Maneki Neko Rallies to Desex Cats 🐱

After years of rescuing kitties, the innovative Maneki Neko Cat Rescue was officially established in 2012 in Melbourne. Long-term PetRescue member Maneki Neko works collaboratively with community groups, businesses and local councils to reduce euthanasia rates and increase rates of reclaiming and rehoming. While much of their work includes rescue, rehabilitation (if required), and rehoming of cats, the prevention of unwanted litters of kittens is a key focus of their important work.

We sat down to chat with Samantha Mckernan, director of Maneki Neko, to hear about their latest initiative, the Nuts to That! Cat Desexing program.

Why is desexing cats so important?

Every year thousands of unwanted cats and kittens find themselves in pounds and shelters around Victoria. Whilst we can, and do, rescue and rehome many of them at Maneki Neko, the numbers are overwhelming. Kittens are cute, but each year a fertile female can have multiple litters, and then they go on to do the same - that's thousands of cats then needing homes.

Tell us about the program - how many cats have you been able to desex?

Our goal for 2023 is to desex as many cats as we can for low-income members of the community.  Prevention is a huge part of the solution, so to kick things off in 2023, we ran a 23-day desexing marathon with our partnering vet clinic. For $99, cats are desexed, vaccinated and microchipped. We’ve just wrapped up the program with, an enormous 312 cats desexed!

What can people in the community do to get involved?

In order to be able to run the program again, we need to continue raising funds and finding awesome volunteers who want to help cats and kittens. You can make a tax-deductible donation, which will be used to cover the costs of desexing, vaccinating and microchipping cats in Victoria and saving lives. We’re also looking for volunteers to help with community engagement, transport and logistics to make this happen. More money raised and more volunteers who put their hands up means we can continue the program and help more cats!

Learn more about the program and how you can help here.

Find out more about Maneki Neko Cat Rescue, and meet some of their kitties looking for homes here. 

Banner image: Sheldon, available for adoption via Maneki Neko.