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Alter Assist Program

SPECIAL NOTICE – Effective 3-17-26

At the Sioux Empire TNR Coalition board meeting on March 2, 2026, we made the difficult decision to pause covering out-of-pocket trapping and surgery expenses due to current funding limitations. While we are still very happy to assist with TNR efforts, we are unable to financially cover surgery costs at this time. If you are able to cover the expenses, we would love to help you through the process. The cost for a spay and microchip is $125, a neuter and microchip is $100, and a rabies vaccine may be added for $25. If you have multiple cats needing services, we can try to arrange a group rate. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on donations, grants, and fundraising events to support our work, and we truly hope that as additional funding becomes available, we will be able to expand our efforts and provide even more TNR services to the surrounding community. Thank you for your continued support of the Sioux Empire TNR Coalition.

The Sioux Empire TNR Coalition’s Alter Assist Program helps individuals and companies who need assistance with spaying and neutering cats. This includes those who have a large number of farm or working cats, community caregivers of free-roaming cats, and low-income individuals who cannot afford to fix their pets.

How it Works

  1. Contact us first through our Request for Help form. A volunteer will get back to you within a few days. After assessing your situation, they will refer you to the Alter Assist Scheduling Form. Please note we are a 100% volunteer organization and we will respond as quickly as we can but it may take some time based on our available volunteers and current sterilization backlog.
  2. We have two locations for spay/neuter. We use Beresford Veterinary Clinic every Thursday and the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society once a month (date for each month TBD).
  3. Complete the form for the location you are using and pay the fee for each cat. Neuters are $100 and spays are $125. The surgery includes rabies vaccines and microchips.
  4. Please do not trap cats without an appointment set up for spay/neuter.
  5. You will drop the cats off on the scheduled date with our volunteer who will transport them to the vet. They will give you a pick-up time at the time as drop off as this will depend on the number of cats scheduled for the day.
  6. CATS MUST BE IN INDIVIDUAL HARD-SIDED CARRIERS. If you do not have enough carriers, let us know and we can assist you. 
  7. If you are dropping off community (or “feral”) cats, they can remain in the trap rather than in a carrier.
  8. Cats must not be fed before 5 pm the day prior to the surgery.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are trapping community (AKA feral) cats, you MUST get a permit first from the Sioux Falls Humane Society. Visit their TNR and Community Cats page for more info.

Trapping Tips

If you’re not sure how to trap and/or care for the cats while they are caught and prior to drop off for surgery, we have the following resources you can review:

Effective 4/9/26 – At this time we do not have open dates for Alter Assist available.

Go to Beresford Scheduling Form (THURSDAYS)
Go to SFAHS Scheduling Form (FRIDAYS)

Friday location currently on hold.