9th Life Hawai‘i offers cat sterilization clinic.

9th Life Hawai‘i, Maui’s only nonprofit, no-kill cat rescue and sanctuary, recently received a $1,500 donation from a Maui resident to hold another free spay/neuter clinic for cats.

“Many people of Maui are struggling, and although they want to do the right thing by their kitties, they cannot always afford the sterilization surgery fees,” said 9th Life Executive Director Phyllis Tavares. “This is actually the very first time an individual on Maui donated to 9th Life Hawai‘i for this specific reason. We hope more people will follow his generous example and come forward to sponsor these clinics which have enabled us to sterilize almost 900 cats since we began this program two years ago.”

Because of this donation, the sanctuary will be able to hold another neuter clinic for male cats on Monday, Aug. 18. 9th Life will also accept a few female cats at this clinic, or by appointment in July, August and September.

The clinic will be free to qualified recipients; those for whom the modest donation of $30 would be a hardship, said Tavares.

Call 573-3365 promptly to receive a surgical consent form. Cats will be picked up at central locations on Monday, driven to the sanctuary for surgery and returned to the pickup point later that day. Feral cats can be held at the sanctuary for a few days to fully recuperate before release.

According to 9th Life, it is as important to sterilize male cats as females. Neutering male cats will reduce cat fights, the spread of cat diseases, curtail spraying and help reduce the cat overpopulation.

9th Life Hawai‘i advocates sterilization as the only acceptable means of cat population control. 9th Life Hawai‘i’s goal is to humanely and non-lethally reduce cat overpopulation islandwide by sterilizing as many cats as possible, as often as possible.

For more information about 9th Life Hawai‘i, to register for a clinic, or to view adoptable kittens and cats, call 573-3365 or visit www.9thlifehawaii.org.