon Cormier Charitable Foundation, the clinic is held at the Sarl Drive location twice a month on Monday mornings. A modest fee of $75 includes the animal’s spay or neuter, inoculation against rabies and distemper, along with treatment for fleas and ear mites.

The driving idea behind each clinic is to leave people with no excuse for not spaying or neutering their pets. Says ARMV president Barb Cusick, “The animals we sterilize at our clinics would not get spayed or neutered otherwise, because the people we help cannot afford to pay standard veterinary fees.” She adds that ARMV offers a sliding scale for pet owners for whom the $75 fee might be a hardship.

But often ARMV volunteers take it upon themselves to extend a helping hand even further, from providing transportation to a clinic, assistance with in-home animal care, and always . . . moral support.

“Our goal,” Cusick emphasizes, “is to help reduce the number of homeless animals by intervening – and sterilizing – before more babies can be born.”

Reflecting the large number of area households with cats and the tremendous homeless cat overpopulation in the area, most “No Excuses . . .” clinics are devoted to an exclusively feline clientele. But when the need arises, Cusick says that one or two dogs can be included. (She notes that ARMV hosted a canine-only clinic last year to accommodate an influx of requests from families who count dogs as part of their “pack.”)

Even though all the cats at ARMV No Excuses clinics are owned (or are fosters), Cusick points out that the clinics indirectly help another feline segment of society: feral cats. Sterilizing owned but free-roaming cats, explains Cusick, will prevent those cats from breeding with strays or ferals. The potential for feral kittens is thereby reduced, helping to curb this prevalent homeless population.

But today is all about putting excuses aside and doing the right thing by spaying and neutering companion felines.

Shortly before 9:00 a.m., the cats and their owners begin to arrive. Shadow is an eight-month-old black and white, very regal, longhaired male kitty from Haverhill who is here to be neutered. Shadow’s favorite stuffed toy keeps him company inside his cat-carrier. When I ask Shadow’s owner her reason for choosing ARMV’s No Excuses clinic, she cites the affordable cost and expresses her gratitude for this community service.

Pookie, a six-month-old jet-black feline, relaxes on a leopard-print blanket that keeps her comfortable inside her carrier while she waits to be spayed. Pookie’s owner has traveled from Londonderry and is a repeat ARMV client. She tells me that her other cat was neutered at a No Excuses clinic three years ago.

Buffy is a beautiful young Calico cat here for a spaying; she arrives with Mitzie, an inky-black male kitty who will be neutered today. Originally from Dorchester, both cats now live with their owner in Andover. An older gentleman, the cats’ owner tells me that he adopted his kitties, in part, hoping that their companionship would help with his depression. “I’m not depressed any longer,” he states, “These two rascals keep me too busy!” The sparkle in his eyes clearly reflects the love he has for his furry friends.

A shiny black four-month-old feline adolescent named Jessie has arrived from Merrimac for a spay with her catnip mouse in tow. There’s also Bo of Methuen, a young gray male kitty who’s here to be neutered. Volunteer Laurin Downey has arrived with a male kitty with cow-pattern markings whom she retrieved from his home in a South Lawrence rooming house. (Rounding up the rooming house cats and transporting them to and from the clinic on behalf of the residents is just another example of the extra lengths that ARMV volunteers perform to help animals, and people, in need.)

And then there’s the box of kittens. Yes, a Home Depot box is stuffed with five wriggly, curious kittens who are taking turns popping their heads through the lid. Thankfully, the kittens’ mother is safely inside a cat carrier. Terry Kelly, one of today’s two ARMV vet tech volunteers, steps out of the trailer and notices the kittens’ persistent antics. She quickly ushers the kittens, box and all, along with the mom-cat, inside – taking no chance that one of the kittens uses up one of its nine lives by escaping and coming to possible danger. Veterinary technician Laura Raymond helps to get the kittens situated. (The mother cat will be spayed today, but her babies will be transferred to an ARMV foster home and spayed or neutered when they weigh enough to undergo surgery.)

The outer room of the trailer is cramped but tidy. Chaotic efficiency best describes the atmosphere as people file in, jostling cat-carriers in hand while offering words of comfort and encouragement to their cats. Cusick is there to welcome the arrivals (human and feline) and to help the cats’ owners fill out the appropriate spay/neuter medical release form. As you might expect, the spay forms are pink, and the neuter forms are blue. This distinction helps to keep order, and the completed forms are taped to the respective carriers. Volunteer Joyce Godsey assists Cusick with the queue and will process each of the forms by entering into ARMV’s computer database.

A total of 17 cats will be sterilized today. Carriers are lined up along a wall in the order of arrival and are whisked one by one into the adjoining medical room, where the surgeries take place. Kelly and Raymond work efficiently and quickly in preparing and anesthetizing each cat for surgery.

Kim Trahan, DVM, is ARMV’s No Excuses veterinarian. Seasoned, confident, and experienced, she receives each patient as delivered gently to her by either Kelly or Raymond. For the past two years Dr. Trahan has nipped, tucked, and sterilized more than 750 cats for No Excuses, making a difference by helping to stabilize the cat population throughout the ARMV community. (When Trahan is not busy sterilizing cats at No Excuses clinics, she keeps busy with clinics for SARL, Feline Friends, Animal Allies, and Kitty Angels.)

After surgery, each cat is placed into an individual recovery cage. The two vet techs monitor the cats’ condition and return them to their respective carriers once the cats are awake and alert.

By late afternoon, each No Excuses cat will have been spayed or neutered. By early evening, the cats’ owners will begin arriving to take their cats home. And the impact that this one spay/neuter clinic will have made on the community will have been profound.

As I follow the windy road out of this unusual little trailer park, I think about the hundreds of unwanted kittens who will not be born, just from this one generation of now sterilized cats (the homeless number reaches into the thousands for each subsequent generation of non-sterilized cats). I feel the simple yet powerful significance in the aptly named clinic, and I hope that the message inspires everyone who shares a home with animal companions to spay or neuter . . . because not doing so directly contributes to the number of homeless animals – and for that, there is no excuse.

Families who need cost-assistance and wish to schedule a No Excuses spay/neuter appointment for their cat or dog may call (978) 374-SAFE (7233), or send an email to ARMV through armv@armv.org.