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
- 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.
- 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).
- Complete the form for the location you are using and pay the fee for each cat. Neuters are $75 and spays are $100. The surgery includes rabies vaccines and microchips.
- Please do not trap cats without an appointment set up for spay/neuter.
- 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.
- CATS MUST BE IN INDIVIDUAL HARD-SIDED CARRIERS. If you do not have enough carriers, let us know and we can assist you.
- If you are dropping off community (or “feral”) cats, they can remain in the trap rather than in a carrier.
- Cats must not be fed before 5 pm the day prior to the surgery.
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:
- Alley Cat Allies Step By Step TNR Guide
- Alley Cat Allies Tips for Hard to Trap Cats
- Alley Cat Allies: Keep Community Cats Comfortable while in Their Trap
- Community Concern for Cats Trapping Tips and TNR
- Feral Cat Focus: Trapping Dos and Don’ts
- Neighborhood Cats: Trapping Basics
- Neighborhood Cats: Caring for Cats in Traps