Dallas Animal Services (DAS) and Spay Neuter Network (SNN) are stepping up their services for cats in Dallas.

The two agencies are partnering to provide more free spay/neuter services for Dallas "free-roaming" cats, also known as "community cats," also known as cats who do not have owners.

“SNN is committed to helping reduce pet overpopulation, and this includes the free-roaming cats in our community," says SNN Executive Director Jordan Craig. "SNN and DAS are working together to make these services more accessible to our community members so that we can help more cats."

Spaying/neutering cats helps reduce the current overpopulation of cats on the streets, which has many unfortunate repercussions including suffering of the cats as well as a detrimental effect on other wildlife such as birds and beneficial lizards.

Spay Neuter Network has already been doing spay/neuter services on cats, both owned and community, but this is a commitment to increase the numbers of surgeries they do, says SNN spokesperson Jacob Carty.

"We're trying to improve our programs for community cats," Carty says. "This is not a new program but we’ve improved it by making the process easier so that SNN can take in more cats."

There's an entire population of rescue volunteers in Dallas and surrounding cities out there advocating for cats by trying to get them fixed, and the number of cats on the streets has increased, Carty says.

"We've had such an explosion, especially since the pandemic," he says. "A lot of people got cats during the pandemic, and some of those cats ended up on the streets. We're working to make more room for more cats to get treatment."

In the year 2023, Spay Neuter Network did spay or neuter surgeries on 15,000 cats, nearly double the amount of surgeries they did on dogs.

Of those 15,000, 2,500 were community cats. (The rest were on cats with owners.)

"In January 2023, we did 172 community cats, and by December 2023, we did 373," he says. "For 2024, we expect we'll be doing more than 3,000 community cats."

Shockingly, Spay Neuter Network is not the only organization helping get cats on the street fixed: There is also Texas Coalition for Animal Protection (TCAP), a nonprofit established in 2002 to provide an affordable way to spay and neuter pets. Since that time, TCAP has opened eight clinics across DFW, and many are often fully booked. In 2023, TCAP sterilized 45,514 cats, of which 13,108 were community cats.

Spay Neuter Network operates four spay/neuter clinics, plus a surgery transport service for those with limited transportation, and a Mobile Animal Spay/Neuter Hospital (MASH) in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and San Antonio, providing vaccinations, sterilizations, and pet care resources to more than 36 cities.

To participate in the program, the applicant must first get an SR number from City of Dallas 3-1-1. This is done online by visiting dallascrm.my.site.com/public/s/, selecting “Animal Care and Control” and then “Animal Community Cat Program.” Only one SR number is required per address.

Once the applicant has a SR number, they may bring cats trapped in a humane trap to Spay Neuter Network’s Dallas clinic. Each applicant may bring up to 4 cats each day. Twelve total cats per day will be accepted on Thursdays and Fridays starting in January.

The SR number must be presented when cats are dropped at the clinic.

Rabies vaccination, FVRCP vaccination, microchip and ear-tip are included with surgery.

The program requires that the cat is feral or un-owned. Cats must be free-roaming cats within the City of Dallas; this program does not cover kittens that are trapped and then go into a rescue group for adoption.